Make Way For Pookie!!!

(Topic: sightseeing)

Hi Friends!

A few weeks ago, I got to go with hubby to Boston, where he was attending a conference! Pookie came too (I'll talk about the travel experience another time).

While my personal goal was to see the ships (the last time I was in Boston for a conference of my own, I didn't get to do much sightseeing), part of my plan was to also get Pookie to see fun places, and to get pictures of him there!

There is a children's book called Make Way for Ducklings, which is set in Boston, so stop one was to go see the duck statues. I believe it is based on a real story, and it is by Robert McCloskey.

From Right to Left: Mrs. Mallard, Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, Quack, and Pook!

One of the place names that caught my eye was the Charles River, and then also the subway tickets! I initially thought they were named after the river, but apparently it's actually because of a song by the Kingston Trio, back when there was some controversy about complicated fare systems and fare hikes.

A Charlie Ticket. Regular user fare cards are "Charlie Cards". The back has a picture of Charlie boarding a train.

The next place I decided to go was the "Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum". They spent very little time talking about the reproduction ships, unfortunately, which made me doubt their veracity, and one of the docents was offensive and belittling when I asked a question. With that, the fact that not one single costumed tour guide wore a wig, and the excessive cost of the tourist attraction, it earned a solid DO NOT RECOMMEND from me (note: I sent them feedback, and they are offering a refund, so I'm now waiting for a reply about how to make that happen. This raises my estimation of the establishment a bit). They did, however, engage the non-historian public reasonably well, and have some interesting integration of technology into their tour.

Pookie in a sling on me. If you look closely, you can see the turkey feather he's wearing as the "Indian disguise" for when we board the ship.

One of the two - possibly identical? - ships that supposedly are repros of the cargo vessels that were originally boarded.

While I had fun walking about the town and seeing the touristy "history", and Pookie had fun in the sling, I needed a more balanced way to carry him around, and had not brought a front or back carrier. So I borrowed a backpack from our luggage, and rigged up a back carrier for the bear!

Pookie in a backpack!

Bundled Sarah carrying bundled Pook!

The second day of sightseeing was aimed at finding better and more authentic history, with less touristy gunk and more old things. After a brief stop at a fantastic bakery (called Mike's Pastries, in North End - a sort of little Italy neighborhood), we went to Paul Revere's house. I was worried this would be touristy gunk again, but it was actually excellent. Their entrance fee is only $5, and while small, it is well put together, well signed, and extremely well docented. I asked questions about some repro fabrics on a bedstead, and when the docent didn't know, he pulled out the binder that the site had prepared, with acquisition and provenance info on many of the items in those rooms. Fascinating!

The street frontage of the Paul Revere house. The street is true cobblestones, as well. Lovely.

My next stop was a random little print shop and chocolatier. It's actually right around the corner from the church I'm about to talk about, and worth popping your nose into!

Printer, explaining his press.

 
I was then close enough to walk to Old North Church, and a little park behind it with a statue. Old North Church is actually not just a historic site, but also still has an active Episcopalian congregation.

Paul Revere and Old North Church

Pookie, enjoying the pew boxes. He's in the one labeled "wardens and visitors"!

So much fun already, and it's only lunch time! We stop for some tiramisu, before walking onward and upward to the USS Constitution, the ship I'd been aiming for the whole time! Touring the ship is free, and has a small museum attached, after going through security. The site is run by the Navy. Well presented, and a beautiful ship!

Pookie firing a deck cannon

Next door to the ship there is a dry dock, as well as a "Constitution Museum" about early Navy life, which is essentially a children's museum, and FABULOUSLY presented (the entrance fee is a suggested donation). I should have gotten more pics of Pookie there but was starting to tucker out at that point, and it would have been funner with hubby there...

Dry dock.

A hoisted stuffed goat! The children's Constitution museum talked about a lot of aspects of shipboard life. The goat kept bleating!

While those museums just about completed our sightseeing. The next day, we hung out for most of the morning. I was thrilled when the café lady asked who "my friend" was!

Well, the spelling isn't exact, but the spirit is there!

We also spent some time in a bookstore, where Pookie found one of his favorite books to read:

"Little Pookie" by Sandra Boynton!

Then once our travels were underway, we had a layover where we could go to an (airport) diner, where Mike our waiter was so much fun - he enjoyed interacting with Pookie as much as hubby and I did!

Pookie picking music.

Daddy snuggles.

Thieving a sip of my milkshake!

In all, a fun trip! I highly recommend the USS Constitution, and the museum next door if you have littles!


Yours,

Sarah

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Museum of the Alphabet

On Monday, September 18th, my husband and I had the opportunity to visit The Museum of the Alphabet, outside of Charlotte, NC. In fact, we knew nothing about it before we got there, having found it by chance when looking for interesting museums to visit while we were in the area.

The museum is run by and associated with JAARS, ILS, and the Wycliffe Bible Institute. Essentially, the organization wants to be able to provide Christian Bibles to all peoples, and to do so, they sometimes have to help create alphabets and writing systems for languages that have heretofore been purely oral.

The museum appears to have been created to help educate the public about that last aspect of their work. Aside from a few instances where the museum leans biblical-literalist, the exhibits are fantastic and do a wonderful job of explaining how various cultures and individuals through the ages have invented or adapted ways of putting language into a written system. I had the impression that some of the staff's opinions were much more literalist, but the exhibits were fabulous.

The museum starts out with a short film, and then a staff member introduces an interesting steel sculpture of the tower of babel, representing how multiple languages formed on earth. This is the only exhibit where the display took the Bible completely literally; the remaining exhibits were based on language research and language history.

For instance, the lovely tree of written language evolution, shown here in a postcard I purchased from their little gift-nook (sorry the quality isn't high level. Wish I'd taken a picture myself. Basically, the top row is modern writing systems, and the branches show what was influenced by what other system or older form of the same system):

Once past that tree, the museum is divided into alcoves that each address a particular language or alphabet, and how their writing system came into existence and how it functions. There were also interactive portions, allowing you to answer questions, decode alphabets, or make sounds.

I was particularly fascinated by two exhibits, which I got permission to photograph:

This chart is a FABULOUS explanation of various things that affect the crazy English spelling! Each tree matches the color of the paragraph below, which explains the cause of that particular type of spelling change or effect on modern spelling, and the leaves give example words.

I also was fascinated by this one, explaining that Korean orthography is actually based on the physiology of sound production. I have not researched this myself, so I am dependent on the museum's research on this - but if this is true, this is awesome.

To return to my mention of Biblical influences, I would like to mention that each language exhibit has a Bible there, simply as an example of the orthography of that particular language. Given the purpose of the organization as a whole, I find this a completely reasonable example to have on hand.

The exhibit on Hebrew (the original form, not the modern form), posits that Moses himself came up with the alphabet when writing down the 10 commandments. Whether or not that is true, the concept that the ancient Hebrew alphabet came into existence in about that same era is still worth paying attention to.

Later exhibits focus more on the JAARS/SIL/Wycliffe work: since they are often working with languages that still have no written form. In these exhibits, there are examples of the linguistic work they do, which is fascinating to see! The linguists involved in this project learn the languages, try, at least in most cases, to find a writing system that will make sense with that language, and then also work on establishing and supporting literacy.

In all, this was a truly fascinating museum. It is small, but there is no entrance fee, and they do not accompany you on your tour, so you have as much time as you need and want to read all of the information - or to skip past it if you prefer!