A walk in the park... (Week 7)
Monday, December 11, 2006
So after a great evening of Goo Goo Dolls, we had 2 visitors from out of town again staying with us for the weekend, so we went sightseeing again. This time it was a great day so we hit the parks - first Boston Common and the Public Gardens (a block away from our place), then we went walking through the "rich" suburb called Beacon Hill:
The ice rink in the Boston Common and Boston Common:
Beacon Hill:
After Beacon Hill we decided to cut across the highway to the Charles River. This proved quite difficult as we got stuck somehow between the two lines of traffic and we just kept walking down the island in between until it ran out. At that stage we were both too stubborn and pissed off to walk back so we sat and waited for a gap in the traffic... 25 minutes later we sprinted across in the only gap probably that
entire day!!
But it was worth it as the river is very cool, its the same river where the Harvard boat race takes place and both Harvard and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) are both on the River.
We then paid a visit to Fenway Park - Home of the Boston Red Sox. We went for a tour of the stadium which was brilliant - we are just in between the seasons and won't be here for a game, which is so dissapointing.
Here is a point by point recall of the tour from our blogs one and only Robbie:
The Curse of the Bambino is lifted!!
So on Saturday Greg and I went to Fenway Park, the famous baseball stadium where the Boston Red Sox play their home games.
We went on a tour of the Stadium, and found ourselves enjoying the history the Stadium had to offer, including the most famous sale in Baseball history in 1918. The Red Sox won three world series in the past (1916, 1917, 1918), with support provided by well known Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth was then sold off to the NY Yankees in 1919, and never won a world series for 80+ years!! This was later better known as the Curse of the Bambino (Curse of Babe Ruth). Their luck later changed, and finally won world series in 2004.
There was a lot more history involved, like the seat in the right field bleachers is painted red to mark the spot where the longest measurable home run ever hit inside Fenway Park landed. Ted Williams (famous left handed baseball player for Red Sox) hit the home run on June 9, 1946 The blast was measured at 502 feet. Legend says that the ball crashed through the straw hat of the man sitting in the seat- A Yankees fan. To this day the man that was hit has passed on, but his family still gets to sit in the seat where he was hit!! (check the pic in the galleryfor a better view)
and the retired numbers of well known baseball players who have retired from the game, and with them, their numbers also retiring.
Retired Red Sox uniform numbers hung in right field in numerical order: Bobby Doerr (1) in 1988, Joe Cronin (4) in 1984, Carl Yastrzemski (8) in 1989, Ted Williams (9) in 1984 and Carlton Fisk (27) in 2000.
The stadium is also unique, in that it offers the longest and shortest home run distances to hit in baseball, the shortest home run being 302 yards… and the longest home run boundary (420 yards).
For those who like to drop it like its hot, the stadium was also recently reconstructed to accommodate a VIP area….
This seating area was renamed the club seats the ".406 Club" (in honor of Ted Williams' batting average in 1941), six days after his death. (Williams is the last player to hit .400 or better in the major leagues.)
During the fall and winter of 2005-2006, as part of the continuing expansion efforts at Fenway Park, the existing .406 club was rebuilt.
The average price per game to sit in one of these blue pimped out seats will set you back an average of $ 275 per game (2006: $ 286 per seat).
The stadium is most famous for the left field wall called the "Green Monster". This wall is 37-foot high and 240 feet long, has a 22-foot deep foundation, and was constructed from 30,000 pounds of Toncan iron. Previously, a 23-½-foot tall screen protected cars and pedestrians on Lansdowne Street. However, the screen was replaced after the 2002 season with more seating atop the Green Monster (in an attempt to fit as many seats as possible in Fenway).In 1947, advertisements covering the left field wall were painted over using green paint, which gave rise to the "Green Monster" name.
Check out the gallery for more pics...
The ice rink in the Boston Common and Boston Common:
Beacon Hill:
After Beacon Hill we decided to cut across the highway to the Charles River. This proved quite difficult as we got stuck somehow between the two lines of traffic and we just kept walking down the island in between until it ran out. At that stage we were both too stubborn and pissed off to walk back so we sat and waited for a gap in the traffic... 25 minutes later we sprinted across in the only gap probably that
entire day!!
But it was worth it as the river is very cool, its the same river where the Harvard boat race takes place and both Harvard and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) are both on the River.
We then paid a visit to Fenway Park - Home of the Boston Red Sox. We went for a tour of the stadium which was brilliant - we are just in between the seasons and won't be here for a game, which is so dissapointing.
Here is a point by point recall of the tour from our blogs one and only Robbie:
The Curse of the Bambino is lifted!!
So on Saturday Greg and I went to Fenway Park, the famous baseball stadium where the Boston Red Sox play their home games.
We went on a tour of the Stadium, and found ourselves enjoying the history the Stadium had to offer, including the most famous sale in Baseball history in 1918. The Red Sox won three world series in the past (1916, 1917, 1918), with support provided by well known Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth was then sold off to the NY Yankees in 1919, and never won a world series for 80+ years!! This was later better known as the Curse of the Bambino (Curse of Babe Ruth). Their luck later changed, and finally won world series in 2004.
There was a lot more history involved, like the seat in the right field bleachers is painted red to mark the spot where the longest measurable home run ever hit inside Fenway Park landed. Ted Williams (famous left handed baseball player for Red Sox) hit the home run on June 9, 1946 The blast was measured at 502 feet. Legend says that the ball crashed through the straw hat of the man sitting in the seat- A Yankees fan. To this day the man that was hit has passed on, but his family still gets to sit in the seat where he was hit!! (check the pic in the galleryfor a better view)
and the retired numbers of well known baseball players who have retired from the game, and with them, their numbers also retiring.
Retired Red Sox uniform numbers hung in right field in numerical order: Bobby Doerr (1) in 1988, Joe Cronin (4) in 1984, Carl Yastrzemski (8) in 1989, Ted Williams (9) in 1984 and Carlton Fisk (27) in 2000.
The stadium is also unique, in that it offers the longest and shortest home run distances to hit in baseball, the shortest home run being 302 yards… and the longest home run boundary (420 yards).
For those who like to drop it like its hot, the stadium was also recently reconstructed to accommodate a VIP area….
This seating area was renamed the club seats the ".406 Club" (in honor of Ted Williams' batting average in 1941), six days after his death. (Williams is the last player to hit .400 or better in the major leagues.)
During the fall and winter of 2005-2006, as part of the continuing expansion efforts at Fenway Park, the existing .406 club was rebuilt.
The average price per game to sit in one of these blue pimped out seats will set you back an average of $ 275 per game (2006: $ 286 per seat).
The stadium is most famous for the left field wall called the "Green Monster". This wall is 37-foot high and 240 feet long, has a 22-foot deep foundation, and was constructed from 30,000 pounds of Toncan iron. Previously, a 23-½-foot tall screen protected cars and pedestrians on Lansdowne Street. However, the screen was replaced after the 2002 season with more seating atop the Green Monster (in an attempt to fit as many seats as possible in Fenway).In 1947, advertisements covering the left field wall were painted over using green paint, which gave rise to the "Green Monster" name.
Check out the gallery for more pics...
