Despite being a former denizen of Massachusetts, it has been 22 years since I’ve seen Boston. Back in 1994, I was head hunted out of my job as a computer game programmer in Toronto to work for a Cambridge based firm that specialized creating software and related technologies for military simulations. Between 1994 and 2000 I lived Cambridge, Arlington and North Andover, MA. Although I enjoyed many of the cool places which Cambridge and Boston had to offer, ultimately the high cost of living, crazy traffic and congestion made me move out. I left Massachusetts to live in Arizona for a few years and then returned back to Canada. I have been back to Arizona several times and now the time had come to revisit my old stomping grounds in New England. We drove there from Cornwall, Prince Edward Island overnighting in Brewer, Maine. It was a pleasant drive full of fall colours and it reminded me how beautiful ME and MA can be in the fall.
My wife, Melissa, has never been to Massachusetts and ultimately she fell in love with Boston. She also did a fair bit of shopping in ME and MA. After a two decade absence, I was curious to see how much the city had changed. We did not drive into the city as I was warned traffic has become really bad over the last decade despite the promise that the “Big Dig” project would alleviate congestion. From what I heard, the new suspension bridge and underground highway did relieve Boston’s notoriously awful traffic for several years, however, a slew of new condominiums increased the city’s population and traffic returned to pre “Big Dig” levels. To avoid this mess, we booked a hotel in Framingham and took the subway from the Alewife T station in Cambridge. Since Boston has a good subway system, it was an easy trip into the city and then we started our pedestrian journey from the Boston Common.
The best way to experience Boston is to walk the “Freedom Trail” which allows one to visit several historic sites and the famous North End which is the city’s oldest residential community, as well as Little Italy and the best Italian food in New England. Our walk took us from the Boston Common at Tremont street ending in the North End. Although we did not walk the entire length of the trail, we took our time and enjoyed every minute of it. We ended the day with an incredible Italian dinner from Quattro Restaurant, expensive but worth it. I was glad to see that little has changed on the Freedom Trail – its history and charms are alive and well.
I was also looking forward to indulging in some street photography. It was a foggy and rainy day which means muted tones and low contrast when shooting colour, so I decided to shoot all my photos in black and white. Shooting in black and white better emphasized contrast, texture and bold tones. Overall I am quite pleased with the results.
Please take a look through the gallery. All photos taken with an Olympus Pen-F.
