This month's free calendar - the North Bridge in Concord, MA - where the first major battle between the British and colonial militia was fought. The veritable start of the Revolutionary War.
Here are the links to Download May's free desktop calendar, hosted by Box.com:
Free May 2015 Calendar - The North Bridge
May is going to be a crazy month - Prom, Graduation and Birthdays. I hope your May is less hectic!
I'm way behind on photos from my Big camera, so these are over a month old, back when I visited Massachusetts in June. We took the boys to Lexington - Concord and visited some of the Revolutionary War Sites. I felt we had to give the boys exposure to the history that shaped this Nation. Now that I am older, I find these places fascinating - I know I didn't appreciate them when I younger. Maybe the boys felt that way, too, but we went anyways.
I've previously posted the historic significance of these sites when I visited in 2011, and that post can be found here:
A History Lesson - the Start of the Revolutionary War
Our visit to the Old North Bridge in Concord, and the surrounding grounds:
We're at day five of our trip to the UK and after a morning of shopping (Topshot, Zara, H&M and Primark) we ended up in Hyde Park.
Oh, and we ate lunch at Nando's, because my daughter insisted. When I asked how she even knew about Nando's (I had never heard of the chicken place), I learned it's been featured in some YouTube videos, one with Ed Sheeran, who the girls really love. There's probably some link to the likes of One Direction and Justin Bieber that I am unaware of, too. I guess there's no denying the influence of these social media on today's youth.
Some additional comments about our venture into the Primark store (which is somewhat like a Kohl's Store in the US, only much bigger) - it was like being in a Wal-Mart on Black Friday morning. Throngs of people everywhere. If you wanted to try on some clothes, be prepared to wait 30 minutes to get into the fitting room. Then there was the "queue" to purchase your cheap clothes which were probably made in a sweatshop like the one that collapsed in India. We were in the store for 5 minutes before becoming overcome by a desire to leave immediately.
We escaped the Primark store by heading to Hyde Park. I wanted to see the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, located in the center of the park, but the girls were quite "done" with the day's activities. So I made a decision - one that went against the motherly instinct in all us mothers - I allowed them to travel back to my sister's house without me. My rationalization - they just needed to get to the Hammersmith Tube Station, and after 5 days of navigating the London Underground, I knew they could figure it out. Still, as I watched them walk away, I resisted the urge to run after them screaming, "OK, I'm going with you!".
Resolute in my decision to give my girl some independence, I briskly walked to the Serpentine Gallery. Each year, the gallery commissions an architect to showcase a structure next to the gallery - the temporary structure is used as a pavilion and gathering space. Past architects include Frank Gehry, and this year's pavilion was designed by Sou Fujimoto.
I had viewed photos of the structure online - it looked like a crystalline structure in the photos, but as I walked towards it, to me it looked more like white toothpicks glued together. Once I got closer, I gained a better appreciation of the pavilion - it was so much more sturdy that toothpicks - with each supported fashioned from solid steel pipes.
The pavilion's hollow center serves as a unique open air cafe. Visitors may climb into the structure via transparent stairs and gather with friends.
I enjoyed people watching as I sipped a steamy cappuccino:
I left the Serpentine Gallery and headed west toward Kensington Palace. Enroute, I came across the Royal Albert Hall and the South Gardens:
In front of Kensington Palace - a Statue of Queen Victoria:
I had walked from the East to the West side of the park and was ready to head back home. I took a doubledecker bus to Hammersmith and marveled at the tenacity of bikers in the flow of London traffic. I also texted my daughter, a little anxious about their solo journey back home. I gave a sigh of relief when she responded to my text - they had arrived back home without incident.
I learned several things that day - that a little bit of independence can make everyone happy - that my oldest is getting ready for the next steps of independence - and that I am almost ready to let that happen (note I said "almost" - baby steps....)
I learned yesterday that the Erie Canal once flowed through downtown Syracuse. The Erie Canal connects Lake Erie in Buffalo to the Hudson River in Albany and was constructed between 1817 and 1825.
Here is a postcard rendition of the Erie Canal in Syracuse, around 1915.
I realize the timing of my post might be construed in a political way, but by no means is that the case. It’s merely a coincidence that I happened to visit Lexington – Concord a couple days after a-not-to-be-named-political-figure’s recounting of Paul Revere’s ride on April 18, 1775, from Boston to Lexington. I won’t go any further into the fallout of the recent events, nor offer up any of my personal or political opinions. I’m merely going to post pictures from my visit to the Minute Man National Park and quote the information available from their website.
I drove to Lexington in order to meet up with some friends from work and college. Before meeting up with my friends, I decided to take a short visit to the Minute Man National Park which encompasses the battlefields and structures of the opening battle of the Revolutionary War. Since I was short on time, I decided to focus my time at the North Bridge (located in Concord), where the first major battle between the British and colonial militia was fought.
In front of the North Bridge is the British Soldiers’ Gravestone, where the first verse of The Concord Hymn is engraved:
Past the North Bridge, I walked towards the Buttrick Mansion where the North Bridge visitor’s center is housed. I could only imagine the battle that ensued in the meadow area between the two landmarks.
I never entered the Buttrick Mansion because the gardens of the grounds were in full bloom and I just can’t pass up all those flowers.
After my visit to Concord, my friends and I walked around downtown Lexington, where several historic landmarks, including the Battle Green and the Hancock-Clarke House are located.
After visiting both towns, I was confused by the timing of the events of the day (first shots of the Revolutionary War in Lexington vs the Shot Heard Around The World in Concord). After some research, I learned that the British soldiers marched from Boston, first passing through Lexington where the British troops encountered a small number colonial militia. An exchange of battle fire occurred, hence the first shots of the Revolutionary war. The outnumbered local militia in Lexington fell back and the British continued their advance into Concord where they encountered the large contingent of colonial militia at the North Bridge, and thus, the first battle was fought. This scene was the inspiration for Emerson’s Concord Hymn, where the phrase “Shot Heard Around the World” was coined.
Details of the days’ events, from the Minute Man National Park website:
On the evening of April 18, 1775, General Thomas Gage sent approximately 700 British soldiers out to Concord (about 18 miles distant) to seize and destroy military stores and equipment known to be stockpiled in the town.
The decade-long political feud between the British government and the American colonists, determined to retain their rights as British subjects, came to a devastating climax as British regulars clashed with colonial militia and minute men on April 19, 1775 at Lexington, Concord's North Bridge and on the long, bloody road back to Boston. The fighting that began that day soon grew into a war for independence that lasted more than eight years.
I am often asked questions and comments about my photography - what location, what camera, what settings, etc. The camera question aside (i...
A chemical engineer working in IT, Wife to Scott, Mom to two great kids + two cats, one horse and numerous fish. Photographer, marathoner, musician, yogi and gourmet cook. I don't think there is time for more, but I'm sure I missed something!
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