Chaletmomma

We enjoyed a family get away last week with my sister and brother-in-law. I’ll be sharing our trip in three posts: the first about Boston, MA, the second solely focused on our visit to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and the last about our time in Newport, Rhode Island.

My sister and I planned this trip in June and we were so pleased when their daughter was able to join us in Boston for one full day of sight-seeing and dinner each evening.

We stayed at the Langham, a gorgeous property located in the financial district. The 102 year old building was originally the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. It underwent an extensive two year renovation reopening in 2021 and is a short walk to the Old South Meeting House, Old State House, Faneuil Hall Marketplace (Faneuil Hall) and Quincy Market. Here are a few images from the hotel including the view from our room, a hall telephone, pillow options, Grana where we breakfasted, Diptyque products are provided by the Langham, a view of the indoor pool and we dined at The Fed.

We spent 3 days in Boston and I’ll share a list of what we did.

Day One: We arrived around noon and after stowing our luggage at the hotel we made our way to the Old South Meeting House, Old State House, were caught in a deluge on our way to the Paul Revere House, then it was Lucia Ristorante for a delightful dinner and we capped off the night with a swim.

Day Two: Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum - this tour was fun and with a ton of facts thrown in - they hand you a card at the start and this is who you are. I was Joseph Shedd. Then we enjoyed lunch at the adjoining Abigail’s Tea Room & Terrace. I was close to buying a christmas ornament in the shop but decided to use my card with a ribbon punched through and this way I’ll truly remember the experience. We sent off on foot stopping for a beverage at Tatte and then finishing up the last leg of our journey to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (which I will devote next weeks article) in an Uber. After the Gardner we jumped on the T - I love a subway ride in a city I’m visiting and made our way to the Fairmont Copley Plaza to see where our niece was staying. The Boston Public Library is on Boylston Street across from the Fairmont and we viewed the amazing murals Triumph of Religion, painted by John Singer Sargent over the course of 29 years from 1890 and 1919. We enjoyed some libation at the Oak Long Bar + Kitchen in the Fairmont and then made our way to dinner at the oldest continually operated restaurant in Boston the Union Oyster House. I walked over 6 miles this day!

Unoin-Oyster-House_Credit_RickTaylor_Flickr_CCBYNCND20.jpg

“Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.”

— Unknown

The modern Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum entrance reflecting the original building. I’ll share this visit next week.

**Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - Modern Entrance showing reflection of original structure beyond.**

Day Three: We made our way via Uber to the Museum of Science where we caught our Boston Duck Tour. I set my niece a text when we passed the Fairmont and she grabbed this image of our Red Duck Boat turning the corner onto Boylston Street. We walked to The Bell In The Hand Tavern for lunch and after we toured The New England Holocaust Memorial before heading across the street to Faneuil Hall Marketplace. We enjoyed going upstairs to visit the Great Hall inside Faneuil Hall and seeing the military items on the top floor. We dined at The Fed in the Langham that night.

Boston was wonderful. I love history and cities. Boston is clean and although large relatively easy to navigate. We didn’t over schedule ourselves. We certainly could have visited more sites but it was nice to have time to see where we ended up. Here are my mementos: brochures from things we did and the key card holder and coaster from the Langham hotel. I purchased two postcards at the Old State House.

I can’t recommend the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum enough and it was such a bonus to be able to eat lunch right there - easy peasy! I thought we’d visit the USS Constitution but, after the Tea Party we skipped it. I was most excited and in awe at visiting the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The building and collection are so unusual and my teenage son and I had watched the Netflix documentary This Is A Robbery about the March 18, 1990 still unsolved theft at the museum. The Boston Public Library was magical. I’d recommend the Oak Long Bar + Kitchen for lunch or dinner. Of course a Boston Duck Tour is always fun and depending on where your hotel is or what other plans you have you can select your tour location from the three they offer. The Bell In The Hand Tavern is a great pop in and ask to sit at a table towards the round corner of the building. Our hotel The Langham was luxurious and lived up to it’s 5 star rating including the two restaurants Grana and The Fed.

Til next time when I share the details of our visit to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum be well!

Recently I visited Washington, D.C. with my sister for a family celebration. We managed to sneak in a bit of time to tour the National Gallery of Art and Mount Vernon.

We only had an hour at the National Gallery of Art. We chose to visit the West Building. We quickly made our way through an incredible collection of Furniture to the Impressionists, then we viewed the Leonardo da Vinci, Ginevra de' Benci and finished with the Dutch Masters. Both the art and the buildings architecture were equally enjoyable.

Sunday we headed out of DC to Mount Vernon.

I hadn’t been to Mount Vernon since I was quite little maybe 5 years old. I was super excited!

When we purchased our tickets we picked the timed option for the Mansion Tour. I would suggest allowing at minimum 20 mins at the Ford Orientation Center prior to your tour time to get acclimated, look around and make sure staff reviews your ticket. We paid for Guidebooks we didn’t receive. Then we made the 10 min walk to the Mansion entrance line. We didn’t understand we would not be reentering this building. After your tour you are led to the Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center - which you should allow time to visit. Our schedule was getting tight once we were done touring the grounds and we quickly made our way to the Food Court and Shops before heading home.

We were on property for 3 hours but, easily could have been for 4 or more.

A Brief History

1674: The property was granted to George Washington's great-grandfather, John Washington, by King Charles II of England. John Washington and his friend Nicholas Spencer were awarded a 5,000-acre land consisting of the peninsula in the Potomac River, bordered by Dogue Run and Little Hunting Creek. The land would be divided equally between Washington and Spencer, but the entirety of the land would one day become Mount Vernon.

1698: Tenants living at what was then Little Hunting Creek Plantation.

1726: George’s father Augustine Washington acquires the property from his sister.

1734: Augustine Washington resides at Hunting Creek Plantation with his second wife Mary and children including George. The home is a story and a 1/2 in height with 4 rooms of equal size off of a central hall. This is still the center-most part of Mount Vernon.

1754: George leases Mount Vernon from his half-brother Lawrence’s widow. The structure was continually modified and added to until 1787.

Mount Vernon website has amazing images and a virtual tour.

The New room is currently closed to visitors for preservation work. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association has been maintaining the Mount Vernon Estate since they acquired it from the Washington family in 1858.

**The New room is closed. this image is from their website.**

Green paint was very expensive and was made with copper. This let guests know you are very wealthy. Notice the woodwork is painted as well.

We were told the fact that George and Martha always had visitors and had not eaten dinner by themselves for 20yrs.

We learned the meal schedule at Mount Vernon: Breakfast at 7am, Formal Dinner at 3pm and Tea at 6:30pm and often times tea was taken in the bedroom. This is why we see dining chairs in the sleeping chambers.

**Garret Bedchamber on the 3rd Floor Where Martha moved after George’s death**

So many blooms; the Irises, Peonies and Snapdragons were beautiful.

The Shops at Mount Vernon had a variety of wonderful treasures.

Both my sister and I came home from the weekend with a post card of the van Gogh painting Green Wheat Fields, Auvers and a copy of the Guide Book. The snafu of our buying them twice has been rectified. This little book packs a ton of details and I highly recommend. You can also purchase on-line.

If you have a trip planned to the area I highly recommend visiting both. Til next time friends be well and I’ll see you over on the Gram!