Boston, Massachusetts, USA

More random sights in or near downtown Boston........

As summer draws to a close, a woman enjoys a brown bag lunch on the Rose Kennedy Greenway.  Before the Big Dig project was completed (which moved the highway underground), traffic on Interstate Route 93 thundered through this area day and night. 

Getting around downtown via bicycle is a breeze now.  New Balance Hubway is a new Boston bike sharing system. It has 61 stations and 600 bicycles and might expand into Boston neighborhoods and surrounding communities if all goes well.

This is sort of alfresco dining at this North End restaurant but without blocking the sidewalk or actually being outside.

Either this businessman is waiting for a water-taxi to pick him up or, he is a very small well-dressed performer balancing on the railing and gazing out to sea - or, come to think of it, he looks like he might be doing something not generally acceptable in public.

The Old State House, reputed to be the oldest surviving public building in Boston, was built in 1713 for the government offices of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  Today, it is dwarfed by more modern structures.

Official proclamations were read from the balcony pictured above. In front of the balcony was the site of the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770, when British soldiers fired into a crowd, killing five.

On July 18, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was first read in Boston from this balcony. Now, each July 4th you can gather to hear a reenactment reading. The original golden lion and unicorns, symbols of royal authority, were taken down from the roof and burned in a great bonfire that day.

This larger than life size bronze sculpture is of  former Mayor Kevin White near Quincy Market.  The hand gets a lot of action from passersby.

The iconic Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, named for a Boston civil rights activist, carries I-93 traffic into and out of downtown Boston to/from the North.