Artifacts, History, and America’s Pastime

 

After a late night last night at the Boston Pops, we journeyed out early this morning to visit the USS Constitution. We took a ferry across the Boston Harbor which was a beautiful, but chilly voyage. The USS Constitution was an amazing ship, and we had a great tour guide. We learned about the ship’s history, why it was called Old Ironsides, how it was created, what wood was used (there was a Florida connection there!), and all about its battles and life on board. Ask an 8th grader what they learned. We saw four different decks of the ship climbing through ladder wells to get between the floors. Some of us could walk without ducking, but not many…

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our tour of the USS Constitution, some of the students conquered Bunker Hill – all 300 steps! We walked across a pedestrian bridge to the North side of Boston for an amazing lunch at La Famiglia Giorgios. After this, we journeyed by train to Harvard. The campus is beautiful! Half of the students explored the Harvard Art Museum while the other half explored the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Highlights of those tours included examining artifacts with Dr. Reid including a canopic jar and coins (the coins were a favorite) as well as exploring the artwork in the museum which included Monet, Van Gogh, and Degas just to name a few. The Museum of Natural History included interesting rocks and a whole room of flowers made from glass. Tomorrow, we will return to Harvard and the groups will switch places to explore the other museum.

We finished our night with America’s Pastime – a Red Sox game at Fenway Park! It was a fantastic game that went to a 10th inning with a thrilling 6-5 victory by the Red Sox. Students experienced baseball dining with lots of hot dogs, hamburgers, pretzels, and, of course, peanuts, and Cracker Jacks!

by Janet Andreasen, parent blogger

Morning Colors, So Many Questions and Andy Grammer

Not much beats a beautiful morning ferry ride to a private tour of the USS Constitution. We weren’t exactly sure what to expect when the tour guide told us to cover our ears. Turns out, we were in for an unexpected privilege…we had arrived in time for the 8 am morning “Colors”. The canon was shot, (photo  anthems played and servicemen honored. Silence ensued until we got the “All Clear”.

All of our tour guides have been educational and entertaining. Also very patient. We have so many questions! Our crew has an amazing ability to pick up on an interesting fact and explore it to the limits of the tour guide’s either knowledge, patience level, or time.

At the end of each section of a tour, about 20 questions are asked, each leading to another interesting fact…then another question! Speaking of questions, when the tour guide on the ship asked if anyone in our group knew what Kedging was, I think he was genuinely surprised that one of our crew could explain the act of dropping anchor, then pulling toward it to be able to move a sailboat without wind.

It was an extremely full day including visits to the Bunker Hill Monument, lunch in the park, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, then capping it all off with Andy Grammer in concert with the Boston Pops.

You might think with the travel schedule these kids have been keeping that they would be sleepy in an orchestra concert. Not so! Andy Grammer brought the house down on opening night of the 133rd season of the Boston Pops. The kids were singing and dancing right along with the music, making for a very fun ending to a big day.

 

by Melissa Paul, parent blogger

The Geneva School
The Geneva School
July 27, 2024
  • Sports Physical Clinic

    Date: July 27, 2024 - July 27, 2024
    Time: 9:00 am- 12:00 pm
    See more details

July 27, 2024
  • Sports Physical Clinic

    Date: July 27, 2024 - July 27, 2024
    Time: 9:00 am- 12:00 pm
    See more details

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