This past Sunday Zanner and I were totally tourists. We woke up early and had a pancake breakfast party, spent some time lounging on the couch, and then headed out to the Museum of Science for the afternoon. After our museum adventure I was planning on meeting some friends for dinner, so we took a stroll through the Back Bay to kill some time. Except with me, you’re never killing time, you’re stretching it out and soaking it in. At least, when there’s picture taking involved.
I love this part of Boston like no other. Back Bay is where I spent my first few years out of college. In my first real venture to a city I lived right in an apartment on Beacon Street. Back Bay is where I first fell in love with this town. It’s the place where I discovered the Charles River, and the perfectly gorgeous tree-lined Marlborough Street. It’s where I discovered the Commonwealth Mall, Copley Square, the Boston Public Library, and how easy it is to spend an entire afternoon on Newbury Street, yearning for pretty things and eating ice cream while doing it.
Sometimes being a tourist in your own city is important. It makes you look at things harder, makes you appreciate the beauty that’s there. Because if there’s beauty in a city, it’s here, my friends. It’s here.
{all images © anna e. burns | please link with love.}
i love being a tourist in my city, too, and appreciating the beauty (easy to do if you have the back bay). i also think the first place you spend time in a city and fall in love with it can mean so much. i often think of what it will be like to pass my street and apartment building in nyc, many, many years later, and remember being young and working here. i hope the older me will be satisfied with how much the younger me appreciated it and tried to enjoy it to the fullest.
I love this comment. It just made me smile a big one. :)
These photos are amaaaaazing. So much gorgeous architecture here, no?
Also, super cute t-rex picture. =) J and I just discovered the fun of t-rex hugs. (TRY IT)
I don’t know that hug yet, but I’m willing to try it. Any hug is a good hug in my book.
these photos are so beautiful! I want to visit Boston so badly!
Oh Anna…
These pictures make me simultaneously happy as I’ve ever been and kind of sick at my stomach with “home”sickness.
But keep them coming, keep them coming!
They are lovely.
E, there’s talk of me working in Beacon Hill again this summer, so I don’t think there will be a shortage of Boston pics any time soon.
I hope you’re ready for them.
Those pictures are gorgeous!
I completely agree with your sentiment of sometimes needing to play tourist to truly appreciate your city. I love Boston, but sometimes I forget all the great stuff it has to offer.
How frigging awesome – I love the photo with the trex the best!
Ahh, I knew I recognized that dinosaur! It’s so funny, I always seem to end up getting ice cream when I’m wandering Newbury St, and I definitely always feel like a tourist. :) Your pictures are lovely and capture well what I, too, love about this city. I feel about Cambridge what you feel about the Back Bay for very similar reasons!
xo,
Mel
looks so fun! I love spending the day in Boston!
Soooo true; Boston is gorgeous. We did the MoS too! We’re literally still tourists here, so every outing is an adventure. Lovely photographs missy!
I love being a tourist. I’ve lived here for 6 years now (!!!!) and I never tire of doing the classic Boston things.
I agree with Elizabeth – you photos are amazing, Anna!
Thank you, Kerry! :)
so beautiful! looks like such a lovely day.
Your photos are so gorgeous! I love the interesting angles you used. We certainly are lucky…Boston is such a beautiful city. I’ve never actually been round the MoS..I’ve been to the omni movies they have there, but not the museum itself. Definitely on my to-do list!
It’s really cool there– and a little secret: if you arrive after 3:15 or so you get to use your ticket again within 6 months (at least on Sundays when it closes at 5)! A pretty sweet deal considering it’s so pricey.
The picture of you being the T-rex. I can’t.
the back bay is my favorite place ever. i mean that. it’s so beautiful, it warms my heart. your pictures capture it so well.
i’m determined to live there eventually, because though i live close right now, it’s not close enough!
wowee!! these photos are absolutely AMAZING!!!
great pictures Anna! i couldn’t agree more, time is never wasted :)