Fine Arts to Fenway to Freezers

Our last week of freedom was spent exploring some of Boston's well-known sights.



The Boston Museum of Fine Arts. We got free tickets from the public library, but when we showed up it turned out it was donation night, so we didn't have to pay anyways. But at least with the free tickets we didn't feel bad for not making a donation.



Nothing quite like hanging out with TJ. Can you imagine what his statue would say if it could talk? Probably complain about all the people misquoting him all the time.



Renoir's Dance at Bougival.



So that's why they have all those leftover pieces in Egypt. They've shipped parts all over the world. How can the Egyptians be expected to put their temples back together with parts from Karnak sitting in Boston?



An exhibit at the museum featured men and women singing Madonna songs. The artist placed an ad in a Milan newspaper inviting the singer's fans to come and be taped singing her greatest hits. Life is a mystery...



Always wanted an authentic Van Gogh doll, detachable ear and all?



We had our first celebrity sighting. First person to spot the celebrity in the photo and name them will get an autographed photo of said celebrity!



We also stopped by Fenway Park, visiting some of the Red Sox's more famous former members. Even if they are currently in a freezer somewhere.



How serious are they about their baseball around Fenway Park? Well, just pick up a copy of the paper and you'll know.



Nothing quite like a giant floating jumbo-tron, broadcasting advertisements for all to see.

More from Beantown

Here are a few more photos of Beantown.



"I'm singing in the heat, yes, singing in the heat. What a horrible feeling on such a lovely evening!"



Justin never likes to take steps backwards. It seems counterproductive. Unless the path forwards just ends.



We had the opportunity to explore a nearby farmers market. My guess is they probably won't be there in a couple months.



We decided to take the bus over into Cambridge and wander around. Also, Justin is experimenting with rear-curtain flash, which allows for both motion in the photo and clarity of the main subject, so you'll probably see more photos like this in the near future.



Why are towers fun to photograph? They stand out!



In our neighborhood there are lots of fun shops. This local fish shop picks up fish daily from the docks, and has a friendly greeter at the door.



When people ask, "What is American food?" this will be the picture I show them. America is a amazing because we welcome everything. And when you have this kind of diversity on one block, you can imagine what our neighborhood is like.



This is entitled, "Broken Dreams." Or maybe, "More fun than investing with Bernie Madoff, and just as profitable!"

Our (First?) Submission for NYTimes

Thanks to everyone who shared suggestions. We took into consideration your comments, and we decided to submit the auto rickshaw driver photo with the following back story:



Traveling isn’t about the destination, it’s about the journey. The constant journey. When traveling in a new country, the simplest of tasks can become the greatest of adventures. My wife, Jessica, and I recently took a four-month honeymoon around the world, stopping in eight different countries on three continents. While we saw some of the great wonders of the world, it was everything in between that made the journey amazing. Nowhere was this more true than in India. I snapped this photo while riding in the back of an auto-rickshaw with my wife. Auto-rickshaws are a popular and challenging mode of transportation in India. Flagging one down, communicating a destination, negotiating a price because the meter is always broken, holding on for dear life (driving in India is a contact sport), arriving at the wrong place, asking a stranger for directions, hold on some more, and finally arriving at your destination. It’s a whirlwind journey that never ends, and that is why we travel. It’s also why we need time off once we finish traveling.

But it does say we can submit one or two, so if there is a second photo that you REALLY think we need to submit, let us know!

NY Times Photo Contest

Hello devout readers!

We hope to submit a photo from our trip to the New York Times Travel Photo Contest. Here are the details of the contest:

Why We Travel: Submit Your Photos

Share your best travel photos from this summer, then tell us the backstory. Where did you go and why? What's happening in your photo? What does it mean to you? We'll publish a selection of the top images this fall. For inspiration, see this gallery of images. (Please limit your contributions to one or two photos.)

Since they are looking for a photo with a story, and pretty much every photo from our blog has a story, we wanted to take recommendations from you as to which photos and stories you found the most interesting or unique. Please post your favorites in the comment section, and, if you can, please include the post title.

Thanks for your help and for reading!

J Squared

Meet the Neighborhood!

So we're getting close to being unpacked, but not unpacked enough to take pictures. So enjoy these instead!



Looks uber-urban, right? Maybe the rough blacktops of Boston... It's not, it's actually in Southampton (where Justin's aunt, uncle, and cousin live), but we had you going.



It has been raining a lot, and we have yet to buy an umbrella. Instead, we got wet.



When we moved to Boston, we got a great rate on a one way rental. We ended up using it as our moving van as well. Pretty sweet moving van, no? Pretty hot.



But that's not the only thing hot. We've been pretty hot in our apartment. How hot you ask? Our toilet is sweating hot.



But enough of the inside, here's the outside of our apartment building. The three windows at the very top are the outside of our living room that we posted last week.




If we hadn't recently been in India and Egypt, we might think Boston is the worst city to drive in. Pedestrians crossing whenever and wherever, drivers stopping in the middle of traffic and putting their hazards on, and roads originally designed for the width of one-horsepower vehicles. This intersection right next to our building is another example of a civil engineer who is no good at their job.



Also, you should show respect to all!



Some of you may have heard that Justin got a job at Prospect Hill Academy teaching 7th and 8th grade math. Located in Somerville, this charter school is just under 4 miles from our apartment. He'll be teaching 3 classes with around 75 students.



This might be Justin's classroom. Or one of his classrooms. Due to space constraints, all the teachers have to rotate classrooms, but with only 75 students, who can complain? For a little perspective, if he was teaching at a public school in Austin, he would probably have 5 classes of about 25-30 students, or somewhere between 125-150 students.



And back to the clouds. Do you see the three A's in the sky?

Making the Move!

Hello, and welcome back for a whole new season of "When Justin met Jessica." We've been moving, but we're just about settled in now so we thought we'd get you caught up. Here goes!



To make the move we rented a 12-foot moving truck, which was more space than we needed, but no one likes to rent one way anymore except for truck companies. Granted, when they told us we'd get between 6-10 mpg, we started to question our decision. Fortunately, with a light load and a lot of highway driving, we managed to go 2177.5 miles on 151.773 gallons of fuel, getting approximately 14.34708413 mpg, or about 4 miles better per gallon then the Hummer H2. We did so well, we decided to take a detour through Canada.



That detour probably wasn't the best idea. When we got across the bridge, we didn't know if we needed to go in the "Trucks" or "Autos" line, so we went with the obvious, trucks. When we got up to the booth the lady asked if we were a commercial truck (you could call us a big PENSKE ad), asked for our list of goods (which we didn't have), and asked for our passports (which was a new requirement, and ours were packed in the back of the truck). She scolded us for being unprepared, but after a verbal spanking, she let us through. Apparently we were holding up her line. We had the same trouble leaving Canada too, but only because the man at the border of the USA was surprised we got into Canada to begin with. It's easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. In our defense, we had checked with the rental company before we left to see if there would be any problems with us driving across the border. Little did they know...



But it was all worth it, just to see the Niagara Falls. That's the one thing Canada has over us, their Niagara Falls are way better then our Niagara Falls. And public health care, they have that too.



Once back in the US of A, we stopped in to visit the Thibaults, Justin's aunt, uncle, and cousin. That visit turned into a two week invasion. Hey, better to ask for forgiveness... Here, Justin is shown shoe shopping with his cousin, Talula. They never did find anything big enough for him.



While shoe shopping didn't go so well, berry picking did. Strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries were all in season and very delicious!



Now for a brief wildlife tour. This is a frog.



This is Woodlina the Woodchuck.



And this is a rabbit. We apologize for the quality of the photos. Animals generally like to come out at dawn and dusk, a.k.a., when the light is poor. But you get the idea.



No, we're not recycling photos from Spain. We happened across a quaint little park in Boston with a rose garden.



In that same park, if they had been having auditions for Snow White, Jessica would have taken the part if she were willing to dye her hair.



They also had a playground, but due to some ageism, someone wasn't allowed on. Humph.



And here is the living room of our new apartment. We're on the fourth floor of a building on Commonwealth Avenue, just over a mile from the Boston University Law School. And with no elevator, we should stay in great shape!



Well, that's all for now. If for some reason this post didn't knock your socks off, hopefully you could still buy a house here.

Happy Birthday Molly!

Happy 21st birthday to the sweetest, kindest, best dressed (I didn't steal any of your clothes after you left, btw -- it took an enormous amount of self-restraint) brilliant-est, best sister (and sister-in-law) a girl could ask for! We were able to celebrate her birthday before she left on her world tour.