On our third day in Boston we went to visit MIT and Harvard. We walked from our apartment, which made it a BIG walking day. We walked across the bridge over the Charles River – this is the bridge that was (famously) measured in ‘Smoots’. An MIT kid, named Smoot, had used himself as a measuring stick and measured the bridge in his own bodylengths. Then we strolled around the MIT campus on the other side. Everything was closed due to the pandemic (no tours, couldn’t get into the buildings etc.) but we could walk around the campus and see everything from the outside, and peek into the windows. After walking around MIT for a while, we continued down Massachusetts Ave toward Harvard. On the way, we stopped at another Flour bakery for pastries, then continued on into downtown Cambridge. We strolled through Harvard, and I was really struck by the difference between MIT and Harvard. Harvard is the oldest university in the U.S., and it had an impressive, formal architectural style of beautiful red brick buildings around lush grassy quads. MIT was much more modern, with mid-20th century buildings and little architectural coherence. It did have an older, three-sided quad, but this quad was facing the Charles River and not the rest of the campus (it was actually quite difficult to figure out how to get INTO the main quad at MIT!). We passed a little farmer’s market on the Harvard campus, and after dithering a bit we got some fresh fruit and berries. We were a couple days into our trip and could tell that we were getting fewer fruits and vegetables than usual, so I think we were all craving some fresh produce! We sat in one of the quads at Harvard to eat them. Harvard felt very formal, both architecturally and psychologically. Very East Coast and very New England (which is rather close to ‘England’ itself), compared to the more free-and-easy California culture we are used to. Lela felt the need to do some cartwheels on the grass to establish some space and push back on this rather oppressive formality. After walking through Harvard we strolled through Cambridge, and got some cannolis at a well-regarded bakery there. Then we took the subway home. Once we were back, Lela and I went to a grocery store a block from our apartment and got supplies for dinner. We love eating out, and I DO enjoy having a break from cooking, but after just a couple days I can FEEL myself craving vegetables. Most restaurants emphasize meats and carbs, and even the vegetarian ones tend to be more ‘carby’ than my cooking. So we got the supplies to make a nice dinner of fresh produce. Then, in the evening, it POURED. It really, REALLY poured. With lightning and thunder! It was kind of amazing. We rarely see this kind of rain in California so it’s very exciting.