D and I had not been to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in decades and never together so it was a great to return on a suddenly cold but sunny March day. The interior courtyard with its beautiful plants and flowers, arranged with symmetrical precision, was a psychological boost, a reminder that spring will come soon, if not yet.
In the early 1900s, Isabella collected all sorts of old world artworks and arranged them in the vast and small spaces of her mansion (“palace”) in idiosyncratic fashion, which reminded me of the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. The rooms are often dark and gloomy, painted a deep moody blue or red, with large dramatic paintings, antiques, ceramics and sculpture. The windows and balconies lining the three-story courtyard with its Moorish patterns lets in very welcome light, adding an unexpected sunniness.
A contemporary addition to the main house is also cheerful, with red and orange mod furniture. We had an excellent, albeit pricey, lunch in the restaurant Cafe G (rigatoni Bolognese!) and sat in comfy contemporary chairs in a lounge.
We also visited the edgy contemporary photo exhibit on the second floor, where photographers documented experimenting with their gender and sexuality. Couldn’t help wondering what Isabella would have made of it. One thing’s clear: she wouldn’t have been in it. She didn’t like having her picture taken, and often covered her face with a scarf when photographed.
A 13 minute walk along the Fens got us to the Time Out Market where we went to Far Out for New Zealand style ice cream — soft serve mixed with real fruit. Real Tasty.
On our last day we went to AJK, an excellent bakery with pastries, breakfast sandwiches and sandwiches in Salem walked past beautiful old Yankee homes in the nearby historic McIntire District, dodging a few witch tours here and there. We stopped at the statue of Bewitched TV show star Elizabeth Montgomery so D. could pose with his childhood crush.
Our American Airlines flight home was rocky. We boarded for an on time departure from Boston to Chicago and started moving. Then flight attendants started rushing up and down the aisles. Then the plane stopped and we were told there was a missing passenger. Then we were told there was a passenger count discrepancy. Next thing we know, we’re taxing back to a gate and are told we must deplane with all our stuff, hopefully to soon re-plane — which we did after awhile, complete with another safety demonstration by a flight attendant. Then there was another weird delay — the tow bar (or some such) wasn’t coming off. Strange grinding noise ensued, then stopped, and we flew to Chicago, leaving several hours late, causing several passengers to miss their connections. Our outbound flight on American also began with a short delay that grew longer.
TakeBetsywithyou 