The walk taking me to the Barnes and Noble store at BU passes by a popular park, the Back Bay Fens.
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| Back Bay Fens |
The park has an illustrious history, having first been designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park in New York City. The city of Boston hired him to help create a park out of a noxious marsh. Below is a brief summary of that time, taken from the
Emerald Necklace Conservancy website, where you can also read about the history of the park and what it's like today.
"Starting in 1878, Olmsted’s challenge in the Back Bay was to restore a stagnant saltwater marsh that flooded and threatened public health. Combining landscape architecture with sanitary engineering, Olmsted’s efforts transformed a foul-smelling tidal creek and swamp into a scenic pool within wooded banks; gaining interest from the meandering course of the water. Olmsted renamed the area the Back Bay Fens."
Of course, when I get to the Barnes and Noble store, I'm going to want to rest for a bit and maybe have some coffee. They have all the amenities of a normal B&N, plus they are the official bookstore for Boston University. They even made a little video telling about the store:
B&N@BU.
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| Barnes & Noble @ Boston University |
I made it! But I have another mile to go so I'd better get going.
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| B&N to 890 Commonwealth |
It's an easy walk along Commonwealth Avenue (US-20) to the corner of St. Paul Street, past some of the buildings of the Boston University campus, including the Office of the University Registrar at 881 Commonwealth, where I stop for a short break.
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Cheryl Strayed
Photo by Graeme Mitchell
for the New York Times |
Across the street at 890 Commonwealth is the location of Boston's NPR station,
WBUR. Listening to my iPod, I can hear the program they're broadcasting as I walk along. One of the interesting shows on WBUR is excerpts from the
Dear Sugars feature, written by Cheryl Strayed and collaborators, answering letters they received in the style of an advice column. (It ended in 2017.) The show is derived from
Tiny Beautiful Things, a play dramatizing the real advice column, "Dear Sugar," that Cheryl Strayed wrote before she became a famous writer. I think it's fitting that I'm listening to her program, since she is also famous for taking a very long walk!
I made the first two miles today, so that means I practiced for two hours. I must say the prospect of seeing what's around the next corner is incentive. That's good!
But now I'd best be continuing on my journey. Where will the next two miles take me?
