Two museum days (II).

A brief continuation from the last post...

Tuesday we headed down to the U. S. S. Constitution, where we had to show ID and go through a metal detector before boarding Old Ironsides.   Melanie had promised that seeing the ship would be “a treat,” and it was.

Navy sailors in checked shirts answered the kids’ questions—how do you fire the guns?  how far can they shoot?    They answer in the first person:  we load them like so, when we looked out through the gunports we could see the British sailors looking back at us, our sides are made of white oak with live oak planking sandwiched between.  

More questions.  What are the  pilings for, a few meters  out in the water?  (The 5yo hoped the pilings were for target practice.) 

It’s really a lovely ship to tour.   Our family had toured the Cutty Sark in London and a big replica ship at the Genoa maritime museum, and this had a similar feel to it, with the added excitement of being a Real Ship Really Afloat And Sometimes They Take It Out For A Spin.

 

Docked nearby is the U. S. S. Cassin Young, a destroyer.  “The metal ship,” the 5yo called it.  Also a good ship to explore, and I think the smaller children were equally impressed.

We got a number of questions answered by a couple of men in USS Cassin Young caps who were painting (until one of the little boys started hopping from foot to foot and we had to leave to find the closest restroom).

Hobart mixer in the galley.  Troy, OH!

After the restrooms we went to the museum, which was sizable and really very well designed for families.  There was a daily-life-of-sailors exhibit with a mock mast that children could climb upon to “shorten the sail,” and a little wind-tunnel tank with a model boat whose square sails you could turn to show how the sails can be “taken aback” to change direction (but not tack).   Two of our kids spent a good long time with an electronic design-your-wooden-warship game.  I was pleased with an elegant little demonstration where you could raise up three metal ball bearings and then magnetically drop them onto samples of three different woods, including the Georgia live oak.   The live oak is so hard, the ball bearing bounces back from it about three times as high as from the others.  There are also blocks of wood you can heft, to feel its density.

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The exhibit underlines that the people, mostly enslaved, who harvested the live oak had a nasty, difficult job to do under terrible conditions.   

Mark and I at least could have spent a lot longer at these two museums, but the younger children were getting hungry and hot.  So it was down to the ferry, and across to lunch (tavern-type restaurant with sandwiches and mac-and-cheese) and then the New England Aquarium.

Schooling!

Okay, so the best aquarium we’ve ever seen is the one in Genoa.  This one is much more compact but still pretty great.  Highlights for the little people:  the really big turtle in the Great Ocean Tank, the octopus tentacled against the glass, and the two touch tanks.  Some tiny moon jellies in an illuminated tube held by a docent, so you could see them up close.   (I love the sea jellies myself.)  Oh, and we watched penguins for a good long while.  The 9yo was very excited and amused to witness one pooping in the water.

I let the 5yo drag us all over the aquarium at will, which meant we backtracked and wound up on the wrong level a lot, as I squinted at the map in the low light.   He was really happy, though.  This kid loves  fish and sharks and rays.  I am always charmed by the monomania of a small child who has a passion.  Really, I went to the aquarium so I could see the 5yo at the aquarium.

On the way back:  some time playing in the playground.   I have come to believe that playground time is crucial to traveling with littles.  They remember it.

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That evening we gave the kids frozen pizzas and took the bus into the North End for an Italian dinner date.  Which was an occasion to reminisce about being in Italy for real.  Inside the restaurant, with wine and a huge pile of burrata and carciofi and proscuitto and arugula “appetizer” ... it did not feel very different.  Buona sera.

Also my favorite, linguine alla vongole.  This seemed like the place to order it.

We finished with espresso for me and limoncello for Mark and a walk back to Charlestown.  Really lovely.

Comments

[The Evil Auntie]

Looks wonderful!

[Melanie B]

Did we mention that Dom got to go out on the Constitution when she turned around in the harbor on the 4th of July? His dad knew a former captain who got them tickets. I'm not jealous a bit!

I remember when Bella was the enthusiastic 5 year old at the aquarium. She was all about the penguins and the jellyfish. It's such a fun age.