Trip to Harvard Square in Cambridge

Recently Susie and I drove to one of my favorite haunts in this corner of the universe: Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. It was a gorgeous day and just ripe to spend some quality time out of doors.

We decided to leave our car at the cemetery and take the bus to Harvard Square for lunch. We waited for about 15 minutes -- the bus stop is right outside the cemetery gates and you can take the no. 71 or 73. Once aboard it was a quick five minutes before we scrambled out in the subterranean terminal at Harvard Square.  efore exiting to street level we stopped to top off our cards at a nearby kiosk.

Once up and out in the sunshine we found ourselves in wave after wave of flesh moving in every possible direction, groups of tourists, gaggles of students and just lots of activity.

Anyway, we set our sights on lunch and after about 10 minutes of wandering around found ourselves walking inside Dado, an Asian fusion (?), tea, wrap, a place with smooth tunes playing quietly in the background; a nice change from the din of the streets.

The food was absolutely delicious: Susan had a wrap that tasted of sesame oil and citrus and I had a Japanese curry bowl with chicken, which was filling and flavorful. We shared a green iced tea.

After lunch we strolled down Massachusetts Avenue in the direction of Central Square in search of Rodney's Used Bookstore. We stopped short of the square itself when we found the bookstore. Unfortunately, it didn't have what I was looking for (vintage postcards of Pere-Lachaise Cemetery) and after 10 minutes or so we headed back out onto the street.

We strolled back toward Harvard Square and walked through the square itself (of course), mingling with hundreds (or hundreds of thousands?) other like-minded folks. I'm sure there were one or two students somewhere as well. . .

From Harvard Square we walked  across the street, passed the statue of Charles Sumner (who is buried, interestingly enough, in Mount Auburn) on the small traffic island and into the Old Burial Ground.

Opened circa 1635 this cemetery sits at the one of the earliest points in Massachusetts history, and indeed in the history of Harvard as well. It also has a wonderful memorial to those men who grabbed their muskets on April 19, 1775, and dashed off to stand up for their rights as free men.

 

Erected by the city

A. D. 1870

to the memory of

John Hicks

William Marcy

Moses Richardson

Buried here

Jason Russell

Jabez Wyman

Jason Wynship

Buried in Menotomy

Men of Cambridge

Who fell in defense of

the liberty of the people

April 19, 1775

O What a glorious morning is this!

After leaving the burial ground we walked the block or so to the Harvard Coop, one of the finest bookshops I've ever had the pleasure of losing myself in. It had probably been more than 20 years since I had been there. We browsed for a bit in the cool, rarefied air of room after room of books amidst the throngs of anxious students and their parents.

After plunging back into the hordes of tourists, students and just everyday folks we found our way back to the bus stop and got aboard the No. 73 heading for Watertown Square. We jumped off (in a manner of speaking) near Mount Auburn Cemetery and after a few minutes' walk we were back in the car heading for the Mass Pike and home.