Honeymoon 8: Fenway and the Science Museum

We woke fairly early, ate some granola bars, and hopped on the subway for Fenway. We jumped into the end of a tour just as it was getting started. Fenway is surprisingly stark. The player's parking lot isn’t large enough to fit all of their cars. The upper deck walkway is paved with concrete squares sitting on top of the tar that keeps the roof from leaking. Those give way to plywood walkways, more tar, and cheap shower drains to prevent pooling.

That's the beauty of Fenway. You can't look at the field and not picture Carlton Fisk waving his homerun ball fair with both arms. You can't be there and not feel the history of baseball being played there for almost 100 years. The ballpark doesn't have all the extras of modern ones like in Atlanta -- it doesn't need to. It feels so pure, and I wish we'd been able to catch a game there.

We grabbed a hot dog on Yawkey way, then got back on the subway to see the science museum. They have a baseball exhibit, which ended up being the only part of the place we were interested in. Well, that and the “Archimedean Excogitation” kinetic sculpture. We watched for probably about 20 minutes as pool balls traveled around the contraption, mesmerized like kids at how creative and fun the whole thing was.

The baseball exhibit followed baseball from its start, to prominence beginning in the Civil War, to 9-11. They had everything from bats made by POWs in camps to Robert Redford’s Wonderboy in The Natural. There were letters of both appreciation and hate to Hank Aaron, and thankfully no mention of Barry Bonds that I could see.

Today was a baseball day. As we wind down to the end of our honeymoon trip, it feels like we've been gone longer than a week. It feels like Maine was weeks ago, and that I know my way around Boston and have been here for days and days. We're both ready to be back home. All this has been great fun and I'm not looking forward to coming down from this high.

But I am looking forward to being home and comfortable in my predictable surroundings, with a dog, 2 cats, and a wife--a partner who I get to spend the rest of my life with.