Tim and Rafael in Boston

The "seeing us off" party.

On the GREEN LINE.

The John Hancock Tower and Trinity Church

View of Boylston Street

The John Hancock Tower and Boston Public Library

Memorial for the Boston Marathon victims

NOT the Ninja turtles?

Hair bling!  Sarah Palin?

111 Huntington Avenue at the Prudential Center

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Mother Church 

The Prudential Tower

In accordance with the Manual of The Mother Church, the Mother Church is the only Christian Science church to use the definite article ("the") in its title. Branch churches are named "First Church of Christ, Scientist," "Second Church of Christ, Scientist," and so on, followed by the name of the city, in the order in which they were built in that city (for example, Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago).

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, is located in the 14.5-acre Christian Science Center. The center is owned by the church and contains the Original Mother Church (1894), Mother Church Extension (1906), Christian Science Publishing House, Mary Baker Eddy Library, the Administration Building, Colonnade Building, and Reflection Hall. There is also a reflecting pool and fountain.

The Original Mother Church, designed by Franklin I. Welch, was completed in December 1894, eight years after the first Christian Science church, the Church of Christ, Scientist, Oconto, Wisconsin, was built by local women who felt they had been helped by the religion.

Although fairly large for the time, the original church, a Romanesque Revival stone structure, is often overlooked by casual visitors because it is dwarfed by the much larger domed Mother Church Extension. Designed to fit on an odd kite-shaped lot, the former features an octagonal auditorium that seats 900 and a 126-foot (38 m) steeple. It is built of granite from New Hampshire, Mary Baker Eddy's home state.

The organ was rebuilt in 1950 by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company to replace the original organ. It has 2,825 pipes that were relocated behind grillwork in the ceiling when The Mother Church Extension was built. The organ pipes visible in the front of the sanctuary are purely decorative.

The Original Mother Church is at the heart of the Christian Science Plaza and remains today much as it was when first built. The building was completed in 1894 in just 13 months' time. Designed by architect Franklin I. Welch of Malden, Massachusetts, the Church is reminiscent of the Romanesque architectural style. The exterior of the building is New Hampshire granite. The building seats about 900 people. Inside the sanctuary, frescoes stenciled by Italian artisans and finished off freehand decorate the upper part of the walls. Mosaic work around the lower part of the walls, the front platform, and the floor was done in the traditional style with each individual piece of stone set separately. The floor is white Italian marble. The pews, desk, and front of the organ are of red birch from eastern Canada.

Added in 1904–1906, the Mother Church Extension was originally designed by architect Charles Brigham, but was substantially modified by S.S. Beman when he took over construction in 1905 as a result of Brigham's illness. In particular, Beman minimized the Ottoman and Byzantine elements, bringing the domed structure into line with the Classical architectural style that Beman favored as most appropriate for Christian Science churches.[9] It boasts one of the world's largest pipe organs, built in 1952 by the Aeolian-Skinner Company of Boston. The sanctuary, located on the second floor, seats around 3,000.

The large, domed Mother Church Extension was designed by Charles Brigham and Charles Coveney of Boston, and Solon Beman of Chicago, and completed in 1906 in just 23 months. The outside of the building is Italian Renaissance to match the architecture in Boston at that time. The dome is in the Byzantine style. The inside of the dome is purely decorative, with electric lamps simulating natural light. The exterior of the dome rises to more than twice the height of the interior dome, or 224 feet. Because of the small plot of land, the Church edifice was built upward instead of outward, so the sanctuary, which seats over 3,000 people, is located on the second floor.

The organ, built by the Aeolian-Skinner Company of Boston, is one of the largest in the world with a total of 13,384 pipes ranging from the size of a pencil to 32 feet in length. The organ is played from a four-manual console located in front of the platform.

Many of the stained-glass windows depict Bible stories. The windows were fabricated in Boston and are made with what is referred to as opalescent glass—a colorful translucent glass with a wide variation of shades. The artist used a technique called drapery glass to add depth and texture to scenery and clothing. The skin and hair tones were painted on and fused into the glass.

Our tour guide told us that there are no depictions of crucifixion used in The Church as they focus on his life and resurrection (healing) rather than his death.

"So accustomed have we become to this view of the Master that we sometimes forget there is another side to the picture, – forget that although there were deep shadows of sorrow and woe, yet there were high lights of bliss and joy.  Although Jesus did experience on the side of his humanity the depths of unutterable woe, yet there was in his earthly experience an underlying current of the truest, purest peace and joy, a peace so deep and abiding that he leaves it as his last precious legacy to his disciples . . . we feel that Jesus may even more fittingly be called the man of joy."

Words are reflected onto the water from a projector above.

Mary Baker Eddy.  Daguerreotype, c. 1850.

Mary was about 30 years old when she sat for the daguerreotype.

Mary Baker Eddy.  Tintype, c. 1864.

This photograph dates from a period in Mary's life when she was gaining new insights into her decades-long search for healing.

George W. Glover (son).  Photograph, c. 1861.

Mary gave birth to a son nearly three months after his father died.  She was left weak by childbirth and, as a single mother, struggled to look after the boy.  Mary's family found the child demanding and difficult to live with, and eventually sent little George to live with a former family nurse, Mahala Cheney.  Then, without Mary's knowledge, both her father and her second husband, Daniel Patterson, helped the Cheneys move to Minnesota with George.  Since a woman rarely had rights regarding custody of her children, Mary had to accept this separation.  Not until years later, when George was serving in the Union Army, did he and his mother reestablish contact.

Mary Baker Eddy's residence in Swampscott, Massachusetts.  Photograph, c. 1870.

The day after her fall, Mary was taken to this home in Swampscott, where she and her husband rented an apartment on the second floor.

Commonwealth Avenue in April.

Swan boats!

Seems that thet're only available from the third week of April to the third week of September.  This is as close as we could get.

Edward Everett Hale (April 3, 1822 – June 10, 1909).  An American author, historian and Unitarian minister.  He was also the grand-nephew of Nathan Hale (1755-1776), the Revolutionary War hero executed by the British for espionage.