Nick’s Summer Vacation!

I got back to Japan last night (Monday.)

This was my plane from Boston to Chicago. I left Boston at 9am. I woke up at 5am and got to the airport at 6am. I flew on American Airlines.

This was my plane from Chicago to Tokyo. The flight was 12 hours long. I saw many movies, slept and read some books. My plane from Tokyo to Nagoya was the same type, a Boeing 747.

I left Boston at 9am on Sunday, August 25th. I left Chicago at 12pm on August 25th and arrived in Tokyo at 2:30pm on August 26th. But I only flew for 12 hours! So now I have very bad jet lag.

I had a great summer in Boston - I hope you had a great summer too!

See you again!

Today was my last day in Boston. I didn’t go anywhere, I just packed my suitcase. I will leave Boston at 9:00 tomorrow morning and return to Nagoya. I have three flights:

Boston to Chicago

Chicago to Tokyo

Tokyo to Nagoya

Here is a photo of the moon over Boston:

See you in Japan

Today’s weather wasn’t nice

I took a walk to Kenmore Square and Fenway Park.

This is Fenway Park! It’s the oldest still-operating baseball park in America. It was opened in 1912, so this year, 2007, is Fenway’s 95th birthday. Matsuzaka and the 2004 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox play here.

‘Yawkey Way’ is one of the streets that Fenway Park is on. Yawkey Way is named for Tom Yawkey, one of the original owners of the Red Sox. A ‘way’ is a small street.

Here’s a map of Fenway.

This is a statue of Ted Williams, one of the most famous players from the Red Sox. You can read all about him here.

This is a sign from Tom Menino and the people of Boston welcoming Daisuke Matsuzaka to Boston. “Dice-K” is Matsuzaka’s nickname here; some people cannot say his first name “Daisuke” so the people of Boston made this nickname for him. This sign is across the street from Fenway Park on Yawkey Way.

This is the Citgo sign. It’s the most famous sign in Boston. It’s made of LED lights: at night it lights up and is beautiful. You can see what it looks like here.

Today I went back again again to my hometown, Brookline.

First, I went back to my junior high school. I talked to my English teacher from 5th grade - 21 years ago!!

Here are the two tennis courts at my school. Anyone can use them.

Here’s my locker! I used it when I was in 7th and 8th grade. It’s number 61.

Here’s the school library. We use it for graduation, too, in May (in America, school goes from September to May/June.)

Here’s the lunch room. It’s new - when I was in school it was very different.

This is a vending machine that students can use.

Here’s a photo of my high school. This is the field and the main building. Kids are playing soccer on the field now. School will begin in September.

On the left is the swimming pool, on the right is the gym.

This is the Brookline Swimming Pool - anyone can swim here (but it’s not free.) We don’t learn how to swim in school.

Here is the gym. On the top there are tennis courts inside - 8 courts! Downstairs are two basketball courts, a weight room and some squash courts.

Here’s a basketball court. Anyone can use it.

After the high school, I walked past the library. This is the Brookline Public Library.

Anyone can come here to read and borrow books, magazines, watch movies, listen to music and use the internet. It’s free for everyone. There are two branches, this is the main branch.

This is Brookline Village. It is the second main part of Brookline.

This is a Japanese restaurant. It’s called “Yokohama.” In the window the sign says “SUSHI”. Sushi is popular in America.

Brookline Village has many old shops. Here in this photo you can see a barber shop, a bank, a florist and a hair stylist.

Here are some more photos I took of Brookline:

What’s this?

It’s a drinking fountain. It was in a park at the top of a hill near my old house.

See you tomorrow!

I went to Harvard Yard today, where Harvard University is (click here to read about Harvard.)

This is Harvard Memorial Church.

This is the Widener Library.

This is a statue of John Harvard.

Here’s another photo of Harvard Yard.

Here is a dormitory.

See you tomorrow

Today I visited the Harvard Museum of Natural History, it’s next to Harvard University. Inside the museum are lots of examples of animals. Some are extinct, some are not.

Here are some photos I took inside:

Here’s a Kiwi bird

Here’s a pengiun

Here’s a fox

A lion

An owl

Here’s a polar bear. They are cute but very dangerous!

This is a wolf.

Here’s a whale skeleton. There are three here.

See you tomorrow!

Today I went to the Massachusetts State House. I talked about it in class before: it is the building with the gold dome. It was first built from 1795 to 1798. Click here to read about the State House.

The dome is real gold leaf. It is free to go in and it’s BEAUTIFUL inside The flag on the right is the flag of Massachusetts.

Here are some photos from inside:

This is the Hall of Flags. It has flags from towns and cities in Massachusetts.

This is the inside of the gold dome. When it’s bright and sunny outside the dome is very bright.

See the eagle? The eagle is a symbol of America.

Here you can see how bright it is inside when it’s sunny outside. There are many beautiful paintings all around.

Here’s my last photo, from the outside.

See you tomorrow

Today I went to the Bunker Hill Monument. It is in Charlestown, next to Boston. It’s on the site of a very famous battle during the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Bunker Hill (read about the battle here.)

This is a statue of William Prescott (read about him here.)

This is a sign before you go inside. There are 294 steps to the top and there is NO elevator! It took me about 10 minutes to climb to the top.

This is what the staircase inside looks like. There are no places to stop and rest

Here’s a view from the top! The shadow in the middle is the tower.

At the bottom is Charlestown. In the middle is the Charlestown Navy Yard. Up at the top on the right is Boston’s Waterfront.

This is the U.S.S. Constitution, the oldest ship in the U.S. Navy (read about it here.) Every year on July 4th (Independence Day) the ship is moved out into the water and it turns around. The ship’s nick name is “Old Ironsides” because when British ships shot at it, canon balls bounced off the sides. It is also a museum that you can visit.

At the bottom is Charlestown, at the top is Boston. On the left is downtown Boston, on the right is Cambridge.

Here’s the other side of the monument. The building on the bottom right is the Bunker Hill Monument Museum (it’s free.) At the top is downtown Boston.

After I came down from the top, I walked around Boston.

Here’s the sunset after a long day.

See you tomorrow

Today we went grocery shopping. I took some photos in the supermarket. In America, supermarkets are much bigger than Daiei, Seiyu or Aeon. Look!

These are meats. Chicken, turkey, bologna, ham and some others. On the left is bacon and many kinds of sausages.

This is the International Food section. There are foods from Japan, China, India, Brazil and Europe here.

This is all cereal.

This is the drink section. Look at all the Coke! This whole display is all drinks.

This is the frozen food section. Here you can get pizza, French fries, and all kinds of other foods. There are 4 more big freezers like this.

This was ours. This is enough food for one week

Yesterday it was cloudy, rainy and cool outside, so I went to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. In Boston we call it the “MFA”. The sister museum is the Boston/Nagoya Museum of Fine Arts, but the museum in Boston is much, much bigger.

This is the main entrance to the MFA. Maybe you know this picture?

Here are pictures I took inside:

This is my favorite painting. It’s a painting of Boston from the 1880s.

I hope you enjoyed the photos!