TARDIS - The MFA

Early last Thursday morning, after dropping off The Young One and one of her teammates at the exhibitors' door of the PAX-East convention, I was able to begin my Artist Retreat. Himself was my chauffeur with me and since check-in at the hotel wasn't until 3PM, we had pretty much the whole day. Himself asked what I wanted to do. I decided I wanted to visit the MFA (Museum of Fine Arts). It had been a long time since I was there (a class in manuscript study while attending Odyssey 2001, the international calligraphy conference).

I had my Worcester Art Museum credentials with me, and we were given a free pass as a professional courtesy which is a nice perk. The museum is huge and with so much to see, it's impossible to see the collection all in one day. On the suggestion of guest reception, we went to visit the new Art of the Americas wing which we were told opened a couple two or three years ago. We started on the top floor and worked our way down. We saw works by Jackson Pollack, Georgia O'Keefe, John Singer Sargent, John Singleton Copley, just to name a few.

By the time we made it back to the first floor, it was time for lunch. There are several dining options in the museum, but lunch was right in front of us at the American Café. Himself and I are sometimes on opposite schedules so it was nice to be able to have a real date. We had a leisurely lunch in the beautiful glass enclosed courtyard. Even with the snow flurries outside, the space made me long for my sun room. Is it July, yet?

After lunch, we did a quick look and go tour of the Medieval Gallery, the Luxury on Paper: The Art of Surimono, and Blue and White. We made a quick stop at the gift shop where I purchased a couple of Illuminated Initial magnets and a Magic Pencil.

We plan to return to the museum when Samurai opens. The exhibit will be a nice reward for Himself as he will be testing for his fourth degree black belt in karate this June.

After the museum, Himself dropped me off at The Little Princess hotel, better known as the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. The hotel used to be the Statler Hotel built in 1927. The grand dame is showing her age in places, but the Young One and I had a comfortable and quiet room. (Got a great room rate through Kayak). PAX offered a free shuttle to the hotels so the Young One was able to easily get to and from the convention center. The Park Plaza is pretty much in the heart of the Back Bay and Boston is an easy city to get around by walking or taking the T.

The hotel is also across from the Boston Public Gardens. I had hoped to spend some time walking through the gardens and sketching, but it was too cold and there was still snow on the park benches from the February and March blizzards and storms.  Another time.