The Library Conference in Boston

Here we are in Boston for the winter library conference. I am not getting covered by work for this one, but my plane ticket was really cheap, less than $200, and I have my hidden perc – Mark works for the library association and gets a comped room so as long as I stay with him, I don’t have to pay hotel costs.

On Thursday, I drove down to Harvard IL to take the train to Chicago. I was super nervous about the weather, because the prediction was for rain, snow, sleet, and ice, but the roads were actually clear, and it was just fine.

I got into town in time to take the green line to the apartment, dump my luggage, and change from snow boots into city boots. I walked to Sofi – a newish South Loop Italian restaurant, to meet Rob and Paul for supper. I was a bit of a fickle friend – I had talked to Joan on Monday, when I was on the bus on my way to Chicago for the first trip there of the week, and she wanted to see this film about Julius Rosenwald’s philanthropy. But when I got ahold of Rob by email on Tuesday and he said they were available for dinner, I took what seemed to me to be the better offer. I had an arugula salad and a new-to-me pasta shape, paccheri focaccia, flat tubes. It came with a creamy sauce with just enough tomato to make it pink, and bacon.

I had to be at Midway for a 7:30 AM flight, and I was lazy and took a cab ($36) instead of the orange line. While I was waiting at Gate B9, I signed up for the free 30 minutes of Boingo wifi. I was there early enough that it ran out a few minutes before boarding started – and Boingo, ever marketers, tweeted me.

@DebsLunch That is not the experience we would like you to have. We would love to help. Please follow/DM us your terminal/ gate. ^Peter

— Boingo Wireless (@boingo) January 8, 2016

Since I cabbed to Midway, I was happy to ride the free bus into Boston. The weather for Boston was cloudy and 40s, except for Sunday when it was supposed to be in the 50s, and heavy rain, which, since I am writing this on Sunday, I can confirm did indeed come to pass.

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We were all done with conference stuff by 5:00, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston is open late Fridays, so we decided to go see this show:

The Museum was quite the scene on a Friday night – like Jenny told me about MoMA – prime pick up spot. The show was good; there were some Dutch masters that I had never seen in the flesh, like this one by Pieter de Hooch, that’s always been a favorite. Also this picture of a baker, that must’ve been on about a thousand cards.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Vermeer’s letter writer in person, either. I think my favorite picture in the show was this Rembrandt, of a shipbuilder and his wife.

We liked the show, and thought it was skillfully curated, but we agreed that we usually prefer to simply enjoy the flat out gorgeousness of the Dutch master paintings, than to see them used didactically.

We wandered back to the hotel, stopping to get dinner at a little bistro on Newbury St., Roost. We got a bowl of chowder, and a salad, and a margherita pizza – we could’ve just had the soup and salad and skipped the pizza.