Dear Eric,

    I started off today intending (with the help of a local friend) to show a fellow-delegate some of the sights in the vicinity of Boston, such as Lexington and Concord. But the pouring rain forced us indoors, to the MFA, where I reveled in the early American paintings (my interest slacks off at about 1870). After lunch at my friend's place his energy was flagging (he's recovering from bronchitis), so he dropped the two of us off downtown at the Freedom Trail.  We only made it through about four sites, but as many times as I've been in Boston, I'd never been inside any of them.  Four in a row is about as many as is comfortable, anyway -- one begins to get patriotic site fatigue.

    After 5, then, I tested out the route back to the hotel on the T and found it do-able, though there's about a 15-minute walk at this end.

    Tomorrow morning I'll head back downtown and, if all goes well, I should be able to continue along the Trail, taking in the Paul Revere house en route to Old North Church, where there's an Episcopal service at 11 a.m. and a reception afterward.  And so the festivities begin.

    The Boston folks seem reservedly friendly -- not exactly falling over themselves with welcome, but that's pretty normal. It's hard to believe there's never been a national convention here before.  The man selling tickets at Old South Meeting House said he's been getting a stream of people from all over the country, so I guess quite a few delegates are walking the Freedom Trail. Now if we can just get free of our current King George . . .

Linda+