(me, outside the site of Thoreau's cabin at Walden)
There was a 50% chance of rain on Saturday. The plan was, if it didn't rain, to go to Walden Pond, and, if it did rain, to go to this "experimental" play where no doubt scenes would feature hipster-actors shouting jabberwocky at one another and hurling feces at the audience. The latter activity being not my idea, and, indeed, I was pleased when the weather-coinflip turned up Dry.
What I've never understood about the famous Thoreau passage above is how, if you've gone your whole life falsely believing you've lived, you're suddenly going to figure that fact out as you die. Deluded alive, deluded in death, is my guess.
I felt somewhat guilty walking around Walden Pond having paid to get in there, as that seemed very against the Thoreauvian spirit. I did, though, flaut their warnings about unguarded waters:
Later, we went to a nearby sculpture museum. My photo of it didn't turn out, but this was my favorite title of a scuplture:
Most of the scuptures, incidentally, were presented thusly as "Lent by the Artist," including works that had been on the grounds for more than a decade. I presume this means that the museum did not pay for these works and that, in contrast to "donated," the artist retains rights over their continued presence, such that if somebody sees the "Monument to Frustration and Low Achievement" and decides they have to have it in their backyard, the artist can give them the okay to pull up with a U-Haul and take it away. Does anyone know if this is correct?
6 comments:
One of the very nice things about Walden is you CAN swim in unguarded areas. People can swim clear across the pond, and many do.
We (locals) call the roped-off, guarded area 'Diaper Beach' -- for all the toddlers there and prefer to be away from all that, for obvious reasons.
If you don't like paying to park (what is it? $5 a car?), try going there on a weekday or rainy/cool day -- or off-season, and you can often park free. Or park across Rte. 2 and walk over to the pond if it's a warm day and the parking lot is full. Entry to Walden Pond itself is always free.
(And it's lovely and peaceful on a rainy day and all winter when you have the place almost to yourself -- enjoy.)
JF could jog to Walden and save parking fee! It's that close to Cambridge.
Ditto, DeCordova Museum, where he probably saw outdoor sculptures (and didn't pay to go inside to see the other art!).
DeCordova was $9/person to get into the park, and included the museum. If you could get into the park for free and not see the museum, that wasn't how it was presented to us by the earnest guy at the gate.
Strange. I drove in just a week or so ago. Nobody asking us for money that day.... we were there just to have a quick look at the grounds.
If you have to pay to enter the grounds, why would anyone ever go just to shop in their store (in a building near the entry, but past the 'pay booth')?
Yeah, I don't know what to say. The guy charged us both $9 at the gate, and gave us stickers to wear on our shirts.
Post a Comment