Fireworking

[jducoeur]

msmemory and I decided to do the fireworks downtown this year -- we were in the mood for a bit of spectacle, and were not disappointed.

Every year, they come up with something New and Different for the show. Last year it was the Bizarro World fireworks, that burst into beautifully perfect green cubes in the air. To that, this year they added what I'm thinking of as the Inflationary Theory fireworks. These burst in a fine bang, and then suddenly (and rather uncannily) accelerated outward in all directions. You don't consciously think about how much you expect fireworks to be neatly Newtonian until you come across one that isn't.

We decided to make a constitutional of it, and spent the core of the evening walking. We parked in Central Square, walked down Mass Ave to Mem; across Mem to the Salt and Pepper bridge, across that into Boston, back along Storrow Drive to Mass Ave, and back across the bridge, stopping almost back where we started to watch the fireworks. The middle of Harvard Bridge continues to be my traditional favorite spot to watch them.

The walk was quite nice, for the most part. They're getting better at the speaker setups: ironically, the only stretch of it where you really couldn't hear any music at all was the quarter directly behind the concert itself. The peoplewatching was marvelous as always, and the foot traffic mostly okay. However, there was a real "what were they thinking" section along Storrow directly across from the Esplanade, where they funneled all of the pedestrian traffic into a single 10-foot-wide sidewalk; if there had been a sudden panic for some reason there, someone would have been killed in that crush. And the Boston end of Harvard Bridge has gotten loony -- there are so many people standing in a crush, jockeying for position to see the fireworks, that getting through was damned near impossible. But we joined into the thin line of ants pushing their way single-file through the earth of the crowd, and eventually got free of the worst of the crowd at around 75 Smoots.

We heard the concert only intermittently, but it was pleasant (if predictable by now). I'm not quite sure who came up with the idea of having Dr. Phil host it, but fortunately he didn't get to talk much. Mock-conducting the traditional Souza march (whose arrangement hasn't changed a note in decades) is a fine annual enjoyment.

And at the end, the traditional lemming rush to the roads. We always wait until the end, letting most people get out before us, and I still marvel at the insane traffic jam trying to escape Cambridge. A nuisance, but a price I've become accustomed to for a fun change of pace evening...

Comments

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

For the years I lived in Boston, I went to the esplanade every year for the fireworks/concert/howitzers. Thanks for reminding me of them. Crowded, crazy, but worth it, even the year my mom decided the Constitution was in walking distance of the Esplanade and we should go see it.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

You don't consciously think about how much you expect fireworks to be neatly Newtonian until you come across one that isn't.

What, as if the thing was Einsteinian? I'm pretty sure our species has yet to develop relativitstic fireworks... :)

[anastasiav.livejournal.com]

Josh and I are fireworks junkies, but its hard to find fireworks around here that really bring us any amazement and delight, in part because he used to work part time on a fireworks crew and its a very different experience watching them from the crew seats than from across the cove (for example).

We've always wanted to go down and see the Boston "big city" fireworks, but have always assumed that its too crowded and crazy for mere mortals to watch (not to mention the parking).

Your description gives me hope. Perhaps some year in the not-too-distant future we'll make the trip down and see the show....

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

If you join the Musuem of Science, they have a fireworks-watching program on top of their parking garage. You pay some not unreasonable fee, and get to park and watch from there. We may do that next year.

[jducoeur]

As cvirtue says, there are places where you can pay to get a good view. (I gather than the Prudential Tower takes people for $20/head plus parking.) Or you can do it for free, if you're prepared to walk a ways. We always manage to park in Central Square (so long as we arrive by 8pm), and it's probably a mile or so from there to a reasonably decent view. We generally spend the whole evening walking around and peoplewatching, but we're weird that way -- most people pull up a stretch of sidewalk (or road -- the surrounding roads are all closed) and plonk down there with a lawn chair...

when I lived down there...

[camilla-anna.livejournal.com]

we used to game at MIT. We'd gather at the Chem E building and walk over to watch the fireworks, go back and game a bit more and leave around midnight-ish when you could drive in cambridge again. Very little fuss.

there just aren't fireworks in Vermont to compare. Pout.

[kelevcat.livejournal.com]

I also enjoyed the fireworks that flew off in random directions. My vantage point was from our 12th floor office building by the Kendall Square T stop. I managed to capture a picture of the cube/random explosions, online at http://www.ticktockdesign.us/pix/fireworks20060704/DSCF0168.jpg.

Leaving the building, Kendall was a mess. People were backed up onto Main Street waiting to get into the T station. I walked to Harvard and caught a train to Alewife. A word to the wise for future reference, *never* park at Alewife for a major event. It took almost 1.5 hours to get from the 4th floor to the street (and this was with people pre-paying upon entering the garage). I'd thought about parking at the Fresh Pond Mall, but figured the garage wouldn't be that bad.

[jducoeur]

Wow -- I had figured it would be bad, but that's horrific.

In fact, Central Square turns out to work quite well. We arrived fairly late this year (around 8pm), and still had no trouble finding a legal parking space. And it's just not that far a walk...