Green visits the Hub of the Universe

That would be Boston, for all of you outsiders, or the Hub for us local types.

Whenever I'm required to travel into the city of Boston, I like to take advantage of public transportation (a thoroughly wise idea), as was the case a couple of weeks ago. On that day I went into the city by a route I've never used before.

Normally I drive to Alewife MBTA Station on the Arlington/Cambridge line and take the Red Line into the city. From there I can change to any one of the other subway lines which will take me wherever I need to go. Today, however, I drove to Medford and parked at the Wellington MBTA Station and took the Orange line into the city.

My destination on that day was the 14^th floor of the Prudential Building (picture, left, courtesy of www.aviewoncities.com). I got off the subway at the Back Bay stop. At the Pru, as it's called locally, you have to check in at security, so they can give you a visitor's id badge. There are two sets of elevators. The first services the first 10 floors or so and the other one goes right to the top, skipping the lower floors. Of course I proceeded to head towards the wrong elevator. A kindly looking security guard asked me where I was going and headed me off in the right direction.

From where I got off of the subway, I was afforded the opportunity to walk the length of the Copley Square Mall, which I rarely get to do. As I was walking the Mall, the major thought going through my head was how expensive the rent would be to have a store in this Mall and how expensive all of the stuff is here. We're talking ritzy stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor and Niemann Marcus, to name a few.

If people watching is your thing then a major mall in the downtown hub of a major city would definitely be a good place to go about it. Unfortunately I did not have the time to engage in this activity. I also did not have time (or the cash on hand, $11 bucks a pop) to go to the top of the Tower to look out the windows which offer some of the best land-based aerial views of Boston and surrounds. From what I remember, on a clear day you can see all the way into Canada. I haven't been up there in so long. One of the radio stations I occasionally listen to has its studio at the top of the Pru. Combined with 50,000 watts of power, that station's signal carries pretty far.

I still don't know the ultimate end result of that meeting and it's frustrating.