Friday, October 8, 2010

Big glasses

this man is sitting at one of the benches surrounding the fountain on the boston common. he caught my eye because of his camera and his enormous glasses. both made me wonder... was he giving his camera a rest? was he filming the fountain? was he secretly picturing other people posing in front of it... ? he did notice me taking a pic of him but i didnt dare talking with him, somehow..
this fountain is usually surrounded by tourists but why was never clear to me. a little googling around taught me that this fountain is 142 years old, and that makes it the oldest one of the 21 fountains in boston. last year it underwent repairs costing more than 630,000 dollars!! in fact, it comes from europe, and it is the only known surviving copy of the original featured at the 1855 paris world fair, where it got a gold medal. it was imported from switzerland by gardner brewer, a wealthy merchant, who gave it to the city of boston in 1868.
maybe he was just thinking about all that.. while sitting there... :)