Celebrating Independence

Yesterday was Independence Day in America, and what better place than to celebrate it here in the historical City of Boston, where the settler's resistance to the British taxation regimes finally led to a decision by 13 colonies to make a formal declaration of independence from Britain.  The declaration was adopted on July 4, 1776.

The years that followed after that was marked by several years of fighting between American regiments and militia (subsequently allied with French and Dutch forces) against British forces supported by some German and Canadian units.  The Americans finally forced a British surrender at the Battle of Yorktown in 1783. Well, so much for a brief page of history...

4th July is today celebrated as Independence Day and is commonly associated with fireworks, barbecues, carnivals and other celebrations.  So knowing that this would be our first and last fourth of July in our present American sojourn, Doris and I were determined to join in the celebrations in the city, which promised a crowd of some 500,000 people by the Charles River.  

Before that, we met with a couple of my classmates - all International students (Bulgaria, Greece, Israel, Morocco and Taiwan) - for dinner at a Brazilian eatery along Cambridge Street after what seemed like an endless trek from the Central Square station in the Harvard area. Arriving a rather ravenous lot, we lost no time in launching into a carnivorous rampage of the eclectic selection of grilled meats.  Yummy!

The 'council' of international students looking all prim and proper... ah but wait till the feasting begins!!!

 

The odd couple from Singapore... in the company of mainly Mediterranean and European countries. 

The waiter serving pieces of meat right off the grilling flames... that looks like bacon wrapped over chicken.

Following dinner, we travelled to the Kendall area to mingle with the crowd, catch the audio broadcasts of the celebrations at the Halfshell, and catch some 30 minutes of riveting fireworks! Don't the pictures just remind you of our own National Day Parade?

Above is a shot of maybe 1% of the crowd at the Harvard/MIT side of the Charles River. You can see the iconic Prudential Tower - the tallest one - on the other side of the river. 

Let the fireworks begin!

Fireworks timed according to the 1812 Festival Overture composed by Tchaikovsky - you can hear a similar rendition in our juke box.