Tuesday -- WOW. Are we stars or what?

What a great day.

We left the hostel at around 9:00 ( I had to let the crew sleep in a little) and grabbed some quick chow at the Double D. We hopped on the T and headed over to the Common. The kids set up shop at the Parkman Bandstand (the big white gazebo in the middle of the park) and started banging on cans and tap dancing. The kids (from my old-timer perspective) seemed to take a minute or two to get over some initial fear and once they did, it was wonderful. I set up shop on a bench a ways away from them and watched as passers-by took note, came closer (or didn't) and engaged our young superstars. Every face I saw had at least a smile that was inspired by what they were seeing and hearing. People that happened to be sitting on benches on the unseasonably warm December day in Boston were tapping their toes and enjoying the show.

One woman approached the kids and asked what they were doing. When it was explained that they were students from the New Hampton School on an Urban Adventure and that they were trying to find out what street performing was all about, the woman smiled and said that she had walked by earlier and was really taken by the energy and good spirit that she felt as she passed, so she came back. She said she had a young daughter and she hoped that when her daughter got older, she could be involved in something as positive as what she was observing. A great, great moment.

After we were done in the Common, we took a walk up Newbury Street and did some window shopping. Since we were Performing Artists, though, we made sure to take some photos and make observations about the people we saw while we were shopping and the roles they were playing.

After shopping, we grabbed some lunch and headed out to the water to the opening day of the Institute of Contemporary Art. I hope someone posts a link. No photos were allowed in the galleries, but we saw some amazing stuff: multimedia exhibits, room-wide installations, mixed media, photography, videography, computer generated graphic exhibits and an actual photo shoot for Boston Magazine was happening while we wandered through. If you make it to Boston in the near future, I personally cannot recommend this place more highly.

My my my -- what a tired group of Junior Urban Adventurers I took back to the hostel for the bus load-in. We saw a LOT of stuff in a LOT of city.

They were a great group of kids to take around town. As exhausted as I am as I sit here writing this, I wouldn't trade it in. We learned a lot. We had a lot of fun. And, one hopes, we grew a little.

Go team!