Head of the Charles Weekend

You know, I've spent 4 years in college in Boston, and 8 out of the 10 years following(if I'm counting right)... and I've never been to the Head of the Charles Regatta? Kind of weird, and I'm not really sure how it's happened... but I think I end up out of town or just oblivious until it's like "why are all these people here?"... at this point, though, I'm sort of inclined to keep my streak going. However, perhaps if we're in the mood for a walk on Saturday or Sunday we can stroll down to Harvard Square and catch a bit of it. It might be nice to play tourist with Anna home for the weekend.

This little pictorial guide from Boston.com was fairly helpful in understanding how it works. Biggest in the world... expecting 300K spectators... yadda yadda. What surprised me is that the rowers are going against the clock, not each other, so you just see them zip by one at a time... which seems a little less exciting from a spectator point of view. I was sort of hoping they might smash each others' oars and have boarding parties and the like... oh well. I was also surprised to see it's more focused on the Cambridge side of the river and starts near Harvard Square... I would have thought getting people on the Esplanade would be what they want... but I suppose it makes visiting it convenient for us. Though that also suggests if we aren't interested in seeing any of it we shouldn't go anywhere near Harvard Square.

photo used under a Creative Commons license by flickr user jaj