I did a lot of walking yesterday, as Alex and Steven and I went off to explore the new Silver Line Waterfront and some other parts of Boston. It was a great irony to me that when I worked in the South Boston waterfront area this year, I had to walk through the Silver Line construction every day. They were building a stop right in front of my building. So of course, when does the line open? A month after I stop working at that job, of course.

The Silver Line is sort of an odd duck, as it was designed in anticipation of a lot of development in the waterfront district that so far has only partially materialized. It's bound to continue in the next few years, though, so for once city planning is a bit ahead of city development.

We started our trek as we do many of our city excursions, by taking the T to Downtown Crossing and walking down to Chinatown for a dim sum lunch. It was good to have Steven with us, as Alex usually complains that I don't eat enough and he doesn't get to try as many different things. So having three was definitely better. I'd brought along the sports section of the Globe, so we enjoyed reading about yesterday's Patriot's win. My favorite quote from the paper was, "'It was an awesome performance', said Belichick, a man incapable of hyperbole." Don't we know it!

After lunch, we walked to South Station and got on the new Silver Line Waterfront line. This goes in electric powered buses through a tunnel under Fort Point channel, past two underground stations in the waterfront district, and then comes above ground and splits into 4 separate lines, only 2 of which are operational now. Eventually, they're going to use buses that convert between electric operation for the underground portion and diesel operation for the surface route, but these buses are not available right now, so currently you have to switch buses between the two sections of the route.

The two branches that are operating now go to the Boston Marine Industrial Park and to City Point, South Boston. We got on the City Point branch, and while we were waiting for the turnaround at City Point, we got into conversation with the bus driver about various technical aspects of the buses and the line operation. She also said that driving the section through the tunnel is deadly dull, as they are restricted to going only 20mph.

What I'm looking forward to is when they put the 3rd branch into service, which will go to the new Convention Center and then through the Ted Williams tunnel to the airport. Not just to the airport, but it will circle around and go to all of the individual terminals at the airport. When that happens, it will make it much easier for me to go to the airport by T. Currently, I have to take the Red Line to Park, switch to the Green Lne to Gov't Center, then the Blue Line to the airport, and then a bus to the terminals (4 legs). When the Silver Line gets going, I can simply take the Red Line to South Station, then the Silver Line directly to the terminal (2 legs).

On our way back to South Station, we stopped and checked out the two underground stations. The first one (going back) was the World Trade Center station, which could also be used to go to the Convention Center, which is a long block away, and the Seaport Hotel. It was actually semi-above ground, with lots of natural light. The upper lobby had a nice blue neon wave type of decoration.

The second one was called the Courthouse Station, and it also serves the Children's Museum and the older office buildings where I used to work. It was quite elaborate with embossed metal panels, and a huge upper concourse with violet UFO-style lighting. The escalators go up to a bright, glass-enclosed entry kiosk. Since it was a holiday, there hadn't been much traffic on the further reaches of the line, but quite a few people actually got on at the Courthouse Station for the trip under the channel to South Station.

At South Station, we transferred to the Red Line, which was a very short walk, and then took the Green Line up to North Station. Alex hadn't been down there since the overhead tracks had come down, and he was amazed at how different everything looked.

That was where we made the crazy decision to hike over to the Apple Store in Cambridge to see if they had any of the new Apple gear. It wasn't that long a walk, and I've done it before, but it was really, really cold and windy, so by the time we got to the Apple Store, we were all pretty red in the face. I got to see an iPod shuffle (all the store staff were wearing them around their necks), and learned that they had only one shuffle left in their inventory. Alex was tempted (he was bothered, I think, that I was getting a piece of technology before him, as he's usually the leader in these things), but he restrained himself from buying, this time at least.

Finally, we walked over to Kendall to get back on the subway to Alex's place. By that time, my legs were definitely feeling a little sore, and I was frozen through and through, so it was good to head home and soak in a hot bathtub.