Weekend Trip to Boston, JetBlue Flights, Hyatt Regency Harbor Hotel, and Fine Art Museums

by admin

First weekend of February 2022, I made a trip to Boston, visiting some friends and running some errands. This post would be about the roundtrip flight with JetBlue, the Hyatt Regency hotel overlooking Boston Harbor, and the Museum of Fine Arts that I visited during my spare time.

Manhattan

Flight B6554 from Washington Reagan to Boston

Between Washington Reagan National Airport and Boston Airport, JetBlue operated a shuttle-like schedule that departed every hour on the half-hour. For my flight to Boston, I was originally ticketed on flight B61854 that would depart at 8:30am in the morning, which gave me just enough time to reach the airport with the first metro train on Saturday at 7am. So on the morning of Feb 5, I woke up early and made it to the metro station at its opening time, and cleared security at Reagan National Airport at 8am. With this experience, it’s certainly pushing my leave-home time for future flights at DCA.

Unfortunately, things took a downward turn after that. The plane that was supposed to serve my original flight, N284JB, was missing some mechanical parts. I got an email from JetBlue early in the morning that the flight was delayed by half an hour, and once I got to the airport, it just kept getting pushed back.
Adding to the issue, JetBlue was ridiculously short-staffed at DCA (like everywhere else in their system). There were constant lines in front of the few gates that they operated in DCA, and apart from that there was nobody else to talk to in the airport. With JetBlue’s shuttle-like schedule, they could have mitigated the damage by swapping planes, or inviting connecting passengers onto other flights that were on time (the next flight to Boston left on time). They completely wasted their scheduling advantage by doing nothing.
So after sitting in the terminal while being fed with minimal amount of information from the all-too-busy gate agent, the decision finally came at 10:30am, 2 hours after scheduled departure time, to rebook passengers onto other flights of the day. And with that, I got rebooked onto flight B6554 that was scheduled to depart at 11:30am.

American Airlines A319 (N744P)

In Piedmont Airlines livery. Piedmont Airlines was a regional airline wholly owned by American Airlines, operated exclusively ERJ145. It’s interesting to see its livery on a mainline aircraft. In addition, after sitting at the gate for an entire morning, this plane operated AA1642 to Boston, on time.
JetBlue ERJ190 At Gate
N284JB, my original plane to Boston.
JetBlue ERJ190 At Gate
N284JB, my original plane to Boston.
Boarding Flight to Boston
A new plane and a new flight number.
Ramp at DCA

JetBlue Airlines 554
Washington Reagan (DCA) – Boston, MA (BOS)
Embraer ERJ190 (N274JB)
Seat 20D
Scheduled Departure – 11:30am
Actual Departure – 12:00pm
Scheduled Arrival – 12:48pm
Actual Arrival – 1:12pm
1 hours and 12 minutes
Here’s GPS tracking:

We had a longer than usual hold at the ramp, so despite the boarding was on time, by the time we were airborne, it was 30 minutes late.
Here’s a video of the takeoff:

Washington DC / Atlantic City

For reasons I don’t quite understand, we took an unusual path onto the Atlantic ocean, instead of the common route over New York City. And we cruised at a very low 7500m along the way.

And here’s a video of the landing:

A few days ago Boston was hit with a severe winter storm. In and around the airport there were still patches of snow and ice. JetBlue would certainly use that as an excuse for the additional five-minute that we waited for the jet bridge operator.

Farce Afterwards

Of the few airlines in the United States, JetBlue was the only one with a published policy regarding compensation for delays within its control, which stated departure delays between 3:00 and 3:59 hours were eligible for a 50-dollar credit. Since there was nothing I could do sitting in the airport that morning and with this expected credit actually exceeding the price of my ticket (this roundtrip was 86 dollars total), I managed to get not too upset that morning.

Then the farce with JetBlue began, as they tried as hard as possible to deny their published compensation. I tried talking to two of their chat agents, one went as far as to claim that my delay may be “uncontrollable” by JetBlue because “we cannot control a mechanical problem that comes up”. In the end, they both referred to their system that I experienced a total departure delay of 178 minutes, which was under the 3 hour threshold.

Sticking to the facts, I boarded the plane at 11:21am, and I recalled the cabin gate being closed at 11:34am. The actual takeoff was at 12pm. The JetBlue system claimed that the flight “departed” at 11:28am, which I could only interpret as the time the gate agent in the terminal determined that boarding was complete by having scanned all the boarding passes. If this was how their system was set up, then there’s nothing but dishonesty in that system.

In the end, I managed to talk to a phone agent with more authority. While she could not provide a satisfactory explanation of how JetBlue calculated “departure delay”, she ended up issuing me a 100-dollar credit.

Museum of Fine Arts

In between running some errands, visiting some friends, I visited Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. And here was a collection of objects that I found interest in.

Seventh Plague of Egypt

John Martin.English, 1789-1854.Seventh Plague of Egypt, 1823.Oilon canvas
In the Bible, Moses calls down ten plagues before the pharaoh is persuaded to free the enslaved Israelites. This work, one of Martin’s grandest paintings, depicts the seventh: “And Moses stretched forward his rod toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire rained down onto the earth.” Moses and his brother Aaron are at the left upon the foreground balustrade while the anguished Egyptians, including the pharaoh, cower amidst the towering buildings of Thebes. Inspired by Turner, Martin produced a series of these dramatic ancient or biblical scenes. In this case, he drew upon some of the earliest illustrated publications on Egyptian monuments to create an authentic setting.
The Passage of the Delaware

Thomas Sully.American, 1783-1872.The Passage of the Delaware, 1819.Oil on canvas
Commissioned by the state of North Carolina for a public building, this monumental painting commemorates the cold December night when Washington led his troops across the frozen Delaware river to surprise the enemy forces at Trenton. The decisive victory that followed tilted the war in the colonists’ favor. Thomas Sully, an ambitious Philadelphia artist, drew from written accounts of the event and his own theatrical imagination to formulate the painting, which he called “a historical portrait.” Measuring a startling twelve feet tall by seventeen feet wide, the painting proved too large for its intended exhibition space and circulated through venues up and down the East Coast until it was acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts in 1903. It retains its original frame, crafted by the Boston artisan john Doggett around 1823.
Sully’s image is notable for the way it gestures towards a large set of political questions. The group of men at right includes William Lee, an enslaved man who served as Washington’s valet during the war. Peering out from the background, he calls attention to the participation of people of color in the American Revolution and references the broader debates over the existence of slavery in the new nation.
Washington at Dorchester Heights
Weymouth Bay from the Downs above Osmington Mills

John Constable.English, 1776-1837.Weymouth Bay from the Downs above Osmington Mills, about 1816.Oil on canvas
Constable was a key figure in the development of English landscape painting in the early 19th century. He also provided inspiration to French artists of a younger generation, whose works hang nearby. Often, Constable painted sketches and even finished works out of doors. He created this work, with its remarkable panoramic perspective and striking topographical accuracy, during his honeymoon. He kept fond memories of the area, writing to his wife in 1823: “The distant Dorsetshire hills made me long much to be at dear old Osmington, the remembrance of which must always be precious to you and me.”
Bacino di San Marco

Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal).Italian (Venetian), 1697-1768.Bacino di San Marco, Venice, about 1738.Oil on canvas
In the 18th century, a foreign visitor to Venice would have been astounded by the sprawling view Canaletto captures here. The urban center was arguably the bacino, the city’s bay and main harbor; water and boats were central to Venetian life and commerce. Here, Dutch and English flags fly on ships in the mid-ground, underscoring the city’s cosmopolitan nature. Although Canaletto painted his cityscapes with great precision, he also allowed himself to take liberties with the details of a scene and combined several viewpoints in order to produce amore “picturesque” composition.
Ravine

Vincent van Gogh.Dutch (worked in France), 1852-7850.Ravine, 1889.Oil on canvas
In the autumn of 1880 Van Goss painted the ravine near the asylum in the southern French town of Saint Romy He wrote about it to his dear friend Emile Bernard: “Such subjects certainly have a fine melancholy, but then it is fun to work in rather wild places, where one has to dig one’s easel in between the stones lest the wind should blow the whole caboodle over.” The following spring, Van Gogh sent this painting to Paris, where Gauguin saw it and wrote to him: “In subjects from nature you are the only one who thinks. I talked about it with your brother, and there is one that I would like to trade with you for one of mine of your choice. The one I am talking about is a mountain landscape. Two travelers, very small, seem to be climbing there in search of the unknown.Here and there, red touches like lights, the whole in a violet tone. It is beautiful and grandiose.”
Place du Parvis, Notre Dame, Paris

Jean-Francois Raffaelli.French, 1850-1924.Place du Parvis, Notre Dame, Paris.Oil on canvas
Raffaelli attended weekly meetings at the Café Guerbois in Paris with Degas, Manet, and their cohort, to discuss new directions in art. His paintings, like this one of the square in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, are most often street scenes filled with ordinary Parisians going about their lives. When Raffaelli showed his work in the Impressionist group exhibitions of 1880 and 1881, he earned the admiration of critics—and the envy of Monet and Renoir, today far more renowned than he.
Rouen Cathedral Facade
By Claude Monet, who worked on different paintings of the cathedral in different times of the day.
Charing Cross Bridge

“Without the fog, London wouldn’t be a beautiful city. Its the fog that gives it its magnificent breadth.”.Claude Monet
Claude Monet.French, 1840-1926.Charing Cross Bridge (overcast day), 1900.Oil on canvas
In London, Monet stayed at the Savoy Hotel. There, looking to the right from his room, he could see the Charing Cross Bridge, which had opened to rail traffic in 1864. Here, billowing steam suggests the movement of two trains; a darker form below is likely a barge. The Westminster Bridge appears in the distance, nearer the Houses of Parliament with Victoria Tower and Big Ben rising into the fog. A subtle shimmer of golden light emerges from the overcast sky and plays across the rippling surface of the river.
Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Luc Olivier Merson.French, 1846-1920.Rest on the Flight into Egypt, 1879.Oil on canvas
Fleeing persecution at the hands of Roman authorities, the Holy Family takes refuge in Egypt. Joseph dozes beside a dying campfire while his donkey grazes on sparse desert grass. At left the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus, crowned with a halo of light, sleep peacefully in the arms of a sphinx, its eyes turned to the heavens where the first stars have begun to appear. A successful artist within the French Academy, Merson never traveled to North Africa, but his use of archaeological detail creates the illusion of an eyewitness account – breathing new life into a time-honored subject
Phineas and the Sons of Boreas

Sebastiano Ricci.Italian (Venetian), 1659-1734.Phineas and the Sons of Boreas, about 1695.Tempera on panel
Ricci’s paintings are representative of the transition from the 17th-century’s emotionally affective, dramatic style to the more playful approach of the early 18th century. This work depicts an episode from the ancient Greek poem The Argonautica, in which the banished King Phineas is rescued from the punishing harpies. Though Ricci is primarily known for large-scale works, here he demonstrates his facility for creating light, elegant paintings in rich hues and small formats.
The Meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

Attributed to.Francesco del Cossa.Italian (Ferrara), about 1436-—about 1478.The Meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.Third quarter of the 15th century.Tempera and oil on panel
Wooden trays, usually painted on both sides, were often commissioned to mark a child’s birth and herald future prosperity. Although the meeting of Solomon and the queen of Sheba had no romantic outcome, both were renowned for their wealth and exchanged lavish gifts when they met. This scene, which emphasizes ornate architecture and lithe figures in courtly costumes, contrasts with the cruder execution, perhaps by an assistant, of the image on the back. The reverse depicts a cherub holding two cornucopias, which represent abundance, and wearing a necklace of coral to ensure good fortune, protection from evil, and fertility.
Slave Ship

Joseph Mallord William Turner.English, 1775-1851.Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On), 1840.Oil on canvas
One of Turner’s most celebrated works, Slave Ship is a striking example of the artist’s fascination with violence, both human and elemental. He based the painting on an 18th-century poem that described a slave ship caught in a typhoon and on the true story of the Zong, a British ship whose captain, in 1781, had thrown overboard sick and dying enslaved people so that he could collect insurance money only available for those “lost at sea.” Turner captures the horror of the event and the terrifying grandeur of nature through hot, churning color and light that merge sea and sky. The critic John Ruskin, the first owner of Slave Ship, wrote, “If I were reduced to rest Turner’s immortality upon any single work, I should choose this.”
Our Troops Occupy the Fortress at Huangjinshan in the Battle of Lushunkou

Ozaki Toshitane.尾崎年種.Japanese, active about 1882-1897.Our Troops Occupy the Fortress at Huangjinshan in the Battle of Lushunkou,.1894.我兵旅順口黃金山砲壘佔領.Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
This triptych depicting an event from the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) is one of the rare examples of real-life tattoos in art. In this print, civilian porters are helping Japanese soldiers. The porters’ sleeveless undershirts and short-sleeved jackets reveal their tattoos. By the date of this print, tattooing had been illegal for Japanese citizens for over twenty years, so the porters were likely middle-aged men who received their tattoos when they were young. By including both the porters and the uniformed officer directing their work, the artist implies that people of all social levels are pulling together for the war effort.
Haymaker and Sleeping Girl

Thomas Gainsborough.English, 1727-1788.Haymaker and Sleeping Girl, late 1780s.Oil on canvas
Pausing at his work, a boyish haymaker gazes toward a young woman; her pale skin and refined clothing suggest she is not a country girl. On one level, this painting speaks to erotic desire, but it also offers a deeper meditation on longing and regret. The young man is separated from the object of his affection by both social class and a fence, and the terrier will soon bark and shatter his reverie. A founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts, Gainsborough reportedly said that portraiture was his profession, while landscape painting was his pleasure. Figure and landscape play equal roles in the large-format pastoral scenes called “fancy pictures” that the artist painted late in his life.

Model of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Model of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.Probably Jerusalem, possibly Bethlehem,.17th century.Olive wood, mother of pearl and bone inlays
Still standing in Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher enshrines the reputed sites of Jesus’s crucifixion, entombment, and resurrection. In the 17th century, Middle Eastern craftsmen—working in Franciscan monasteries in the Holy Land— produced wooden models of the church, as gifts for European rulers and as prized souvenirs for wealthy pilgrims to this holiest site in Christendom. (Today several denominations share control over the church itself.) Only about thirty such wooden models are known, made in different sizes and with varying degrees of refinement. Large versions like this one could be disassembled to allow one to explore the interior.
Console table

Console table.Spain, Alcora manufactory, about 1765.Tin-glazed earthenware with enamel decoration.This table is made entirely of ceramic. It is the only known example of such furniture from the royal factory at Alcora, Spain’s leading eighteenth-century producer of fine ceramics. The table was probably conceived as part of a “porcelain room”, commissioned by the 10th Count of Aranda, perhaps to rival the one recently built by King Carlos Ill for the royal palace at Aranjuez. Factory archives mention such a table in combination with large wall plaques, small figures on brackets, and a ceramic chandelier. When combined, the impact of the richly modeled forms and painted decoration must have been spectacular —a fitting tribute to Spain’s ceramic ambitions as well as the Counts.
Piano with Decorative Painting
Exhibit

Vietnam, 17 century. The base takes the form of a nghe, a beast believed to be one of the dragon’s nine offspring.
The Flood

Claude Michel, called Clodion.French, 1738-1814.The Flood, 1800.Terracotta
This terracotta is Clodion’s small-scale sketch for a lifesize plaster—one of his most important late works—that he exhibited at the Salon of 1801, in Paris. The sculpture depicts a father carrying his son as he struggles against the waves to find a higher elevation. Clodion intentionally selected the heroic subject matter in an attempt to secure a commission from the new consular government of France, headed by Napoleon Bonaparte. Although he earned a first-class medal for his work, the commission never materialized, and the original plaster has disappeared.
Eternal Springtime

Auguste Rodin.French, 1840-1917.Rodin’s lovers express bliss through their dynamic postures. The woman’s open arching position and the man’s expansive embrace create a moving, almost dance-like image of love. Like many of his individual sculptures, Rodin developed this ambitious composition out of work on a major commission for a pair of bronze doors, The Gates of Hell, based on Dante’s Inferno. Rodin often reused or reworked figures, postures, and gestures, fully exploring their expressive possibilities.
Starfish Brooch

Starfish brooch,1937.Designed by Juliet Moutard (French) for the house of René Boivin (French, founded in 1890).Fabricated by Charles Profilet (French) 18-karat gold, ruby, amethyst.At four inches long—roughly the size of an outstretched palm—the starfish brooch features seventy-one collet-set rubies and 665 pavé-set amethysts. The brooch represents the Asterias vulgaris, a common sea star native to the North Atlantic. Crafted with dozens of sophisticated joints, the brooch can move in three directions (up and down, side to side, and around). Through this intricate design, when handled, the limbs flex and drape in the same wave-like motion as the marine creature it represents. It is truly a paragon of design and craftsmanship.
Osage Series – View from Saddleback Ridge

Kreg Kallenberger.American, born in 1950, lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.Osage Series – View from Saddleback Ridge, 1990.Cut, polished, sandblasted, and oil stained cast optical crystal
An artist’s landscape can represent a personal memory or experience of a particular site. Kallenberger ties together emotion and the natural world through intricate glass sculptures inspired by place, here the mountainous landscape of his home in Osage County, Oklahoma. By using optical crystal, the hills and valleys that populate the work shift as the viewer changes position and as light enters the work – this mimics the way we see the natural world from a different perspective with each step through the landscape
Osage Series – View from Saddleback Ridge

Kreg Kallenberger.American, born in 1950, lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.Osage Series – View from Saddleback Ridge, 1990.Cut, polished, sandblasted, and oil stained cast optical crystal
An artist’s landscape can represent a personal memory or experience of a particular site. Kallenberger ties together emotion and the natural world through intricate glass sculptures inspired by place, here the mountainous landscape of his home in Osage County, Oklahoma. By using optical crystal, the hills and valleys that populate the work shift as the viewer changes position and as light enters the work – this mimics the way we see the natural world from a different perspective with each step through the landscape
Table centerpiece

Table centerpiece (epergne), about 1760.Marked by John Parker (English, free in 1762) and Edward Wakelin (English, free in 1748, died in 1784).Silver.Holding candied fruit and nuts, this monumental epergne would have been the dessert table’s focal point. It was made for Charles, fifth duke of Bolton; his coat of arms is incorporated into the base’s scrolling border. Parker and Wakelin were the foremost silversmiths in London for much of the 18th century, supplying royalty, aristocracy, and gentry with both domestic and ceremonial silver. Here the naturalism of fruit, foliage, and animal figures reflects the influence of French rococo design.
Candelabrum centerpiece

Candelabrum centerpiece, 1806-07.Designed by Charles Heathcote Tatham (English, 1772-1842).Marked by Philip Cornman (English, died in 1822).Retailed by Rundell, Bridge & Rundell (active 1787-1805).Silver gilt
The early 19th century ushered in a new method of dining a la russe (‘Russian-style’), in which food was served one course at a time rather than all at once (“French-style,” or a la francaise). Extra space on the table allowed for inventive new decoration, including spectacular centerpieces like this one. Regency designers, including architect Charles Heathcote Tatham, were avid exponents of a severe neoclassical style inspired by antiquity, from Egypt to the Roman Empire.

After I left the Museum of Fine Arts for downtown Boston Saturday afternoon, the green line train I was on had an extended hold at Prudential Station, due to “power outage ahead” (MBTA Twitter) / “fire” (Twitter user) / “disabled train” (train operator). News later confirmed it’s a pantograph that caught fire. A lesson on the choice of words, and maybe it’s just not my day for transportation.

Despite the flight delay this morning significantly disrupted my weekend schedule, I still visited some friends Saturday night, and we had a great time catching up. Just that it’s not my day with public transportation, so I asked one of the friends to drop me off at my hotel.

Hotel: Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor

I had a few Cat4 free night certificate that was about to expire, and my only choices were Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor or Cambridge. The Cambridge Hyatt was still under renovation, so I picked the former.

Being Hyatt’s Globalist elite, I got a top-floor room with great views of Boston Harbor. Since I arrived late at night and was more or less just looking for a place to spend the night, I didn’t ask for suite upgrades and wasn’t offered any. In addition, things in the room were certainly in better condition compared with the average Hyatt regency that I’d been to. The refrigerator was a noticeable absence, but I guessed for an airport hotel that didn’t matter as much?

Hotel Room
View from Hotel Room
Bathroom
Desk
Somehow, the TV/work station desk was very shallow.

And here’s the view of Boston’s Harbor at night with the glittering city lights, one that I could never get bored of.

Boston Harbor at Night

View of Boston Harbor

The next morning, I woke up to a different scene of Boston Harbor that’s bathing in the warm winter sun, tranquil and serene.

View of Boston Harbor
Breakfast

This was the first free breakfast that I got as a Hyatt Globalist, and I was pretty content with it.
Breakfast Area
Directly facing Boston Harbor.
View of Boston Airport
Boston Airport

The hotel had 3 elevators on its southern end, all of them featured floor-to-ceiling glass with different views, one of which was facing Boston Airport.

Flight B62255 from Boston to Washington Reagan

After finishing my errands in Boston, I reached its airport on Sunday afternoon. With JetBlue’s operational reliability, it’s probably not a surprise that my flight back to DC was delayed.

Boston Airport Terminal C
Checkin area and ramp, JetBlue’s hub.

While there was no line for security at JetBlue’s Terminal C, things past security weren’t that great. I walked an additional 100m because a water fountain didn’t work. There was no power outlets near the boarding gate C31. And the inbound flight was held for a few minutes for a jet bridge operator, which showed much of JetBlue’s operational performance.

JetBlue Airlines 2255
Boston, MA (BOS) – Washington Reagan (DCA)
Embraer ERJ190 (N265JB)
Seat 7A
Scheduled Departure – 6:00pm
Actual Departure – 7:28pm
Scheduled Arrival – 7:46pm
Actual Arrival – 8:48pm
1 hours and 20 minutes
Here’s GPS tracking:

Focusing on the bright side, the flight was about half full, with an empty seat next to me. We again cruised at a relatively low 8000m, along a typical route passing New York City on a cloudless night. That meant, I got treated with the spectacular sights of New York city lights from above.