The burdens of modern life

Oh, the burdens of modern life in the big city. Burden #1: finding time to exercise. Burden #2: the aggravating and time-consuming commute.

Here are just some of the sights on my twice-weekly 50-minute bicycle commute to work, which also doubles as my exercise regime, makes the expense of a gym membership unnecessary, and helps in part to spare our family the expense of a second car:
-- woman performing Tai Chi by Spy Pond, twinkling in the morning sunlight
-- the vegetable gardens along the bike path by Fresh Pond Reservoir
-- rowers, fishermen, and ducks enjoying the Charles River
-- the monastery of Saint John the Evangelist
-- the mansions of the Harvard elite
-- the dome at MIT
-- the gold-roofed Massachusetts Statehouse all aglow
-- the elegant 19th Century townhouses of the Back Bay
-- the Hancock Building, I.M. Pei's skyscraper
-- the Esplanade, a treasure of landscape architecture
-- the Boston Public Garden
-- the Boston Common
-- the gritty Theater District
-- the early-morning bustle of Chinatown

Ah, that all our burdens should be so light!