Prudential Skywalk Observatory

justify;”>A $11 admission ticket buys you access to the observatory and museum exhibits. Audio handsets are provided.

For Skywalk’s 40th anniversary, a Dreams of Freedom Immigration Museum was installed, which highlights immigration’s role in building Boston’s identity.

The interactive multimedia exhibit asks visitors sample questions from the U.S. citizenship test. And we all know why Boston is the Hub of the Universe, don’t we? :)

Among the nearly 30 interactive displays: a short film about refugees narrated by Peter Gabriel and the “Wings Over Boston” aerial video tour.

Some 100,000 Irish refugees headed to Boston in the mid 1800s, taking a perilous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, which poet John Boyle O’Reilly called “the bowl of tears.”

Settling into overcrowded, unsanitary tenement housing along Boston’s waterfront and in the North End, this generation of Irish endured great hardship and humiliation, plagued by poverty and disease. [*]

Below: Here you can see the actual building (left); the observatory is two stories below the roof.

The Pru’s Skywalk is the kind of place you visit maybe once to take lots of photos. Well, I took well over a hundred photos yet only a handful turned out half decent. Here’s what I learned:

1. The windows are large and, for the most part, clean. But they are blue… And you know what that does to your photos. :(

2. Dress for the occasion: Wear a dark shirt/top. Most people don’t wear dark, long sleeved tops in summer, the reflections in your photos will show that. :(

3. I spent about an hour up there. It was rather quiet, very few visitors. However, a third of my photos show reflections of people and you get reflections from other windows, as well. So… If you want good photos, you must be patient. Wait until people move on and then snap your pix.

4. Try to get there at 10:00 AM on a clear day.

5. If it’s hot and muggy outside, it will be hot and muggy up there too (or maybe the central air wasn’t working that day?).

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