I took a red-eye flight on Friday night. It was actually quite a strange experience. Boston time is 3 hours ahead of Phoenix time. My flight left at 10 PM Phoenix time. By the time I started feeling sleepy it was already about 3 hours into the flight. I might have fallen asleep for about 45 minutes before the plane started making it's decent into Boston as the sun was rising about 5:30 AM. Even though it was the middle of the night for my body (2:30 AM Phoenix time to be exact), the bright daylight kept me wide awake despite having no sleep the night before. It was so strange to only see about 5 hours of darkness for the whole evening. My Friday night pretty much disappeared. Landing at Boston-Logan airport was pretty cool too. A large part of the airport is built on land reclaimed from Boston Harbor and so many of the runways are completely surrounded by water. I was peeking out the window as we landed, admiring the Atlantic ocean. Pretty soon, I realized we were very, very close to the water and that the plane was below the trees on the nearby shore. Next thing I know, the plane's wheels touched runway. I couldn't believe how close the edge of the runway was to the water. Very cool (and slightly scary).
After meeting up with Vicki, we decided to have breakfast at this cute little Jewish deli. I had the salami and scrambled eggs, which were super tasty. We headed back to her place and promptly fell asleep (probably due to the early morning, lack of sleep, and immense food coma). Luckily, we woke up in time to head over to Boston College to see Northwestern's Wildcat football team defeat the BC's Golden Eagles. It was a decent game for a season opener, and there were quite a few NU people there. I ran into several college friends. It was also so nice to see some NU football again. It had been 2 years since I was able to last attend a game, and I really missed it! There is something about sitting in uncomfortable bleacher seats watching men wearing spandex tackle each other to the soundtrack of marching band music that just makes me happy. Anyway, as we were leaving the field after the game, Vicki and I ran into some of our sorority sisters by chance in the parking lot. It was so great to see them, even if it was just for a few moments.
After the game, we got showered and headed into the big city. We ate dinner at Legal Seafood. I couldn't travel to New England without having some sort of seafood, but I opted for the stuffed shrimp instead of the more traditional clam "chowda". (Clams are gross; shrimp is not.) Afterwards, we went for a walk along Newbury Street, a shopping district built into a neighborhood made of these beautiful row houses. The first floor of the row house contained a restaurant or shop and the upper floors were converted into luxury apartments. I was pretty amazed that these upscale, high-couture shops and restaurants were built into the super old houses, but they had all been remodeled giving the whole place a really unique personality. It was very trendy, quite crowded, and very cool. At the end of the street was the Boston Public Garden. The garden was absolutely beautiful, filled with all sorts of flowers and statues. It was huge and really enjoyable to walk around and explore. I teased Vicki about what a shame it was that she was not an attractive male, because walking through the gardens would have been an incredibly romantic date. I guess if you can't walk through the gardens with a hot guy, a close friend is the next best thing. My only regret is that I was unable to visit it during the day when the lighting would have been better for picture taking. The few that I have don't really do the garden justice. Directly across the street from the garden is the Boston Common which is pretty much just a big field. But I think it is pretty important because it has been there since the 17th century, so that was kind of cool.
The next day, we were able to meet up with another sorority sister, Dena, for lunch. She was in town for a wedding. Again, it was really great to catch up and hear what she is up to these days (delivering babies and planning a wedding, in case you were curious).
Afterwards, we ventured further into the city to see Boston Harbor, Quincy Market, and Faneuil Hall. Both of these places have been around for hundreds of years and have now been turned into neat little shopping areas that try and honor the city's history.
Afterwards, we ventured further into the city to see Boston Harbor, Quincy Market, and Faneuil Hall. Both of these places have been around for hundreds of years and have now been turned into neat little shopping areas that try and honor the city's history.
After wandering around the marketplace for a while, we decided to try and find this pastry place that Vicki's friends had raved about. We walked over to North End, which has also become a "little Italy" of sorts. It was a really neat part of town. It was a very old part of the city, so it had quite a bit of charm and I kind of felt like I was on a movie set.
We even came across Paul Revere's house, but didn't stop to go inside. (It cost extra monies and we were on a quest for pastries.) I did manage to get a picture though.
We finally found Mike's Pastry, where there was a line out the door and around the corner. Since we had nothing else to do, we got in line. It was a perfect day for standing in line for pastries because there was a street festival going on and there were a bunch of marching bands roaming the streets. Seeing the line in front of the pastry store, they always stopped to play. And because we were in Boston, a city full of American history, we were treated to some patriotic tunage.
Despite its length, the line to Mike's Pastry moved really quickly. Once inside, I realized I was standing in cannoli heaven. They had at least 20 different flavors of cannoli (plus other desserts). It was amazing. Vicki and I each picked out 2 different cannoli and another treat (napoleon for me, whoopie pie for her). Yes, we ordered 6 desserts for 2 people. Don't judge. I was actually proud of our self-control.
After our pastry success, the rest of the evening pales in comparison. We spent a quiet evening getting pizza by the slice and watching football on ESPN.
On Monday, we decided to go see Fenway Park and the Green Monster. Vicki knew that Fenway Park was located off the Kenmore T stop, but had no idea exactly where. We picked a direction and started walking, hoping to come across the ballpark. Our conversation went a little something like this:
Vicki: "It's got to be around here somewhere. It really can't be that hard to find..."
Dana: "You mean like right there?"
The park was literally right around the corner from the subway exit. It was pretty hard to miss, but the timing of our convo was pretty comical. We walked around the entire park, taking pictures of everything.
On the backside of the park, we found a giant arrow pointing to a tiny little door. Turns out, there was a bar built underneath the bleachers in the outfield. We decided that it was a perfect place to grab lunch and a beer. So we did. Our table was directly next to a large screen that looked into the baseball diamond. It was really cool to sit and eat lunch overlooking one of the most historic baseball fields ever.
After that, it was pretty much time to head to the airport and return to the heat of the desert. It was really nice to escape for a weekend and spend time exploring a new place. Thanks so much Vicki for letting me come visit. I had a great weekend!
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