Boston was amazing.
After the flight from hell, I am pretty sure that anything would have seemed like Heaven but it really was a great trip.
Arrival - Tuesday:
I arrived around 5:05pm, a bit later than expected, but only by a few minutes so nothing major. I collect my bag, which is one of the first ones out a perk on the gamble of transferring luggage from one flight to another. Then I set out to call Shelley, who was arriving in the terminal next to mine around the same time. I get a hold of her and establish that she is making the trek over to my terminal to meet me, so that we can catch the shuttle to our hotel. We catch the shuttle and arrive at the Roadside Inn. Were about 10 minutes from the airport and not terribly far from a subway stop to go inbound to Boston great place to be.
We meet up with Jamie, who had arrived earlier that afternoon and already checked into the hotel. We caught up, I hadnt seen her since, circa 2000. Then Shelley, Jamie, and myself ordered some room service and talked about what our top things were to do in Boston. We awaited Becs arrival, with wasnt until 10:30pm that night. It was much fun. Watched some Law and Order, SVU etc..
Day 1 - Wednesday:
Only in our best luck do we get the weather that we do. However, we were expecting it, so we bundled up caught our shuttled and headed to the Wonderland Station to buy our week long pass for the subway/bus system. And we headed inbound. (Inbound and Outbound would prove to be a bit confusing at times, but Jamie and I were able to master it for the most part.) We got off at Aquarium in order to buy our Old Town Trolley tickets. We catch the Trolley and as soon as we get on it, it starts to snow. Yep it didnt stick though just was that much colder. We head to do all the exciting things that the Trolley offers us. We first got off and headed into the North End and saw all of Paul Reveres stomping ground, North Church and FOOD found a little caf and had some much needed breakfast. This is when I START the search for a beanie, for my very cold head.
We then continue on the trolley towards USS Constitution and toured the museum. Next stop was the Old State House, where we found some excellent Salt Water Taffy we enjoyed the remainder of the trip and then found our way around near Quincy Market place (later we found out that we hadnt quite made it to there) Our final stop from our trolley tour was to where the Boston Tea Party was, but due to a lightening strike earlier this past year, the museum was not open. However, the place we wanted to eat was: The Barking Crab. It was tasty, Jamie ordered lobster Bec and Shelley were thoroughly disgusted. We then caught a bus to the subway to the Wonderland Station where we walked a couple of blocks to the local grocery store to pick up some snack food for the hotel and then caught our shuttle home.
Day 2 Thursday:
We awoke after a little bit of sleeping in and headed back to the Wonderland Station to start our journey to The Prudential Building its Bostons view similar to that of the Empire State building and there is a ton of shopping that can be done. So maybe we can find my beanie?! Still none anywhere to be found in Boston, and I still have a cold head and I am still counting how MANY of these things that I have back in So Cal. Sigh. So we enter the Prudential Building, eat some breakfast in the food court and then head to the top. We spend a fair amount of time up there and establish that our next stop is the Trinity Church.
We walk to that location and on that walk pass the South Church, the Boston Public Library and get an excellent view of the Church from all angles. The Trinity Church was built in 1877 and was quite pretty. We go inside after taking some exciting pictures with some inexplicably placed statutes of turtles and rabbits and look at the excellent structure of this church. Outside we marvel in the sight of the building next to the church, modern and built in the 70s all glass building, called the Hancock Tower which due to all the glass has a mirror image of Trinity Church on it. Lovely.
We then walk over towards Tom Cruises favorite place to be the Church of Scientology although somewhat crazy, the architecture was amazing and in their museum was something else. The Mapparium was super cool. Its a 3d Globe that you walk into. It was not only beautiful, but it was informative as well it was color coated to show who had control of what at a particular period in time. Besides the school tour we were with GRR more little annoying people. It was great.
We have now made a basic full circle back towards the Prudential Building and we eat at a restaurant and have some tasty Italian food. We walk towards the subway and FINALLY, there it is a store that has beanies!!! Finally, something to keep my poor little head warm. Im now content. We then head toward Boston Commons the original park, established in 1634. We walked around there for a while and see the New State House (or at least the current and used one) and get pictures of us around the area. The weather was pretty decent most of the day, but it was starting to cloud over again and so we decided to go and see a movie. We saw Ice Age 2. Becky fell asleep in the movie, she had already seen it once. Hehe. We then headed back to our hotel.
Day 3 Friday:
This was Jamie and my day! We headed out to the JFK Library and toured that in the morning. Eating breakfast in the museum caf. Enjoyed all the exhibits and the area surrounding the library and then headed out to Harvard. It was very much enjoyable. Decent weather and although chilly still great for pictures of the beautiful campus. We all spent our fair share of dough in the Harvard Store and then headed on back toward Boston. We went back to Boston Commons where we took pictures and viewed the Shaw Memorial and then went onto Quincy Market Place. More shopping, of course, and delicious hot dogs for lunch. We then made a plan to walk to the Haymarket, but went in the total opposite direction and found a few of the old bookstores that Jamie and I had been looking for. We ended our day with another movie, Inside Man and then grabbed some McDs before heading back to the hotel for yet another evening and episode of Dr. Phil.
Day 4 Saturday:
Were headed to Witch Hysteria Land! AKA Salem. This took a bit of travel, but it was still worth it. It was something that Bec really wanted to see. We took a taxi, that the hotel people suggested would cost about $10 it cost $20. We then had to wait at the Commuter Rail Lynn Station for 48 minutes, because on Saturday the trains dont run as frequently. It was another bitterly cold day. Yikes!!! We jumped around on the platform to stay warm had crazy people come up to us occasionally and then we finally got on the train for about 10 minute up to Salem. Not nearly enough time to thaw. So, we head out and walk down the streets of Salem and come to this quaint little diner where we show our pout-frozen faces and ask if we can still have breakfast. They are happy to oblige. We enjoy breakfast and then head onto the hokey witch museum, where (Gilmore Girl reference coming up) they have a scene set up with speakers overhead telling the story of the Witch Hysteria. They had manikins (like those in Taylors museum he put together in the old Twickham house!!) and they told the story. It was random, but why not. We then walked to the Witch Dungeon, which was a replica, because apparently in 1954 PacBell bought the land over the original dungeons and tore it up and we saw a reenactment of one of the trial and then walked through the dungeon. Great fun. We then caught the commuter rail again and headed back to Boston Commons (the center part this time) walked around there for a while and then onto find more food this time good old CPK. After lunch we took some obligatory ;-) Map photos and then headed back toward Government Center for a walk through Haymarket, more Quincy Market and a walk around the area one last time. We enjoyed some sitting time in a Starbucks in the evening and then headed back to our hotel to enjoy a mound of fruit that Bec had picked up for a mere $6. Excellent.
It was an excellent trip. And if youve read this all Im impressed. J
Lessons Learned? Always take a beanie with you, you never know when it might be needed. Yes, even to Hawaii!
Fun Fact About Boston? There are 183 Dunkin Donuts in Boston compared to 155 Starbucks. and in one DD they also serve sushi!
After the flight from hell, I am pretty sure that anything would have seemed like Heaven but it really was a great trip.
Arrival - Tuesday:
I arrived around 5:05pm, a bit later than expected, but only by a few minutes so nothing major. I collect my bag, which is one of the first ones out a perk on the gamble of transferring luggage from one flight to another. Then I set out to call Shelley, who was arriving in the terminal next to mine around the same time. I get a hold of her and establish that she is making the trek over to my terminal to meet me, so that we can catch the shuttle to our hotel. We catch the shuttle and arrive at the Roadside Inn. Were about 10 minutes from the airport and not terribly far from a subway stop to go inbound to Boston great place to be.
We meet up with Jamie, who had arrived earlier that afternoon and already checked into the hotel. We caught up, I hadnt seen her since, circa 2000. Then Shelley, Jamie, and myself ordered some room service and talked about what our top things were to do in Boston. We awaited Becs arrival, with wasnt until 10:30pm that night. It was much fun. Watched some Law and Order, SVU etc..
Day 1 - Wednesday:
Only in our best luck do we get the weather that we do. However, we were expecting it, so we bundled up caught our shuttled and headed to the Wonderland Station to buy our week long pass for the subway/bus system. And we headed inbound. (Inbound and Outbound would prove to be a bit confusing at times, but Jamie and I were able to master it for the most part.) We got off at Aquarium in order to buy our Old Town Trolley tickets. We catch the Trolley and as soon as we get on it, it starts to snow. Yep it didnt stick though just was that much colder. We head to do all the exciting things that the Trolley offers us. We first got off and headed into the North End and saw all of Paul Reveres stomping ground, North Church and FOOD found a little caf and had some much needed breakfast. This is when I START the search for a beanie, for my very cold head.
We then continue on the trolley towards USS Constitution and toured the museum. Next stop was the Old State House, where we found some excellent Salt Water Taffy we enjoyed the remainder of the trip and then found our way around near Quincy Market place (later we found out that we hadnt quite made it to there) Our final stop from our trolley tour was to where the Boston Tea Party was, but due to a lightening strike earlier this past year, the museum was not open. However, the place we wanted to eat was: The Barking Crab. It was tasty, Jamie ordered lobster Bec and Shelley were thoroughly disgusted. We then caught a bus to the subway to the Wonderland Station where we walked a couple of blocks to the local grocery store to pick up some snack food for the hotel and then caught our shuttle home.
Day 2 Thursday:
We awoke after a little bit of sleeping in and headed back to the Wonderland Station to start our journey to The Prudential Building its Bostons view similar to that of the Empire State building and there is a ton of shopping that can be done. So maybe we can find my beanie?! Still none anywhere to be found in Boston, and I still have a cold head and I am still counting how MANY of these things that I have back in So Cal. Sigh. So we enter the Prudential Building, eat some breakfast in the food court and then head to the top. We spend a fair amount of time up there and establish that our next stop is the Trinity Church.
We walk to that location and on that walk pass the South Church, the Boston Public Library and get an excellent view of the Church from all angles. The Trinity Church was built in 1877 and was quite pretty. We go inside after taking some exciting pictures with some inexplicably placed statutes of turtles and rabbits and look at the excellent structure of this church. Outside we marvel in the sight of the building next to the church, modern and built in the 70s all glass building, called the Hancock Tower which due to all the glass has a mirror image of Trinity Church on it. Lovely.
We then walk over towards Tom Cruises favorite place to be the Church of Scientology although somewhat crazy, the architecture was amazing and in their museum was something else. The Mapparium was super cool. Its a 3d Globe that you walk into. It was not only beautiful, but it was informative as well it was color coated to show who had control of what at a particular period in time. Besides the school tour we were with GRR more little annoying people. It was great.
We have now made a basic full circle back towards the Prudential Building and we eat at a restaurant and have some tasty Italian food. We walk towards the subway and FINALLY, there it is a store that has beanies!!! Finally, something to keep my poor little head warm. Im now content. We then head toward Boston Commons the original park, established in 1634. We walked around there for a while and see the New State House (or at least the current and used one) and get pictures of us around the area. The weather was pretty decent most of the day, but it was starting to cloud over again and so we decided to go and see a movie. We saw Ice Age 2. Becky fell asleep in the movie, she had already seen it once. Hehe. We then headed back to our hotel.
Day 3 Friday:
This was Jamie and my day! We headed out to the JFK Library and toured that in the morning. Eating breakfast in the museum caf. Enjoyed all the exhibits and the area surrounding the library and then headed out to Harvard. It was very much enjoyable. Decent weather and although chilly still great for pictures of the beautiful campus. We all spent our fair share of dough in the Harvard Store and then headed on back toward Boston. We went back to Boston Commons where we took pictures and viewed the Shaw Memorial and then went onto Quincy Market Place. More shopping, of course, and delicious hot dogs for lunch. We then made a plan to walk to the Haymarket, but went in the total opposite direction and found a few of the old bookstores that Jamie and I had been looking for. We ended our day with another movie, Inside Man and then grabbed some McDs before heading back to the hotel for yet another evening and episode of Dr. Phil.
Day 4 Saturday:
Were headed to Witch Hysteria Land! AKA Salem. This took a bit of travel, but it was still worth it. It was something that Bec really wanted to see. We took a taxi, that the hotel people suggested would cost about $10 it cost $20. We then had to wait at the Commuter Rail Lynn Station for 48 minutes, because on Saturday the trains dont run as frequently. It was another bitterly cold day. Yikes!!! We jumped around on the platform to stay warm had crazy people come up to us occasionally and then we finally got on the train for about 10 minute up to Salem. Not nearly enough time to thaw. So, we head out and walk down the streets of Salem and come to this quaint little diner where we show our pout-frozen faces and ask if we can still have breakfast. They are happy to oblige. We enjoy breakfast and then head onto the hokey witch museum, where (Gilmore Girl reference coming up) they have a scene set up with speakers overhead telling the story of the Witch Hysteria. They had manikins (like those in Taylors museum he put together in the old Twickham house!!) and they told the story. It was random, but why not. We then walked to the Witch Dungeon, which was a replica, because apparently in 1954 PacBell bought the land over the original dungeons and tore it up and we saw a reenactment of one of the trial and then walked through the dungeon. Great fun. We then caught the commuter rail again and headed back to Boston Commons (the center part this time) walked around there for a while and then onto find more food this time good old CPK. After lunch we took some obligatory ;-) Map photos and then headed back toward Government Center for a walk through Haymarket, more Quincy Market and a walk around the area one last time. We enjoyed some sitting time in a Starbucks in the evening and then headed back to our hotel to enjoy a mound of fruit that Bec had picked up for a mere $6. Excellent.
It was an excellent trip. And if youve read this all Im impressed. J
Lessons Learned? Always take a beanie with you, you never know when it might be needed. Yes, even to Hawaii!
Fun Fact About Boston? There are 183 Dunkin Donuts in Boston compared to 155 Starbucks. and in one DD they also serve sushi!
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