Funny little story before I recap our last day in Boston. Friday morning we had planned on getting up super-early to check out some of the city before Hubster's conference commitment from noon to 1:30. However, when the alarm went off at 6:45, I was feeling a bit squidgy around the edges. In Sherando's world, that means I had a *bit* too much to drink the night before, and a hangover is imminent unless I manage to do one of two things: first, sleep more, or even better, sleep more and then have a heavy breakfast. Luckily, Hubster's crap happy dinner at the Legal Test Kitchen (which I plan to rip a new one in a scathing review to come) wasn't sitting well either, so we both crashed back into bed for a few more hours of much needed shut eye. When I woke up around 10:00, I really wanted that heavy breakfast, so we did the room service thing--I mean hey, we're on vacation, right? Hubster didn't want anything, though, so he just ordered breakfast for one. And instead of charging it to the room (which his firm is paying for) we paid for it separately. With my credit card. That doesn't have his name on it. 20 minutes later, there was a knock at the door--my sausage salvation was nearly in sight! Hubster went to the door, I thought to just carry in the tray. But no, almost immediately, I heard a lilting Latino voice coming through the hallway into the bedroom. Panic ensued. I was wearing a skimpy nightie, my hair was reminiscent of a rat's nest, the gunko was still in my eyes, and I hadn't even brushed my teeth yet. EW, right? AND, I was feeling squidgy,people! So, I did what any dumbass would do: I threw the covers up over my head, employing the old, "if I can't see you, you can't see me" tactic of avoidance. Oh, and for good measure, I tried to not breathe. Hubster didn't even notice that I had done this, but he did notice that the room service lady was looking at him very strangely--from the bed, to him and back to the bed again:
It wasn't until he came back from seeing her out the door that he realized why she was so freaked out:
"Laura, WTF?!?!!?"
"But HONEY, I'm squidgy!!!!"
"Oh God...and I just ordered breakfast for ONE--and I'm the only person registered for this hotel room...and...and...do you have any idea what you look like? My nickname with the staff now is probably Homicide with a side of Hash-browns!"
"That's better than No-Tip Asshole...eh?"
Anyways, I thought it was hilarious. And he thought I was a total ass. And it was pretty stupid, but it made me laugh so hard I cried--more than once--and seeing as how that only happens once in a blue moon, I had to share. I hope you find it funny, too. And in case you're wondering, the breakfast was awesome. But in rare form, no pictures. In case you haven't caught on yet, I was squidgy.
After Hubster got back from the award luncheon he had to attend, we headed out on the town. We were lucky because even though we got a late start, Friday was the Summer Solstice--longest day of the year, with 15 hours of daylight. We used up every single second of it. First stop: Quincy Market. I KNOW it's kitschy, but I really like it there. It just feels comfortable and fun, and the food court is something to behold. TONS of choices, and they all smelled so delicious. We both ended up settling on one of the Greek vendors, seeing as how the wafting smell of tzatziki sauce and gyro meat brought us back more than once. I got a greek side salad:
And a delicious, greasy, totally meaty lamb gyro. The pictures do NOT do it justice. I was covered in sauce the entire meal--just the way you're supposed to be with incredible street food!
From there we walked around, enjoying the energy of the space and the people, and we also picked up a few things along the way. One cool place we visited was a tea store, where you could actually make your own loose tea "recipe". The whole experience that was very fun and kooky. For starters, when we walked into the store, there was a young gentleman (30's) talking to one of the shop girls about--you got it--tea. But the fun part was that this guy had definitely forgotten to take his smart pills that morning. The conversation went something like this:
Frustrated Customer: "So, I don't get it, how do I make tea with this?" *gestures towards the entire WALL of tin containers of tea--both loose and bagged.*
Patient Shopgirl: "Well, these tins here on the bottom contain tea bags, and the ones from the third shelf up are all loose teas."
Frustrated Customer: "So like, what--there's just one big bag, or are they like Lipton tea bags, I just don't understand!"
Patient Shopgirl: "Well, they aren't Lipton tea bags--we don't sell Lipton. We're a specialty tea shop, so we sell our own specialty teas. The bags are, however, small single serving bags probably like the ones you're used to."
Frustrated Customer: "Okay, so then the other ones here on top just come in a huge tea bag???"
Patient Shopgirl: *polite but strained smile*
I was dying inside. It was awesome. He ended up purchasing a bag of chocolate covered espresso beans. I love stuff like that. Anyways, Hubster got to make his own tea recipe--it's vanilla flavored. We haven't tried it yet, but it smells STRONG. Hopefully it'll be tasty. I also purchased a tropical blend that one of the shop girls had created. It was really refreshing.
From there we walked up Cambridge Street to check out Beacon Hill. It's located right next to Boston Common, so we could have checked it out the day before, but I'm SO glad we didn't. Friday the Celtic fans were all tucked away in bed, feeling quite squidgy themselves, and the streets of Beacon Hill were cool and quiet. I really, really liked it there. It was my favorite part of Boston. We walked up and down the hill through the neighborhood, and it was like walking around on a movie set--you know, there's the cool, wholesome family that lives in the middle of an exciting city, on a clean and gorgeous street...that was Beacon Hill. Living in the downtown area of a city ourselves, I had always associated downtown living with dust, dirt, CONSTANT noise (be it sirens or just traffic), and trash. The Financial District is only a few blocks away, yet BH is so wonderful. The people who live there take care of every PATCH of dirt around their homes--there were beautiful flowering plants, small fountains and tasteful lawn ornaments/statutes everywhere. And even though the buildings are incredibly old, they are all in wonderful shape (so unlike historic Church Hill, where the architecture is awesomely unique, but in such ill repair). Needless to say...*sigh* it was really fun to walk through. After a while we ambled our way down onto Charles Street, where there are tons of unique little shops and cafes. That was where we purchased the majority of the following fun finds:
The Boston Red Sox were my Pepere's absolute favorite baseball team. I love the fan base, and after feeling the energy of Boston sports fans, I'll never root for another team. I sort of purchased the hat and pullover in his memory. We also got the two different types of teas, which I already told you about. Oh! And while at Quincy Market there was a really neat gem shop. Ever since working as a cavern guide, I've been really into geology, at least as much as it intersects with another category of things I'm fond of: jewelry ;-) While there we saw a beautiful boulder opal pendant. I've never owned an opal, and they're really unique and fascinating stones. Hubster got it for me. I thought it was super sweet, and it's seriously beautiful--its sheen ranges from bright to subtle violet.
The bunny was a very unique find. We found him at this little store called "Flat of the Hill" on Charles Street. Just so you know, I do NOT like stuffed animals. I haven't bought one in YEARS. I think they're useless, overly sentimental, and they gather dust and dirt while being nearly impossible to properly wash. In spite of all of that, this little guy called to me. I named him Beacon Bunny.
Beacon Hill was also full of neat paper/stationary stores, and we visited every single one. I found some beautiful notecards and stationary, as well as a really cool tree stamp that I plan on placing on the back of gift tags. My favorite was a notecard that Hubster found, which was totally perfect for me. It just has "SHIT!" written in big red letters across the top. In spite of DBA Applications, I still tend to fall off the wagon so far as conscientiousness is concerned, so these were perfect. We also got some parking tickets that are very much akin to my Tighten up Report cards--I anticipate I'll definitely be sharing our use of them with you in the future.
Lastly, we hit this funky shoe store where I fell in love with these super fun European leather shoes. They're dressy casual, with rubber soles, and are sort of reddish leather. They're funky modern, but also have an old-world style to them. I'm hoping once they're broken in, they'll look great with handknit fingering weight socks! Thank you for them, Hubster.
After Beacon Hill we wondered on over to Newbury street for a while, but quickly decided the stores were a bit out of our league. We headed back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and then hopped on the T to have dinner in the North Side--Boston's Little Italy. We had a list of restaurants to try from the Nelson guide, but given it was the end of the trip our funds were a bit low--we chose one of the cheaper places. Bad move. The food wasn't great. It wasn't Chef Boyardee either, but nothing like I would have expected in Little Italy. My tomato sauce was definitely canned--CANNED!!!!!!!!!!!!! And no fresh basil. Come ON, people! The place was called Bacco's. Read my review here. The nice thing about the meal was that we had some fun table mates. They sat kind of near to us with a 12 top, and their names were David and Heather. Totally outspoken, fun, and friendly. They ordered the same wine as us and topped us off with their last two glasses. How nice is that? So, even though the food was mediocre at best, we met some people who exemplify my overall impression of Boston: friendly, and proud of it. After dinner we hit up a pastry shop down Salem street, where I scarfed the obligatory cannoli.
Hubster had a peanut butter chocolate square that was to DIE for, not to mention that it probably weighed almost half a pound for $2!
And that was our Boston trip. Boston is definitely my favorite city that I've visited--I could never go to NYC again and be totally happy. Boston was clean, beautiful, had tons of green space, it has historical, architectural, and a friendly character about it. I loved the areas we visited, and I would fly up there just to eat another Lobster Roll. It's easy to get around, whether you hop on the T or decide to walk. But, bring some band-aids. Hubster got a blister in the Walking City. ;-)
If you're planning on visiting Boston, the Nelson Guide mentioned above was right on for a lot of things, plus it was witty. My cousin, David James, also made some wonderful recommendations that I would encourage you to follow through with. He went to BC, and besides that is just awesome and has good taste. You can Download dj_boston_guide.doc by clicking on the link--it's a Word doc.
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