For Boston
So, running much behind (my trip was 8/23-8/26), a rundown of my Boston trip.
The trip started out on an annoying note. My flight was delayed several hours by some sort of problem with LaGuardia's systems. Eventually it did reach Indy, though, and from that point on it was rather smooth.
Brian and Jason met me at the airport, and after Brian's Not-So-Wild Ride (lapping us around the airport on the wrong bus) we made it to the T station and off to Newbury Street and my cute little hotel.
First a few photos of the street:
Then a few photos of the view out of my window:
Due to the flight delay, things were a little later than I had planned, so we skipped the Skywalk and just wandered down Newbury to the Boston Garden (adjacent to the Boston Common, which was mostly fenced off on the section near us).
It was getting dark while we were in the Garden, so many of my photos will need some cleaning up, but here are a few that came out well:
Oh, and Boston's Old South Church, which was between the hotel and the Garden:
After that, we meandered down to the North End (Boston's answer to Little Italy). It was a very cute neighborhood, with lots of narrow windy streets, throngs of people, and little restaurants and whatnot.
We settled on Al Dente, a small-ish little Italian restaurant. And, true to form (and because I had been craving it), I got eggplant parmesan.
After dinner it was off to Mike's Pastries for cannoli, which we took down the street to the T station (which had decent views and some decent people watching). Plus the weather was gorgeous.
After dinner I was dropping off, so it was back to the hotel.
Friday morning started with Milk Street Cafe, a nice kosher/vegetarian cafe in the financial district. I had a surprisingly good tomato mozz panini, a large fruit salad with granola and yogurt, chips, and a soda (all for under $11), and sat in an airy glass-fronted area overlooking the street outside. A great start to the morning.
After that we hit the Prudential Skywalk, which had some wonderful views (I took about 40 pics and a few movies, so these are just a random sample):
After Prudential we hit the Musem of Fine Arts. Time was short, so we only had a chance to hit a few galleries. Asian art, the Greek/Roman art and statues, and the Egyptian artifacts (which I quite enjoyed). I didn't take photos inside the museum (couldn't remember the guidelines for that), but here's a random photo of a piece of art outside the museum:
After the MFA we had to dash to Brighton to pick up Jason's car so we could drive down to Jamaica Plains for the Sam Adams brewery tour. I'm not a beer fan, but it was pretty enjoyable (and hey, keepsake glass). Then we met up with a couple of their friends and did dinner at Centre Street Cafe. It was a nice restaurant (and the potato pancakes were divine), but I can't say I'm a huge fan. I had a sort of southwestern stir-fry thing. It was good..not great. It was all organic and whatnot, so I approve of it. But...
After Centre Street we went to...*shudder* "Superbad." I have noted it in my official log. Now let us never speak of it again.
After movie time was sleepy time.
Saturday morning started out with a trip to the Museum of Science, which was fun. Lots of dinosaurs and whatnot. And a marvelous Jane Goodall traveling exhibit. Also, a couple items i the computer exhibit near and dear to my heart:
Lunch came next, at Buddha's Delight, an all-vegetarian Chinese place. The meat was all "meat," and quite yummy. And pretty cheap. I'd love to go back there again sometime. I had a "shrimp," "beef," and "chicken" stir fry. Also some "chicken finger" appetizers and "pork"-filled balls. And their lemonade was to die for. Plus they had a nice airy 2nd-floor dining room:
After Buddha's it was off to the New England Aquarium. It was crowded. I mean totally jam-packed with kids, kids, and more kids. And it smelled fishy (yes I know it's an aquarium and filled with fish, I'm just making an observation).
After the Aquarium we rested a bit outside eating Dippin' Dots and enjoying the ocean view. Then we took a ferry from the Aquarium to the Navy Pier. The original goal was to see the USS Constitution.
A couple shots from the ferry:
After we got there, though, we decided to sit down for a few minutes. Which turned in to sitting down for about 20 to 30 minutes until the ferry back arrived. Sad, but after walking all day for the past couple days, we were just plain exhausted, and even the short trip up the pier, over to the next, and back down again (and then back) just seemed overwhelming. Ah well. Maybe next time.
The plan was to explore the waterfront park as well, but as I mentioned, we were all beat, so we just cut straight to dinner. Elephant Walk, a rather elegant French-Cambodian place, was quite enjoyable (to me; Brian and Jason found it just "ok" I believe). I admit it was pricey, and more of a splurge, but it was another great veggie option. I had a spicey tofu & vegetable curry-like dish and some spring-roll-type appetizers. Not a place I'd go to on a regular basis, but definitely a treat.
After EW we did a bit of wandering, but it was getting late, so eventually we called it a night. Also Brian had been called in to work on Sunday, so there was that, too.
Sunday evening was my flight out, so things were a bit pressed for time. Jason and I started out at the Harvard Museum of Natural History (which was a lot of fun). The glass flowers weren't what I was expecting (they looked exactly like real flowers...for some reason I expected them to be a bit more glassy). They were awesome from the standpoint of making glass look like plant life, but sort of anticlimactic from an artistic "oh look at how cool these are" perspective.
I also picked up a paperweight (a tall glass globe with a glow-in-the-dark glass jellyfish suspended inside). Yes folks, I decided to buy a paperweight to haul around with me the rest of the afternoon.
After that was just a bit of Harvard Square time. Apparently it was move-in day at Harvard, so it was a bit chaotic, though not quite as much as you'd expect (probably because everything is so spread out). I read the entry wrong, so we discovered the place we'd planed on eating was actually closed on Sundays (boo) but we hit an Italian chain (I'm drawing a blank on the name). I had a great salad and a wonderful calzone, so it was all good.
Then we drove to Quincy for a few minutes of beach time (it had been forever and a day since I've been to an ocean...well ok NYC, but that hardly counts).
After that it was a quick drive by the Cheers bar:
And then off to Logan and home to Indy.
It was exhausting, but I had a wonderful time. I hope to get out there again in the next 12 to 18 months. Brian and Jason were fantastic hosts, of course. So it was all around fun and frivolity.
I apologize for the rather mundane tone of this post, but I'm honestly a bit tired. And my flight to DC is tomorrow morning. Hopefully I won't procrastinate writing that post as much I did this one (though don't hold your breath...)
The trip started out on an annoying note. My flight was delayed several hours by some sort of problem with LaGuardia's systems. Eventually it did reach Indy, though, and from that point on it was rather smooth.
Brian and Jason met me at the airport, and after Brian's Not-So-Wild Ride (lapping us around the airport on the wrong bus) we made it to the T station and off to Newbury Street and my cute little hotel.
First a few photos of the street:
Then a few photos of the view out of my window:
Due to the flight delay, things were a little later than I had planned, so we skipped the Skywalk and just wandered down Newbury to the Boston Garden (adjacent to the Boston Common, which was mostly fenced off on the section near us).
It was getting dark while we were in the Garden, so many of my photos will need some cleaning up, but here are a few that came out well:
Oh, and Boston's Old South Church, which was between the hotel and the Garden:
After that, we meandered down to the North End (Boston's answer to Little Italy). It was a very cute neighborhood, with lots of narrow windy streets, throngs of people, and little restaurants and whatnot.
We settled on Al Dente, a small-ish little Italian restaurant. And, true to form (and because I had been craving it), I got eggplant parmesan.
After dinner it was off to Mike's Pastries for cannoli, which we took down the street to the T station (which had decent views and some decent people watching). Plus the weather was gorgeous.
After dinner I was dropping off, so it was back to the hotel.
Friday morning started with Milk Street Cafe, a nice kosher/vegetarian cafe in the financial district. I had a surprisingly good tomato mozz panini, a large fruit salad with granola and yogurt, chips, and a soda (all for under $11), and sat in an airy glass-fronted area overlooking the street outside. A great start to the morning.
After that we hit the Prudential Skywalk, which had some wonderful views (I took about 40 pics and a few movies, so these are just a random sample):
After Prudential we hit the Musem of Fine Arts. Time was short, so we only had a chance to hit a few galleries. Asian art, the Greek/Roman art and statues, and the Egyptian artifacts (which I quite enjoyed). I didn't take photos inside the museum (couldn't remember the guidelines for that), but here's a random photo of a piece of art outside the museum:
After the MFA we had to dash to Brighton to pick up Jason's car so we could drive down to Jamaica Plains for the Sam Adams brewery tour. I'm not a beer fan, but it was pretty enjoyable (and hey, keepsake glass). Then we met up with a couple of their friends and did dinner at Centre Street Cafe. It was a nice restaurant (and the potato pancakes were divine), but I can't say I'm a huge fan. I had a sort of southwestern stir-fry thing. It was good..not great. It was all organic and whatnot, so I approve of it. But...
After Centre Street we went to...*shudder* "Superbad." I have noted it in my official log. Now let us never speak of it again.
After movie time was sleepy time.
Saturday morning started out with a trip to the Museum of Science, which was fun. Lots of dinosaurs and whatnot. And a marvelous Jane Goodall traveling exhibit. Also, a couple items i the computer exhibit near and dear to my heart:
Lunch came next, at Buddha's Delight, an all-vegetarian Chinese place. The meat was all "meat," and quite yummy. And pretty cheap. I'd love to go back there again sometime. I had a "shrimp," "beef," and "chicken" stir fry. Also some "chicken finger" appetizers and "pork"-filled balls. And their lemonade was to die for. Plus they had a nice airy 2nd-floor dining room:
After Buddha's it was off to the New England Aquarium. It was crowded. I mean totally jam-packed with kids, kids, and more kids. And it smelled fishy (yes I know it's an aquarium and filled with fish, I'm just making an observation).
After the Aquarium we rested a bit outside eating Dippin' Dots and enjoying the ocean view. Then we took a ferry from the Aquarium to the Navy Pier. The original goal was to see the USS Constitution.
A couple shots from the ferry:
After we got there, though, we decided to sit down for a few minutes. Which turned in to sitting down for about 20 to 30 minutes until the ferry back arrived. Sad, but after walking all day for the past couple days, we were just plain exhausted, and even the short trip up the pier, over to the next, and back down again (and then back) just seemed overwhelming. Ah well. Maybe next time.
The plan was to explore the waterfront park as well, but as I mentioned, we were all beat, so we just cut straight to dinner. Elephant Walk, a rather elegant French-Cambodian place, was quite enjoyable (to me; Brian and Jason found it just "ok" I believe). I admit it was pricey, and more of a splurge, but it was another great veggie option. I had a spicey tofu & vegetable curry-like dish and some spring-roll-type appetizers. Not a place I'd go to on a regular basis, but definitely a treat.
After EW we did a bit of wandering, but it was getting late, so eventually we called it a night. Also Brian had been called in to work on Sunday, so there was that, too.
Sunday evening was my flight out, so things were a bit pressed for time. Jason and I started out at the Harvard Museum of Natural History (which was a lot of fun). The glass flowers weren't what I was expecting (they looked exactly like real flowers...for some reason I expected them to be a bit more glassy). They were awesome from the standpoint of making glass look like plant life, but sort of anticlimactic from an artistic "oh look at how cool these are" perspective.
I also picked up a paperweight (a tall glass globe with a glow-in-the-dark glass jellyfish suspended inside). Yes folks, I decided to buy a paperweight to haul around with me the rest of the afternoon.
After that was just a bit of Harvard Square time. Apparently it was move-in day at Harvard, so it was a bit chaotic, though not quite as much as you'd expect (probably because everything is so spread out). I read the entry wrong, so we discovered the place we'd planed on eating was actually closed on Sundays (boo) but we hit an Italian chain (I'm drawing a blank on the name). I had a great salad and a wonderful calzone, so it was all good.
Then we drove to Quincy for a few minutes of beach time (it had been forever and a day since I've been to an ocean...well ok NYC, but that hardly counts).
After that it was a quick drive by the Cheers bar:
And then off to Logan and home to Indy.
It was exhausting, but I had a wonderful time. I hope to get out there again in the next 12 to 18 months. Brian and Jason were fantastic hosts, of course. So it was all around fun and frivolity.
I apologize for the rather mundane tone of this post, but I'm honestly a bit tired. And my flight to DC is tomorrow morning. Hopefully I won't procrastinate writing that post as much I did this one (though don't hold your breath...)