I’ll start out as I always do with work related updates, but there’s not much to say there except that I’ve been animating a tiny bit and helping out with a lot of random stuff for the project. Let’s just say I’ve been busy and the week went fast!
This weekend Andrew and Justin, my fellow DAAPians, were going to visit me in NY from their east coast cities of Boston and Baltimore. But since my roommate was having her mom stay this weekend, we thought it would be best to visit Andrew in Boston this weekend and have them come to NY next weekend. Therefore I packed for a last minute trip to Massachusetts.
Friday at work was fantastic, not only because I was excited about Boston, but because I had excellent food. Emily and I ordered a yummylicious pizza from Pomodoro and then, after looking at the menu, we absolutely could not resist the call of cupcakes and their sweet buttercream icing. Crumbs Bake Shop is one of those NY bakeries that concocts enticing and irresistible cupcakes of wild flavors including S’mores and Rocky Road (the menu). These gourmet mountains of calories were yum, of course. I got myself a Caramel Apple cupcake and Emily had the Grasshopper flavor.
Sorry for the cupcake spiel, but they were just that good.
I met up with Melissa after work and we took the FUNG WAH!!! Chinatown bus to Boston for fifteen dollars. A good deal and the ride there was decent, just a little uncomfortable. We met Andrew and Justin at the South Station then took the train to his apartment in Jamaica Plains. He’s living with a 35 year old woman with extremely good taste in decorating. The place was adorable and she had lots of blankets, which was good because Boston is frigid and always covered in snow. Sleep ensued after catching up with my friends (it’s unbelievable how nice it was to see some familiar faces!!)
Saturday was our big day. We set out with brunch in mind and ate at a small, but fantastic place called Sorella’s. I got an egg special, but as soon as I saw the waffles topped with banana slices and strawberries go by to another table, I sorely wished I had ordered that exact dish. It would be nice if we had a good breakfast place like that around Cincinnati, not just IHop and Perkins…sigh.
After fueling up for the day, we bussed our way over to the public library which housed some old documents, beautiful frescoes and other artwork as well as a full collection of Joan of Arc books (she is my Confirmation Saint). If I had time, I would have loved to peruse those aged books and study all of the statues and artwork related to her.
Above is the outside of the library and beneath that is a picture of the main entrance where two royal lions greet you…gotta love my lions :)
It was hard to leave such a beautiful home of books, but we headed into Boston where we wove through an Italian neighborhood and then followed part of the Freedom trail. We passed Paul Revere’s house as well as the church where the bell was rung. Further along the trail was his statue and the Copp’s Hill Burial Ground where we disrespectfully thought of building a giant snowman :p It was perfect packing snow!
There’s Paul on his horse and on the right is a picture of his house.
On our way to Boston Commons we spotted a little patisserie called Luella’s. Again the cupcakes called to me this weekend and none of use could resist their sugary voices…so we bought and split a raspberry chocolate cupcake as well as a fluffernutter (chocolate cake with peanut butter icing and a marshmallow center…that was the best bite of food all weekend).
….mmmmm, that raspberry frosting had REAL raspberries in it, so good.
We also passed some neat signs and landmarks on our walk to the Commons.
On the left is a random sign I came across and because I, like teenage girls, am obsessed with Stephanie Meyer’s series, I had to take a picture of it! On the right is a steaming teapot which has some historical value. Andrew if you read this, you should comment and tell everyone what you know about it because I forget.
Boston Commons was a nice park with ice skating and playgrounds and plenty of benches. Thankfully the weather was up to 40 so we didn’t freeze walking around and instead we took it upon ourselves to walk all day. Next was Beacon Hill which is a 19th century neighborhood/village of beautiful row houses lined with red brick and fanciful architectural design and windows. Originally built for the wealthy, it remains that way as a desirable place to live with its well kept historical facade and nostalgic roots. I can see myself living there :) haha yea right….
After feeling like we had walked the streets of the 18th century on Beacon Hill, we returned across Boston Commons, walked the shopping district a bit and then decided it would be neat to see Harvard. Off we went to Cambridge where although the atmosphere was preppy, it was still beautiful with the snow and redbrick. There were tons of cafes and restaurants surrounding the campus so we went to Grendel’s Den. I love Grendel, John Gardner’s version anyway!! Not that this restaurant really had anything to do with him, but there was at least an illustration of the monster. I got a small order of cream of spinach soup while the boys ate sandwiches and we rested our legs.
The restaurant and a bit of Harvard’s campus.
After our leisurely linner (lunch+dinner since it was 3 o clock), we walked through Harvard, observed the smart people there, then went to the Natural History museum to see the exhibit of glass flowers before we realized they closed in a half hour, thus making the payment of 7 dollars not worth it. So without seeing any of the museum we headed to a different part of Cambridge where we went to The Garment District, the thrift/costume store. It’s known for its massive pile of clothing that sits on the floor. You can climb through it with your wet shoes on and dig out old, stained clothes to buy for $1.50 a lb. I thought it was absolutely disgusting, but I guess it works for some people.
There’s the floor of the Garment District with people crawling all over it, there’s Justin and Andrew in an awesome pair of goggles and that’s a life size silver horse they just had chillin’ inside that bright pink building of theirs.
By this time we were dragging on our way home where we passed, as Justin calls it, “Gehry puke” a.k.a. the Stata Center as well as a Genome research building…possibly part of MIT, but I’m not certain. Amazingly we made it back to Andrew’s where we rested for an hour before going out for some dinner in Jamaica Plain. Finally, I had some quality Indian food and it was the perfect meal to wrap up such a draining day. Not to mention a glass of wine and the movie Smoke Signals which pretty much knocked me out the minute I sat down on the couch.
Me and Melissa as well as our yummy Tikka Masala!
I slept very deeply and in the morning, as I always do, I woke up around 8 with the sun shining through the windows. God forbid I sleep in. I read Wuthering Heights until everyone else woke up and we ventured out to Chinatown where Andrew and Justin had some bubble tea and Vietnamese sandwiches. Around 1 Melissa and I said our goodbyes to the boys and met my Uncle Dave at South Station Diner for some lunch. It was really great to see him and Elise as well as her daughter Lily. They live in Concord in a gorgeous house and therefore we hardly get to see them since Cincinnati is so far away. Catching up was a lot of fun and it was nice knowing that even though he’s miles away, he still takes an interest in what I do. I also enjoyed hearing about my cousins who are off doing great things like working in Honduras and caring for endangered animals. Hopefully I’ll be seeing him and Elise again before the end of March for their birthday party in Concord :)
After our goodbye hugs we headed to South Station to buy our Fung Wah tickets to New York. The bus ride was terrible. I was sick for half of it and felt like I was going to barf up that burger I had at the diner. Luckily I didn’t and by the time we arrived in NY I wanted to kiss the dirty streets of Chinatown.
Overall Boston seemed to have a classy and calmer atmosphere than New York. It also seemed much smaller than NY and while they both have their advantages and disadvantages I can’t honestly say which city I prefer. I love the nostalgic, historical feel of Boston with its Wharf and bricked streets, but at the same time the bustling lights and energy of NY is fun, huge, and has everything you could ask for.
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Chris
