Boston Photographs Are Ready

The Boston photographs have been posted on Picasa. Please click on the New Statehouse photograph in the right sidebar to view the album.

Animals in Boston

I am almost ready to post the Boston photographs on Picasa with a link to them from this blog. But until all is ready here are a couple of animal pictures from the trip.

The Famous Swan Boat
in the Boston Public Garden

Make Way for Ducklings
Boston Public Gardens

I must give credit to Frank for the photographs from Boston. He took almost all of the photographs on this trip. Good job, my friend.

Teaser Pics from Boston

Fanueil Hall

Trinity Church

No Quacking Here - Sunday in Boston (Version 2 including photograph)

As many tourists cities do now, Boston is no different. All over town you see these amphibious bus/boat combinations with passengers outfitted with duck noise makers - quackers. i personally find 25 people riding by me sounding like a bunch of ducks very annoying, so we took the Freedom Trail Trolley Tour, no quackers allowed. Our original plan was to walk as much of the 2.5 mile Freedom Trail as possible, but this morning we decided to ride the trail on the Trolley due to my fatigue levels. After a taxi ride to Quincy Market, you remember that historic market place (like shopping mall food court) overrun with tourists., we purchased our tickets on the City Trolley Tours, what appears to be one of the two main trolley tour companies. Anyway, the tour was very good and the driver/guide was very funny. We would be driving and he would spot someone who looked like someone famous, such as Adam Sandler, and he would alert us that Adam Sandler was in town this weekend and point to the guy. Ok, guess you had to be there, Still better than the quackers. But I digress. 


In addition to the sites we saw yesterday we also saw more of the city, and the area north of the river (aka "sea" in the Paul Revere poem.), including Bunker Hill and the Constitution war ship. Trivia Question: Where was the Battle of Bunker Hill fought? This was asked by our driver/guide, and Frank was the only person on the trolley who knew the answer. Most of the fighting was on Breed's Hill. Way to go Frank for paying attention in history class.


We could see the Old North Church very clearly from the north side of the river (as could Mr.. Revere and others who were waiting for the "one if by land, two if by sea" moment. 


The tour concluded back at Quincy Market and we headed back to the hotel for lunch at Brasserie Jo. We had a lovely lunch, and probably in my opinion one of the best meals we had of the weekend. I enjoyed a wonderful crepe with rotisserie chicken in a cream and pea sauce. The flavor was great. Frank enjoyed a Salade Frisée Lyonnaise with bacon and poached egg. Very nice.  


i went back to the hotel to rest up and relax while Frank went to the Boston Commons and the Public Gardens area to scout around. I saw the park earlier and it is lovely. When Frank came back we took the T to Kenmore Park, a nice residential area near Fenwick Park (think Boston Red Socks). It was a nice excursion to another area of the city. We both really like the different residential areas. Most in the old city are multi-story brick row homes on tree lined streets. Very nice, I say.


As is our custom, we went to the hotel bar for our pre-dinner drink. Following that we cabbed it to Paul Revere's house in the North End (Italian neighborhood). There was a crowd of camera clickers standing in front of the house; I guess waiting for a shot of Mr. Revere and his horse. But, no luck today; He was probably out looking for more lanterns,  Below is a photograph of the house... still standing after all these years. 


The house is in the North End, the Italian Neighborhood, where we were told to stop in any restaurant and you will get a good meal. So we stopped at Ristoranti Fiore, which we saw recommended in our tour book. We shared a nice antipasto plater, and I opted for a special pasta, (Bombolotti alla Vodka, their own creation, with small chunks of fresh lobster meet) while Frank ordered the Garganelli all Salmone , pasta tossed with salmon and basil in a tomato cream sauce. While the meal was good it doesn't compare to some of our favorite Italian Restaurants in Tampa and St. Pete, like Vino e Pasta and Primi Urban Cafe, but we are spoiled and biased. To conclude the meal, we shared a wonderful Cannoli, a gold star effort, very simple, basic cannoli which was not overly sweet. 

End of Sunday.


Quack

Saturday Afternoon - Boston

I returned home this evening (Monday). I wrote the following on the plane and figured I would post it since I obviously am behind. I will catch up over the next couple of days. 

The story continues...

After lunch at the Union Oyster House we headed back to the hotel for an afternoon rest, which I needed. After the brief rest, we headed back to the T, as they call the underground metro system. The stations are clean, as was all of Boston that we saw. I don't recall seeing any graffiti in town. 

Our next stop was Copley Square and Trinity Church, a Romanesque style church with a large, beautiful collection of stained glass windows. Unfortunately, a three panel set of windows in the back of the church which were on Frank's must see list, were out for restoration. A good reason to return.

We boarded the T again for a short ride back to the Prudential Center, adjacent to the Sheraton. We decided it was time for a post-sightseeing, pre-dinner refreshment at the Top of the Hub on the 52nd story of the Prudential Center. My mojito was very good as was Frank's Cosmopolitan.  The best part of the stop was the Yellow-fin Tuna Tartar.

Dinner tonight was at Todd English's moderately price restaurant called Figs. It was in a very old building like many of the restaurants are in Boston. The place has a great reputation. He is the owner of Blue Zoo in Orlando, probably one of the best dining experiences I have enjoyed
At Figs we shared a very large thin-crusted pizza with Figs, Prosciutto, and Gorgonzola cheese. It was very good combination of flavors, but we thought it would have been even better with fewer figs and more Gorgonzola, but who are we to tell Todd how to prepare his pizza.

The downside of dinner was the temperature level in the dining area. Everyone in our section was sweating or fanning themselves with a menu.

The upside, beside the pizza, was that we were seated within 10 minutes of arrival with no reservations. Frank called the week before to make reservations only to be told that they do not take them. But, they do have a call ahead list. Frank asked it they would put us on the list for 7PM on Saturday, thinking that would never happen. When we walked in the hostess said it would be 1 hour before they could seat us. We then mentioned the call ahead list, and sure enough we were on it. 10 minutes we were seated in a table overlooking the activity on the street.

End of story.

Lightning Vs. Bruins

I awoke this morning in the Sheraton Back Bay in downtown Boston, which was a good thing since that is where I went to bed last night. We flew up last evening while the Tampa Bay Lightning battled the Boston Bruins in game 7 of the semifinal found of the Stanley Cup. It wasn't until this morning that we learned that Boston had been victorious. But in my opinion the Lightning had a good run at it this year.

So were are in Boston, not for the game, but to sightsee this historic city for Memorial weekend. Our first objective today was to cover the Freedom Trail which is a walking trail linking a number of revolution sight. We made it part way through when I started to get fatigued. But we did manage to see new State House, Boston Commons and Boston Gardens, both beautiful parks. Next stop was the Old Granary Cemetery with the graves of Samuel Adams, he still makes pretty decent beer; John Hancock, sign here please; and Paul Revere, got a light?

We then took a cab to Faneueil Hall and Quincy Market. Faneueil is an old revolutionary meeting hall while Quincy Market currently like a shopping mall food court but 2 to 4 times as large and 10 times as crowded, too crowded!

We then had lunch at Union Oyster House, the oldest continuously operating in the US. I had clam chowder (good
but not great). Frank and I had lobster rolls, very good with probably a pound of lobster meat in each one.

------------/ Intermission /----------

It is Sunday morning and I have only covered through Saturday lunch. So I am going to take a break until I have more time to finish, which may be Tuesday.

But let me say we both love Boston. Nice, active, & interesting city.

Richard Simpson
http://theurbanflaneur.blogspot.com/

Sent from my iPhone