The URL says "ricks2007travels" but let's not be picky about the year. I've visited another city, and if you're reading this, you must want to read about it. So enough chit-chat about continuing this blog whenever necessary, its time to talk about Boston.
Friday Deb had a job interview in Boston, which was rather convenient since I've been wanting to go there since coming to Albany. New York's capital is only about two and a half hours away from the capital city in Massachusetts, which I figure might be about as close to Boston as I'll ever live. A quick plan and Friday morning off work later, we were in the car on the Massachusetts turnpike heading for a "T" stop where the train would take us into the city. Along the way I got to make fun of the pilgrim hat that is the symbol for the Massachusetts Turnpike and make note of the wonderfully named town of "Wilbraham."
We got in around 12:30 and poked our heads up from the Subway stop onto Boston Common. It was an overcast day, but fortunately only a few rain drops fell. After looking around the common for a few minutes, we made our way through the financial district to find the building where Deb's interview was scheduled for 3:00. After locating that without much trouble, we just wandered around the East side of the city and Fan Pier, which used to be a big railroad/shipping junction. Then Deb had her interview, which lasted until 5:00 PM, during which time I walked around the financial district and read a book. Following that, we were both too tired to do much more exploring.
The next day started out with much better weather. It was sunny and clear, and we walked around the Boston Common and Public Garden for awhile. No swan boats were out yet, but we did see a statue in the Public Garden modeled after Make Way for Ducklings. After lunch at the bar the television show "Cheers" was set in, we walked the Freedom Trail, which is about three miles of historical landmarks. It includes things like the Massachusetts State House, the Church where the famous lanterns were hung, and the Bunker Hill memorial. Despite the fact that it was sunny and near 70 degrees when we arrived in the morning, a squall blew up and it was teeming rain by the time we finished at 5:00.
I'm not sure where the days went. We didn't get to go to the aquarium or any museums. There were plenty of things on the Freedom Trail we did see, but the time just flew by. We didn't even go down to walk past Fenway Park where the Red Sox were playing the Yankees.
I'll leave you with my impression of Boston. For being such a heralded city that tries to compete with New York City, the two places couldn't be farther apart. When we were there, Boston was fairly quiet for a city of its size. I was surprised at how light he traffic was, which is not to say it was anything approaching desirable. I was also surprised at how walkable Boston was.
And just like that it was time to head back to Albany. Thinking back, we didn't get to do much, but that's okay. We'll just have to go back sometime.
