{view from my hotel room}
It’s been a week since I came back from Boston. I missed my 3 boys terribly while I was away although it was a much needed break for me. The last time I visited this city was over 10 years ago. It’s one of the few cities that I wanted to migrate and plant my life on the ground upon my first visit. You can’t help but fall in love with this city naturally. There’s so much history and the architecture is breathtakingly beautiful.
I was so busy with work that I didn’t (couldn’t) do much of any sightseeing. On my first day of arrival, the dusk had fallen by the time I reached my hotel. Within minutes, I received text messages from a few friends (also from out of town and staying in the same hotel) inviting me to have dinner with them in North End, which was only 20 minutes away from our hotel (walking distance) but 10 minutes by car. They had rented a car for the trip and thought it would be best that we drove to a restaurant (not a particular restaurant but “any” restaurant) in North End. I thought taking the T or a cab would be the best option but I was too tired, hungry and sleepy to walk or think. So resting in the car for 10 minutes sounded ideal!
The first 5 minutes was awesome…we were heading the right direction and talking about what we wanted to eat. Then BAM! We missed highway 93 and ended up driving on the 1A tunnel heading to East Boston. We then turned around thinking that we can get back to 93, but there was no entrance!!! We ended up staying on 1 north heading to Charlestown. Okay so during those 2 hrs. ride, we had driven through and over the tunnel a few times, circling around Cambridge, Charlestown, Sommerville and Chelsea with top notch guidance from 2 IPhones and a GPS. YES…there was no exit suggested from these high-end gadgets….REALLY!?! We were stuck on the road the entire time and it felt like FOREVER for me! 2 hours later we arrived at North End and immediately picked Nico because it was the first restaurant we saw and we (I) were really really hungry. At that point all I wanted was a glass (even a bottle) of wine! This restaurant turned out to be fantastic…great food and wine..enuf said!
So don’t ever ever drive in Boston if you can avoid it because the city’s layout is notoriously confusing. Not only do they have a lot of one-way streets there are many unmarked road and streets that have changed names. The streets are also not laid out in a grid formation like most cities so you are a bad driver by default. We could have taken the T or the cab but I wouldn’t have a story to tell, right? We laugh about this adventure now and it gives us something to talk about!
I’m really bummed that I don’t have any photos I could share with you because I was working the entire time and was stuck in the hotel (due to the rain) for the most part. I was hoping to visit the Public Garden, Boston Common, Fanueil Hall and the new museum, Boston Tea Party Museum during my stay but the lack of time did not dampen my spirit. With the limited time that I had and given the proximity of the location near my hotel, I was able to capture a few photos at the Marathon bombing site that happened last year. It’s amazing how strong this city was/is given what had happened. People in Boston are really resilient, strong and optimistic. Something we all should admire, learn and support.
{steps away from the bombing site…Boylston Street}
{steps away from the 2nd bombing site on Boylston Street…excellent food!}
{Blooming of Daffodils…strong, resilient, happy and optimistic just like the Bostonians!}
Thank you so much for visiting and have a fabulous and safe weekend!
