Around Boston

Aug. 15-21, 2008

For the next few days, we spent most of our time hiking, running, and biking around the beautiful trails of the park. The mornings were lovely and cool. We drove to the T station and took the metro into the city for a few days, walking around like crazy enjoying Boston.

We hit most of the tourist spots, like Quincy Market, Beacon Hill, walked the Freedom Trail until we strayed off to get a beer. I don't think you would survive long here unless you were a huge fan of the Boston Red Socks. Neither Shaune nor I are into sports of any kind, but the intense dedication to something is a bit intoxicating. We stopped to watch former circus stars performing contortion acts on the street, walked through Chinatown (mostly Vietnamese) to stock up on a few Asian condiment items, walked along the Harbor area and admired the huge yachts docked with private helicopters, motorbikes, and embroidered velvet slippers waiting for the guests to arrive.

We had lunch in the beautiful Public Gardens: a great strong cheese, baguette, and a sampling of nice olives from a nearby deli.

I have to say that my favorite part of Boston was the Northend, where most of the Italian descendants are concentrated. For once I was pleasantly surprised that an area I had suspected to be overly touristy and deliberate, was indeed charming, authentic, and genuinely moody in parts. We bought a cannoli for good measure (although neither of us were big fans), along with some freshly made pasta, black olives and prosciutto for dinner.

Another day I met Jessica and her baby Beckett at the Institute of Contemporary Art, which offers what has to be the most incredible view of the harbor. The wind from the water was already cold, and once again, I found myself imagining how shockingly cold that spot would be in the winter. There was a great Anish Kapoor exhibition on, along with some other strange, but extremely fascinating works.

Our world did have to stop momentarily while here: Pete got a urinary tract infection, so I spent the better part of a day taking him to the vet for treatment. All is well, he's on antibiotics and Vitamin C.

We spent the last night there visiting our friends who live in Dorchester, near "Southie" as the residents fondly call the South part of town. The area is very diverse, Vietnamese, black, working class, white yuppies, the whole works. If we were to settle down somewhere, I would like to be in an area that offers this much diversity. As we travel, this is becoming more of a priority for me. Unfortunately, that rules out some really beautiful places.