I switched my flights from Sunday morning to Monday evening, giving me enough time to get my tourist on. I called my friend Will (a Brookline resident), and asked him to scout out a B&B for me to serve as my base of operations. The Boston In A Day tour was going to be a blitz. After the fiasco with the Sea Crest Resort, I was ready for anything.
The Bertram Inn was beautiful, marvelous, and fabulous. Good job with the recommendation, Will! I could live here. The staff was extra friendly, even Googling directions to Harvard and printing them out for us. Our room was adorable. It looked like something on Martha Stewart, and we all know Martha Stewart is my imaginary friend. It was perfect. And guess what? The price was the same as that ghetto Sea Crest Resort I stayed at the two nights before.
I started my tour at Quincy Market, on the recommendation of one of Jenn's wedding guests. She said it was a good place to find all kinds of food, street performers, and shops. I walked around for a little bit, then noticed the "Cheers" sign - a replica of the set of the TV show "Cheers" (duh). I almost stopped in for a bite there, but they had directions to the real Cheers, about a mile away, with walking directions. And I was off!
Lucky for me, the path to Cheers is also the path of the Freedom Trail. If you really intend to do Boston In A Day, you must include the Freedom Trail. It's a red-brick inlay into the cement sidewalks that snakes through the city. Once you find it (I found it outside Quincy Market), start walking.
The Freedom Trail is history overload. There a so many historic sights along the. The Latin School, King's Chapel, the Robert Shaw & 54th Regiment Memorial (of "Glory" fame), Frog Pond, Boston Common, lots of statues of famous dead people, and lots of creepy, soggy graveyards. Ew. The Robert Shaw Memorial was my favorite part, a particularly poignant reflection on the Civil War.I made Cheers the last stop on the Freedom Trail. I think the trail went farther, but who wouldn't stop at Cheers? The outside is just like on TV, but the inside is not. This is the place that inspired the TV show. I got decent food, and great service. It is a tourist trap though, so there are catchy names for their cocktails, and at least 2 souvenir shops. But who can resist going to Cheers? So the tourist trappiness is forgiven. Plus, I needed another pint glass for my collection.
I walked back to the Quincy Market, though I'm not sure how. I went through Chinatown, my favorite stop in any big city, even though we were lost when we found this one.
Back at the B&B, Will & Alyssa came to show us around a bit, and we took the T (the subway) right back downtown. We hoofed it to the North End, which is "Little Italy" in most other major cities. Dinner at Giacomo's Ristorante was the recommendation of another friend. It was good food, decent price, but a little bit too... ??? No reservations, no credit cards, guests have to wait outside in a line, it was far too cramped... they were creating their own hype. Excellent business practice, crappy experience. We felt rushed, especially watching the other people waiting outside in line. The food wasn't THAT good. Doesn't an authentic Italian meal take hours, with plenty of time for wine and dessert?
We picked up biscotti at Modern Bakery for the guy who told us to eat at Giacomo's. 3 lbs of biscotti is a lot of biscotti. (James put it in his carryon to bring back!)
Then we got gelato for ourselves at a little place across the street from Modern. You can't miss it. There's a big sign that says "Gelato". Ha. Let me tell you, I would kill a squirrel for gelato. And for gelato from North End, two squirrels.
With full bellies and light spirits we decided to kill our happiness with a walk through the Holocaust Memorial. It was eerie, and we could all do without the simulated coals burning below our feet.
Across the street was the Bell In Hand Tavern, which dates back to 1795. But it also a pretty happenin' place nowadays. Except for the fact that the windows were wide open, allowing the less-than-courteous cigarette smokers outside to share their smoke with us. We had a few rounds of drinks, and I was happy to be enjoying the evening with Will and Alyssa. It was getting late, and time to head back to our beyond-cute B&B, so we took the T back to Brookline, and bid adieu to our sleepy-head friends.
Of course once we got back, I didn't want to sleep, so I went out to the Sunset Tap & Grille, because they had 200+ beers on tap. We don't even drink beer, but a place like that must have pint glasses, right?! Of course they do, and so we went. (The picture only shows one set of taps, there are many more.)
My feet hurt from walking, we experienced a ton of history, we went to where everyone knows our name, we had great food with great friends, and we ate gelato in the North End. I am super excited to say that I feel like we saw a lot of Boston, and we hadn't even been there a whole day!
Here are a few links for you.
The Bertram Inn http://www.bertraminn.com/
The Freedom Trail http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/
Giacomo's Ristorante http://www.frommers.com/destinations/boston/D39702.html
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