Boston

So I just got back from Boston and I must say that it was one of the best trips I have taken in a long ass while. Originally, I was going to go by myself to visit my friend Karen who I hadn't seen in about three years, but ultimately Chris, Susie, Raymund, Josh, and Kevin ended up coming along. So here is a recap.

We arrived at 5:40 am at Logan International Airport. Each of us slept only about two hours apiece on the plane so most of us were pretty tired when we got there. We took the T (the name for Boston's subway system) to our hotel, the Marriott Copley Place (the Craiglist Killer hotel) and decided it was best to sleep for a few hours before hitting the tourist sites of Boston. Actually, Josh and I just stayed up and had some Dunkin Donuts while the others slept.

At about 9:30, I got everyone up so we could get the day started. We walked down Newbury Street, which I would describe as the colonial version of Sunset Blvd, to the Boston Public Garden. The place was amazing. It is one of the best gardens in all of America. Here is a picture of some tulips with a George Washington statue in the background.

At this point, we started the Freedom Trail. Now for those who don't know what that is, it's basically a trail designed for tourists that passes by 16 American historical sites. For example, the Granary Burying Ground where Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams are buried and Old North Church where the famous phrase "Two if by sea" was coined. Halfway, through the trail, we stopped for lunch at Neptune Oyster. I had heard from multiple sources that the lobster rolls there were the best in all of Boston. That's not an understatement. It could be one of the best sandwiches I've ever had, let alone lobster roll. I guess that's why Zagat gave it a 27 and Yelpers give it 4.5 stars (I know I'm a nerd). Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trail.

After doing the trail, we headed over to Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox play. That was an ordeal in itself. Long story short, we had to transfer three times to get there, and instead of it taking us 15 minutes to get there, it took us an hour. Damn you, Government Center station for being closed.

For those who don't know, it is one of my life goals to see all the baseball stadiums, and Fenway is one of the two most famous in all of baseball (the other being Wrigley). The Red Sox got their asses whooped by the Rays but I was pretty impressed because the fans stuck it through until the very end. If this had been an A's game, the stadium would have been empty by the ninth inning. Here is a picture of the famed Green Monster.

We were exhausted at this point, so we headed back to the hotel for some rest before the evening festivities. Since we are always concerned about spending too much money at the bar for drinks, we decided to pick up some supplies at the grocery store across the street. We picked up all the materials for Silverbacks, which are done like Jager Bombs but are shots of Bacardi 151 dropped in a cup of half Hpnotiq and half Red Bull. If you want to get fucked up, this is the way to go because after only two, I was drunk.

Once we were done pre-gaming, we hopped back on the T to meet some friends at a bar named Tia's. After about two hours there, we left to go dancing at a little dive bar called Jose McIntyre's. All in all it was another hyphy night for us. Some highlights were Chris throwing a jacket in Susie's face and almost getting into a fight, Josh wandering off and almost getting charged $80 by a taxi to get back to the hotel, and us getting our dance on all night.

The next day, I had a huge hangover, but it was not going to stop me from going to see the Library and Museum of one of my favorite Presidents, JFK. So Josh and I headed out bright and early to check it out. Normally, I'm not a fan of I.M. Pei. His pyramid at the Louvre is an eyesore and his museum at Cornell is hideous, but he did a really good job with the JFK Library. The glass room overlooking Boston Harbor with the giant America flag hanging from the rafters is one of the most inspiring rooms I have ever been in.

After visiting the museum, we met back up with the rest of the group and headed up to the North End for some lunch. The North End of Boston has the biggest Little Italy in all of America, so we decided to try out a place that Karen recommended called La Dolce Vita. Although the food was better than most Italian food I've had in the US, it still paled in comparison to Italian food in Italy. It was also a tad bit overpriced.

From there, we headed out to Cambridge to see the campus of Harvard University. I had been there a couple of times, so I knew what to expect. Frankly, it might be the best university in the world, but the campus is just average to me. If you want to see a majestic campus, check out Cornell (and it's not just because I went there). The rest of the group seemed to like Harvard though. Here is a picture of us sitting on the steps of Memorial Library.

We were flying out that night, so we went back to Newbury Street to do some shopping for a bit before picking up our bags at the hotel and going to the airport.We were only there for a weekend, but we packed so much in that it seemed like a couple days. It's funny because I don't think I'd go back to Boston to visit but I'd definitely live there in a heartbeat. Maybe one of these days!