Boston here we come...(day one)

My husband and I recently got away for a long weekend....without the children!  This was a weekend I was very apprehensive about, I knew the kiddos would be fine, I wasn't sure if I would survive!

My parents came up to our house Thursday evening as our flight was leaving at 6AM Friday morning. Of course, I was busy getting the last minute packing done and probably worrying about out trip so I really didn't get any sleep before we got up at 3am to head to the airport.

We got up, dressed, kissed the kiddos goodbye and made it to the airport with time to spare, we got checked in and made it through security in a reasonable amount of time. Although I did set the metal detectors off and had to go into the glass cubical for a friendly pat down. Peter just stood outside and laughed at me! We were flying Jet Blue, we left on time, had a smooth flight and got into Boston about 7:30am.

We took the subway into the city and then tried to figure out where we were and where we were headed. We knew it was too early to check into the hotel so we decided to get some breakfast first. We stopped at Bruegger's Bagel Bakery to get a bagel and coffee, the bagels were wonderful!

After fortifying ourselves with a bagel we decided to walk around a little before heading towards the hotel. Since neither of us had really slept we were hopeful that the carbs would keep us going for a while.

Here is Peter checking out info about the graves in Kings Chapel Burying Ground. This picture is proof that Peter was in Boston. We tend to come home with pictures of "stuff" and no pictures showing that we were actually there! This time we tried to get more pictures of "us" and less of "stuff", we did better than we usually do!

I liked the steaming kettle at the Starbucks.  I also liked the fact that there is a Starbucks every 20 feet or so...no need to miss your latte.

I liked the building on the right hand side, it is apartments or condos. I love the curve of the building but I would love to see what actually fits under that window. It was hard to tell from the street what the size is, do you put a chair in the nook or is the area bigger?

There are window washers on this building, it is hard to see because they look so tiny. I'm not sure I would want that job.

Quincy Market, like a huge food court! There was a great pastry shop in there too! But as we learned later not near as good as Mike's Pastry in the Italian area. We ended up coming by here a lot, apparently it was "on the way" to everything we were going to!

The place on the corner was called "The Littlest Bar". It ended up being close to our hotel but we never made it there for a drink. When we were planning this trip we were excited about all the pubs and bars, we were looking forward to spending some evenings out with no curfew. I wanted to go to an Irish bar and sing along with the music. It turns out that we realized that
      1. we are getting old
      2. once we had the chance to sleep we seized it
      3. since we no longer stay up late we seem to have lost the talent for staying awake till midnight
      4. I repeat, we are getting old.


After walking around for a couple hours we made our way down to the waterside near our hotel. We were staying at the InterContinental Boston which is located on the waterfront in the financial district. When we got there we asked if we could leave our luggage there while we continued to walk around, we were getting very tired of lugging the luggage! They told us that our room was ready and we could go ahead and check in.

Out hotel room. The window above the bed opened up into the bathroom, you could watch TV while fixing your hair. Or if you sat up straight you could watch while taking a bath!

Hotel room, view from hallway.

The soaking tub...heavenly!  It made me really look forward to when/if we ever finish our addition on our house and I get my big tub!

After settling into our room, relaxing for a bit, checking out the TV (another novelty for us) we were hungry again and decided to head back out to get something to eat and sight see more. We walked through the financial district and up to the Boston Common to the start of the Freedom Trail. There we started following the trail.

The first stop in the State House, we walked up to the door of the State House but decided we really didn't want to tour it so we continued on the trail.

Next stop was Park Street Church, didn't go into the church, just read the info on the outside.

Then onto Granary Burying Ground. There are several famous people buried here including John Hancock, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams. Additionally the Boston Massacre victims were interred in the family tomb of Sam Adams.

Samuel Adams grave

There were a number of guided tours being held, we had rejected the idea of the guided tour but after overhearing some of the tales the guides were telling we decided it might have been very interesting. We got to eavesdrop on a few interesting facts at each stop to supplement what we knew about the area.

The next stop is Kings Chapel and Kings Chapel Burying Ground. One interesting fact, the columns that appear to be stone are actually just painted wood columns. Since we had already stopped and looked around earlier that day when we first got into town so we just breezed on through.

Kings Chapel

Benjamin Franklin Statue and the Boston Latin School...we paused to look and then continued on.

Old Corner Bookstore - we had actually looked at the outside of this that morning. It is located right next to the place we got bagels. The building was closed that day so we didn't go in.

Old South Meeting House - this is where thousands of Bostonians took part in the debate of what to do with the tea shipment from England. The debate that led to what we now know as the Boston Tea Party.

Old South Meeting House

Old State House - The Boston Massacre happened outside of this building and the Declaration of Independence was read from the balcony to the people of Boston.

The Boston Massacre Site - I had been told that this could be difficult to spot since it is just a circle of stones the the median. However, it wasn't even visible when we were there. They were doing road work and had most of the median covered up and boarded walkways around it so you couldn't see anything.

Next stop Faneuil Hall, we went through the building and then into Quincy Market for lunch. Quincy Market has a large food court, you can find just about any type of food there. We got our lunch and then sat outside to eat. It was a sunny, warm day, so there were lots of people and street performers out and about. It was so warm that we got hot sitting outside eating our lunch. I thought that the weather would be cool so we had brought cool weather clothes but it had warmed up unexpectedly and we were wishing we had brought short sleeves and shorts instead of long sleeves and jeans.

After lunch we continued on the trail. We walked by some really cool old restaurants and pubs. We passed We walked past Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in Boston, open since 1826. We also walked through an incredible Farmer's Market. They had tons of produce and insanely cheap prices. I was salivating and wanting to buy lots of fresh fruit and veggies but restrained myself. I saw red peppers for $.50 each, pints of raspberries for $1.25, peaches 10 for $1.....ridiculous prices! I don't know if it is always that cheap or they were trying to get rid of stock. Anyway, we kept walking...

Paul Revere House - We had wanted to tour the house but for some reason decided not to. Probably because we were too cheap to pay the admittance fee. The location of the house is really neat too, it is located in a charming cobblestoned square.

Paul Revere house

Paul Revere house, view from across the street

looking up the street, Paul Revere house is to the left of where we are standing

one of the many neat buildings in the area, notice the detail on the windows

The Old North Church - The tallest steeple in Boston, 191 feet high. Lanterns were placed in the steeple to signal the movement of the British. "One if by land, two if by sea" in Longfellow’s Paul Revere’s Ride.

Old North Church

In the courtyard area there is a statue of Paul Revere, for some reason I only took a picture from the backside.



I would like to explain this picture...but I don't know what to say.

steeple of the Old North Church



Continuing on...Copp's Hill Burying Ground. Cotton and Increase Mather were both buried here. Some of the gravestones were actually damaged during the Revolutionary War.

Bunker Hill Monument - we didn't walk all the way to the monument, we thought we would come back to that later and decided to go on to the next stop.

USS Constitution - we didn't actually get to go onto Old Ironsides, we missed the last tour of the day. We thought maybe we would come back another day.

We did go into the museum and tour that, they also had an interesting movie about the history of the ship. After that we briefly discussed walking back to Bunker Hill but decided not to. We were getting really tired, we had been walking most of the day and hadn't really slept the night before. Besides, I had absolutely torn up my feet with the walking, apparently my walking shoes weren't really made for walking. I had so many raw spots I was doing a very undignified limp. We decided to take the ferry back to our hotel so that we could skip walking back. It was a wonderful choice! It was cheap, fun to ride, great view of the city and we got to sit down! 

The ferry dropped us off only a few blocks from our hotel, so cool! We stopped by a 7-11, bought some orange juice and vodka...how cool is that to be able to buy vodka at 7-11. I also got some bandages and stuff to try and repair my feet. We got back to the hotel and chilled for about an hour before changing clothes and getting ready for dinner. We started walking around to find a place to eat, the hotel had recommended a few places. Some we didn't find interesting, some were too pricey, some too long a wait. We ended up eating at a little place kind of near our hotel. It was called Sel De La Terre, they served  Provencal French food. We sat out on the patio and enjoyed a lovely meal. Peter ate duck and I had gnocchi with lobster. We decided to walk over to Quincy's Market and get some pastries for dessert but by the time we got there the pastry shop had closed. However, the market place was really pretty at night, the trees are lit up with lights, it was really nice just to walk around.

After walking around a bit we headed back to the hotel and literally passed out. It had been a fun day but we were exhausted!

'til next time...



Boston (day two) visit to Salem, Green Land Cafe, and our future spouses

We slept late. Apparently our bodies are conditioned to only wake when toddlers start screaming. We woke up, glanced at the clock and then hurriedly dressed and speed walked down to the docks.  There we caught the ferry to Salem.  

There was lots of water traffic on the way to Salem.

I do not know what this is, the Captain did tell us but I couldn't hear what he said. Very odd.

And this is my hubby, hanging out inside the ferry.

We decided to head out and brave the wind, smell the salt air and get sprayed by salt water.

Here is a picture of me, trying to stand strong against the wind.

It was so windy that my hair was absolutely frightening. Peter expressed concerned that as we were headed into Salem I might be mistaken for a witch.

He is so sweet.

Sometimes, I just want to squeeze him.

And squeeze, and squeeze.....till he stops struggling.

I actually felt more like the scene in the movie when Bridgette Jones rides in the convertible to the hotel.


The picture below is us on the front of the boat. At this point our eyes are dried out and our lips are stuck to our teeth in a permanent smile.

People live on this island, the only access is by boat.  I'm thinking they do not run to Starbucks for coffee very often.

We are approaching Salem, these are the boats tied up in the harbor.

My crazy husband wanted his picture taken beneath the "Peter D." sign.

Once we got to Salem we walked through the town to the visitors center. From there we headed to the Salem Witch Museum. We had already purchased our tickets online so we wanted to make sure we got into that museum. They have a timed entry, only a certain amount of people every hour. The line was really long but we decided to wait, almost immediately we were let in. It is a really cool museum. You are led into a room where they tell the story about the witch trials, these are done using staged mannequins to tell the story. We were very glad our children were not with us. They would have been screaming as soon as the lights went out!  After the presentation there is a guided tour of some other exhibits. We really enjoyed that museum and left there planning to go to a few more. 

By this point we were really hungry and decided to stop for lunch. We found a small cafe called Green Land Cafe. We both fell in love with this restaurant and their food and drink menu. At this point we were looking at each other and wondering if we could each leave our spouse and marry an alcoholic beverage...aren't the marriage laws different in Massachusetts?  I know that some of you will have a hard time believing we had those thoughts but let me show you my beverage.

It was called "Harvest Moon".  It is Hanger One Spiced Pear vodka, fig syrup, Marie Brizzard Pear Liqueur, and fresh orange.  To sum it up, deadly and divine!

Our waiter was also the bartender, born and raised in Salem. He was friendly, helpful with the menu, very helpful with the drinks and wore a hat rakishly tipped to one side.  We decided on the spot that when we win the lottery we will hire him to be our personal bartender.

Here is my husband with a blissful look on his face. Notice he has a full beer in one hand but is already perusing the menu for his next drink...

He was considering his next beer to be the Dog Fish Midas Touch, at a mere 9% abv. Or, alcohol by volume, for you non-drinkers out there.  Also for you non-drinkers, 9% is a lot for a beer.

He had the Cody Brewery's Wheelers Oatmeal Brown, which he enjoyed until he met the beer he wants to marry. Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout.  Yep, that's it.  After our divorce goes through he will be Mr. Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout and I will be Mrs. Harvest Moon.  I kind of like my new name.

We look pretty happy considering we are on the brink of divorce. But I guess since we have our new spouses "in hand" it isn't so surprising after all.

Our lunch at Green Land Cafe was a very defining moment in our relationship.

And in our trip.

Basically it totally derailed us from the rest of our plans for the day.

I guess that is what fancy-schmancy beers and drinks do to you.

Our future pet bartender told us that we had already been to the best witch museum, that basically all the others would be a disappointment.

Well gosh, our ferry doesn't leave till tonight. If we aren't going to go to the museum then how should we kill the hours....

"oh bartender...."

If you are thinking that we spent all day drinking like fish you are sorely mistaken.  We left the cafe and promptly started searching for a park bench to stretch out on.

Peter found some comfy rocks to recline on at the Salem Memorial for the witch hunt victims. The only problem was anytime someone else came over he felt obligated to prop himself up on his elbow.

I had to convince him that the rock ledges you see in the photo below are not beds...

We really don't remember what else we saw in Salem. We believe that we walked around a lot and looked at all the really old houses. Our legs were pretty sore so we must and logged some miles. We are pretty sure that we never made it into the House of the Seven Gables. Either that or we didn't pay for admission.


1. because we were in a lovey-dovey mood, perhaps enhanced by alcohol.
2. because of the neon signs
3. and I suspect...because of the name. hahaha.........

We had planned to eat dinner at Victoria Station. But the day was surprisingly warm and when we walked into the restaurant it was stifling.  We sat down at the table and had sweat dripping off of us. The purpose of going to the place was because they supposedly have fantastic prime rib. Peter decided that based on the heat and previous beer consumption, prime rib didn't sound very good after all.

So, we got up and left and then made the worst decision of our trip.

We wanted to go back to Green Land Cafe. But felt that we may look too needy. We were really tempted....really tempted. But we decided not to go back there. Bad, bad decision.

Instead we went to a seafood place, Captains' Waterfront Grill. It probably isn't a bad restaurant, maybe even good.  But our taste buds and dining experience had been ruined for us by Green Land Cafe.  We ate fish and chips and beer, and it tasted like dust. All we could think about was our future lives as Mr. Left Hand and Mrs. Harvest Moon.

After a disappointing meal we headed back to the dock and watch the sunset as we waited for the ferry.  Our lives had been changed forever.  It was time to head back into Boston.

On the ferry, dreaming about my new life.

the future Mrs. Harvest Moon

The view of Boston was beautiful at night, not that you can really tell by the picture.  But hey, the water was choppy, couldn't exactly hold the camera still.

'til next time...