I got in Friday night around 9pm, so took a cab (the T option was vetoed when I realized I would have my luggage, it would be night, and I've never ridden a subway system before - let along by myself!) to Grace's apartment in Brookline, a suburb of Boston. We just hung out at her place that night and went to bed early so we could get up on Saturday and take advantage of the morning.
Saturday morning, we went to an arts festival in the little "downtown" section of Brookline. There were tents set up and people were selling jewelry, artwork, clothes, etc. I ended up buying a cute gold necklace with an "h" charm.
At noon, they opened the food part of the festival. You purchased tickets and one ticket got you a sample at a table.
I had the most delicious fudge covered cookie - YUM!
After a light little lunch, we walked ALL the way downtown! It was quite the walk, but luckily there was lots to see along the way, like Fenway Park, where Grace works, and a park where people rent space to garden.
We finally made it downtown :)
After purchasing tickets for the duck tour, we had a couple hours to kill, so we explored the area a little more. We went past the Boston Marathon bombing site. It was an emotional place, but all the shoes, memorial items, and patriotic things made it something special. It's comforting to see how much people care, even complete strangers.
Eventually we made it to Boston Public Gardens. By this point, my feet were starting to ache, so we found a nice park bench and took some pictures. It was actually fun just people watching :)
The flowers were absolutely beautiful!
We then made our way over to Boston Common. In the Garden, you stayed on the sidewalk; but in the Common, there were people laying on blankets, playing frisbee, or just running around in the grass. There was a carousel, kiddie playground, and a big pond with some "famous" frog statues (I had never heard of them, but Grace said they're a popular for pictures).
Before our duck tour, we thought we should put a little something in our stomachs, so we went to Max Brenner's and got shakes. I got chocolate (of course) and Grace got strawberry cheesecake.
It was finally time for the duck tour! We loaded up and headed out to see the rest of the city on wheels (thank goodness because my feet were starting to cry at this point).
We saw things like the capitol building...
... and then plunged into the Charles River to see the sights from there!
After the most tourist activity we could do, we took the T back to Grace's apartment to freshen up for dinner. We went to The Daily Catch, somewhere she'd never been, but is a little chain in the Boston area. It was an extremely small restaurant (only seven tables in the entire place!) and they bring your food to you in the sauce pan in which they cooked it. But I had the best shrimp and scallop pasta!
It was an exhausting day, so we showered and went to sleep pretty soon after we got home. My poor feet :(
After showering, we took the T to Cambridge for brunch at Catalyst on MIT's campus. I had delicious french toast and Grace had a fried egg sandwich. It was a great meal on the patio, again, with good people watching :)
We walked on campus for a bit before heading over to the Charles River.
We walked along the river, watched the people working out, looked at the boathouses, and eventually came upon a dragon boat race! I had never seen one of these in action and it was the coolest/most hilarious thing ever!
We finally made it to Harvard Square and got some ice cream at J. Lick's. After walking around the square a little bit, we found a nice park bench and spent the evening chatting and watching everyone.
We were still pretty full from ice cream, so opted for a light dinner at Clover Food Lab. Grace said one was opening soon near her apartment, so wanted to give it a try. I got the soy BLT (don't ask; I wasn't myself after all the walking) and a lavender lemonade. Grace had some sort of eggplant sandwich. It was a "healthy" kind of place....
We got back to her apartment, showered, and stayed up till 1:30am talking. We were soaking up as much time together as we could :)
Unfortunately, Grace had to go to work Monday morning, so I had the morning to myself. I went for a jog and at brunch at Zaftig's, a Jewish deli, before packing up. I had a yummy pastrami scramble.
I had the worst flights back (sooooooooo many delays), but nothing could ruin my mood from such a wonderful weekend with Grace! Thanks so much for letting me stay with you, taking me all over the city and playing tour guide :) I had the best time and can't wait until round two in San Francisco!
