Boston

Hey, what do you know? I finally have some time to write today.

So many things. What to write about? There is good and bad mingling in the air, gentle amusement and bitter irony, hope and despair... let's see, shall we? (Picture me wiggling my fingers over the keyboard as I try to decide...)

So I went to Boston this weekend with my friend Teresa as sort of a birthday trip, a catch-up-with-an-old-friend trip, and a take-a-break-from-life trip. I hadn't seen her in--we counted--at least 3 years! (Okay, honestly, we really didn't try very hard to count. It hurt our heads too much and besides it didn't matter the exact amount of time, 'cause either way, it was too long.)

We got there Thursday night late (all the thunderstorms Thursday meant neither of our flights took off until 10 pm) and checked into the hostel. Friday we got up (well, okay, Teresa got up, ran, showered, read the paper, talked to people, and was generally perky) and I slept until 11. Eventually when my lazy bum was up and about, we went walking around in the hot, hot, oh my GOD hohhht Boston air to see the sights. We went to Fanuiel Hall, bought bags full of candy in the candy shop, and got yelled at by the tour guide for both a) trying to sit in the balcony (who knew it was off-limits?) and b) eating candy. We are bad tourists. Renegades are we. Anyway. It was storming off and on all afternoon, and as we were walking through the Haymarket on the way to dinner, we got stuck in yet another downpour. You know that point where you're so sopping wet already that you stop even trying to hurry out of the rain, because what's the point? Yeah. Plus we were lost. Lost and wet and now cold. Doh.

Eventually we found Little Italy and a nice restaurant with a cute windowside table where the air conditioning wouldn't freeze us to death and in which the waitress was very nice to us even though we split entrees, thus making the check lower than normal (but don't worry--we still tipped her nice).

After that we went to the Improv Asylum and saw a really good comedy show, sort of half-SNL skits, half improv with audience participation. I'd never really gone to a comedy show before and this one was better than I expected. Tickets were 20 bucks each and we got to sit right down in front of this very intimate little stage--I highly recommend if you're going to Boston to check it out. It's in the North End, right by little Italy.

So at this point we were patting ourselves on the back--Boston was definitely a good choice for a vacation spot. It was clean, relaxed, and the people were really nice. We just flew by the seat of our pants (although technically, no pants were worn--it was too hot so I wore a skirt both days and Teresa wore shorts)... anyway, we flew by the seat of our pants, so to speak, all weekend, and we didn't need any other agenda because all the people we talked to told us things we should go do. We got really good recommendations from random people, like the Talbots lady who told us to eat lunch at this outdoor tea cafe, and the cab driver who told us to go on the duck tours.*

*Actually, we didn't go on the duck tours, but it was good advice anyway.

But oh, wait--now that I've mentioned that cab driver, I really must comment on the driving in Boston: WHOA. Our cab experiences there were worse than Ecuador or any other place I've been. What with the bloodthirsty speeding, complete disregard for lanes, and endangering of pedestrians. Going over 50 mph down narrow, winding, cobblestone side streets with cars parked on either side... so... many... accidents... impending... I was very aware we didn't have seatbelts on. Not cool. It wasn't until later in the weekend that Teresa and I commented to each other: "Hey, wasn't Massachusetts the one with the reputation for really bad drivers? Guess they weren't making that up."

On the other hand, I love Boston accents. They are so cute! (I'm sure Bostonians (Bostonites?) would be offended at the term "cute," but to me, they are--what can I say?) They talk with sort of a mild, friendly drawl that has a wisecracking edge and a sense of humor. I found the people to be open, not too uppity, and eager for conversation. Loved it.

Anyway, so that was Friday. Saturday was another annoying blend of alternately hohhhhht and POURING, but that morning we had each bought $6 umbrellas so that helped a little. We walked around the M.I.T. campus (so much smartness! Coming out the walls! Oh, you should have seen some of the professors' research that was posted on the bulletin boards! Water striders' footprints making fractal-like disturbances on the water's surface! Cross sections of human lungs! Brain patterns! And the smarty-pants summer camps, with the nerdy 10-year old boys sitting around in groups of 4 and 5, each with a laptop on their knees...)

Okay, anyway, so we did that, and then we met up with Teresa's friend Cheri and walked around Harvard a little, but we got sort of lost (which may or may not have been mostly my fault because I was too busy taking random pictures to watch where we were going... random pictures of which most of them got deleted anyway because they were dumb, like the one of the pretty red brick wall and the green garden hose on the white concrete with the dead tree in front of it. It looked cool to me, but I guess the camera didn't think so.)

We ate dinner at a random touristy place near the Government Center but that actually had a pretty good salad, so, bonus. Then Cheri had to head back home to the suburbs and Teresa and I went back to the M.I.T. campus. We had seen fliers earlier that day for a campus theater production and we decided, "Hey! That's what we should do tonight! That'll be so non-touristy of us! The real Boston life! It'll be like we're in college again!" Well, we were wrong. Apparently (and I guess this shouldn't have come as a shock to us), M.I.T. is not known for its fine arts program. The play was horrible. HORRRRible. Teresa and I both fell asleep and that was the most enjoyable part of the experience. As soon as the lights came on for the first intermission (yes, this play was to have 2 intermissions and 3 acts... HAYLL no....), we looked at each other, and simultaneously agreed to book it out of there as soon as we could, screw the 8 dollars we'd paid to get in. Whew. Close call. So, many good Boston decisions--obviously that was not one of them. But that's what adventures are made of, I guess.

We couldn't figure out anything else to do, and we had planes to catch in the morning, so we just went back to the hostel. There were some nice French girls staying in our room that night--they were all au pairs (you know, nannies who live with their families) who had the weekend off. We chatted for a while and then they went off somewhere--we weren't adventurous enough to go with them. Later on we found out their big event had been to go to McDonald's. Glad we didn't make the effort.

Mostly, that's the end 'cause we got up early and took the train to the airport the next day.

In conclusion, lots of fun, good to catch up with Teresa,
Boston = cool (but be careful crossing the street), and don't
go to a math school to watch a theatre production.

Q.E.D.

Question: What cities do you think have the nicest people? or, alternate question (love alternate questions): What cities have the worst drivers?

Big Event of the Day (today): Watch free movie in the park (Bringing up Baby with Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant)
Percent Chance: 13.7%