BAHSTON

The greatest thing about living in the Northeast is that you are super close to lots of major metropolitan cities. In the time it would take us to drive from Springville to Logan and back we could drive from New York to Washington, DC.

Once we knew we were officially moving to New York, I decided to book a trip to go to Boston for my birthday.

(Bry was fine with that because he didn't have to search for a present.)

We took Amtrak from Penn Station and followed the coast through Connecticut, Rhode Island, then (obviously) Massachusetts.

Leaving the city bright and early on September 19th

Connecticut was gorgeous!

After a 4.5 hour train ride we finally arrived in BOSTON!

My darling coworker at the Provo SHC Campus went to culinary school in Boston so she was amazing at helping me figure out where to go, what to do, and WHERE TO EAT! :)

The first place she said we had to eat at was Legal Sea Foods. This place has been providing the clam chowder for every Presidential Inauguration Dinner since Ronald Reagan. 

We ended up eating there twice in the three days we were there.

(Worth it.)  

We stayed in Cambridge, next to the MIT Campus

The walk along the Charles River

We had an amazing view from our room. 

You can see the huge CITGO sign in the distance, where Fenway Park is.

Harvard

Thursday night we went to the Red Sox vs Orioles Game.

After the game we walked to Petit Robert Bistro, another place my former coworker recommended and worked at.

And like little piggies, we ordered the three desserts

 

Above: Bread Pudding             

Bottom Left: Macarons        Bottom Right: Apple Tart   

Bry's Picks:1.Bread Pudding 2.Apple Tart 3.Macarons("They're ok")

Lex's Picks:1.Apple Tart 2.Bread Pudding 3.Macarons("BLEH! They're Horrible!")

                

On Friday September 20th, (MY BIRTHDAY!! YAY!) 

we spent the day walking around downtown.

I was really interested in seeing the site of the Boston Marathon Bombing

This is the Public Library, where the finish line was.

This is across the street from the library, where the bomb actually went off

Incase you haven't spotted a trend with us, we love food.

(Definitely not Foodies, just Piggies)

So we needed a place for lunch, so I went to "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" website to see if there were any places in our area. 

Low and behold:

Boston Burger Company

(Insert clouds parting and angels singing)

This place is legit. It was featured on DD&D, Rachel Ray, and the Boston Globe.

www.bostonburgerco.com

Behold the most amazing onion rings ever and my burger, "The Killer Bee".

Bry was lame and did the 'Build Your Own'. 

(It wasn't worthy of a picture.)

Our waitress was super cool and gave me a free Nutella Shake for my birthday!

Will I forever love this place? Of course.

After stuffing our faces, we decided to walk some calories off by walking the Freedom Trail

2.5 miles.
Sounds reasonable.

Granary Burial Ground

Kinda creepy to see a super old cemetery in the middle of the city.

The graves of Paul Revere and John Hancock

Samuel Adams                          Boston Massacre Victims

My mother in law doesn't like my skull shirt.

This proves IT'S ARTISTIC!

King's Chapel

The Old State House

(Boston's Oldest Public Building--built in 1713; site of the Boston Massacre; The Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians from the east balcony in 1776.)

The quote of the trip was when we were in the gift shop at the Old State House:

"I gravitate to this stuff. It's like porn to me."
Any guesses on how many books he purchased while there?
THREE.

Faneull Hall

I loved all the brick buildings!

Home of Paul Revere

I keep going back to my former coworker, but she insisted we go to Mike's Pastry

(Worth dealing with a zillon other people pushing in line just to get an eclair) 

Paul Revere Mall

The Old North Church

Memorial Garden for those in the Armed Forces who have lost their lives in the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars

Inside the Old North Church

People used to rent individual pews for Sunday Services.

The pews in the middle were a lot more expensive because there was no heating in the building so they were in high demand due to being away from the drafty windows.

They would bring hot stones or bricks to heat the pew

The Zakim-Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge

TD Garden

Charlestown Bridge

Charlestown Navy Yard

U.S.S. Consitution
USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat. Construction began in 1795.

Bunker Hill Monument

After a full day of walking, we went back to Legal Seafood and split a Maine Lobster

I named him Paul.

(After seeing so many Paul Revere sites, it only seemed right)

Saturday morning we slithered out of bed and hurried down to the 

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

(This was basically a Pilgrimage to Mecca for Bryant.)

The museum was amazing!

**Interesting Fact: Bryant and I share the same anniversary as JFK & Jackie**

In honor of their 60th anniversary they were displaying a replica of Jackie's gown.

JFK's desk

A portion of the Berlin Wall

JFK's sail boat

Our train was scheduled to leave soon so we didn't have time to explore much more of the city. 

AND the Aggie game was about to start against USC.

So we found some random pub near South Station and hung out there for 2.5 hours.

We literally put our feet up and watched our poor Aggies lose.

We got back to Penn Station around 11:30 PM Saturday night, then tried to make our way back to our apartment. For some reason, the subway line we decided to take added an hour to our typical 30 minute commute. 

To make matters MUCH worse, when we finally got to our subway stop and came up the stairs it was absolutely POURING. (I'd never seen rain like that.) So we obviously weren't prepared for that so we were completely drenched after we walked the 2 blocks to our apartment,.

And a car splashed a puddle on me, just like the movies. It was not great.

But we did get to see this creature while waiting for the L line:

He had animal pelts hanging on him, Indian War Paint on his face, decapitated dolls dangling from sticks, and he smelled HORRID.

Bryant and I absolutely loved Boston. It's amazing how much cleaner it was compared to NYC. It reminded me a lot of Washington, DC. When we first got on their subway Bry commented on how much cleaner/quieter/less people it had from the NYC subway.

I'd definitely move to Boston.

Just sayin'.