we've been back from Boston for a week (with no time to spare to even recap!) and missing the lobster and fall weather already.
We had originally booked a trip to Cancun for our anniversary but.... zika virus/pregnancy ruined that so we rerouted to the north east instead. We had never been to the north east before so it was all new but so fun.
We left last friday and drove to my parents in Sherman just in time to eat lunch, find something to wear, then cody and I drove 20 min south to his cousins beautiful wedding. then back to my parents for a short night, then to DFW by 5am the next morning. yikes.
i hate flying but did decent during this trip. we got to boston around noon, got a taxi to our apartment and got settled in. we used AirBnb again and again, it was a success. If you know me, you know I worry like crazy so I always worry that it's a serial killer we're renting from, ha! We arrived about 15 min earlier than expected at the apartment (which is straight out of a movie-multiple flights of stairs, busy apartment complex, brick walls inside... not a typical texas home ;)) as we were going up the stairs, the guy who we were renting from caught us and introduced himself. we took us to the apartment and showed us where everything was then left for the weekend. I felt so relieved, ha! then we walked just 5 min up the street, right past the massachusetts state house, so a restaurant we found and ate some brunch. by this point it was POURING outside so we mayyyy have taken a 3 hour nap. #parentsonvacation
that night we booked a "lyft" (like uber) to take us to a restaurant in the north end, at a little italian place i read about. well apparently EVERYONE had read about the same place and the line was wrapped around the building. the street was PACKED. we went a few restaurants down to another italian place, waited an hour then finally ate.
(looking down at the stairs when we walk out of our apartment)
the next morning I had booked a "duck tour" for us and we were to be there at 9am so we left our apartment for the 16 min walk, luckily it was a beautiful walk and we were able to see a lot.
the entrance to our apartment
we walked through parks of beacon hill, known as one of the most beautiful and affluent neighborhoods in the country. we walked to a bakery i'd heard about, tatte, for coffee and a light breakfast. turns out, we liked the place so much that we went there every morning just to have something in this pregnant belly! it was only about 6 min away from our apartment and super cute with its white subway tiles and exposed light bulb lights everywhere.
we then walked through the commons (boston's "central park") on the way to our tour, beautiful. the park turned into downtown so old churches and sky scrapers surrounded us. we love this as it is a huge difference from west texas!
the duck tour was great! we were in a WW11 mock jeep kind of thing and it took us around the city, telling us about places to see, history, etc. then we went right into the charles river and the car turned into a boat and we got a water tour. our tour guide was very in character as a "witch" and kept us entertained.
in this picture you can kind of see the splash of water as we enter the river
after our tour, because it was a sunday morning, we decided to catch a church service in the area. the trinity episcopal church was smack dab in downtown and a beautiful old building. of course, it was a different style than our sundays but it was a great experience. after church we walked all the way through downtown to the harbor where we attended the boston tea part museum. this was not my favorite tour, but it was neat and our guides stayed very much in character. they asked where we were from, we said "texas", and she said "never heard of it", lol.
throwing "tea" overboard
after we left the museum we looked at my list of places to eat and found out that some famous lobster rolls were just 5 min away so we walked over to James Hook & Co. in line we stood next to our choice of lunch ;)
after lunch we decided to walk over to the north end again because I was dying to get a cannoli and the line last night was way too long. the walk was gorgeous and so neat to see all the aspects of the city.
we finally made it to "Mike's Pastry" where the line wasn't too long. we waiting in line, finally got in the door, and realized it was cash only. Cody made a mad dash to the ATM and we finally got our cannoli's!
then we were just steps away from the Paul Revere statue and the old north church.
then we made the 16 min walk back to our apartment. those 5 flights of stairs to our apartment become a lot more daunting after walking back to the apartment against the wind, whew.
the next morning we walked to our spot at taste and enjoyed seeing more of beacon hill along the way. the apartment we stayed in was right on the outside of beacon hill, so just one street over was way above our price range and soo cute!
after grabbing a coffee, we got a lyft over across the river to cambridge where two small schools were, harvard and MIT. We had booked a student led harvard tour and it was so good. our guide, kyle, was very enthusiastic (he was a theatre major...) and informed us about so much history about the school.
the infamous john harvard statue
harvard was beautiful! only downside, there were NO public restrooms on campus! ha!
we went over to MIT where there weren't any tours going on and we were way too exhausted to walk much on our own. we went to the museum which was way over our heads, ha! then back over the river to our area.
that night we re-attempted the italian restaurant from the first night, this time it was a monday night at 5:30 so much better ;) we waited outside for about 30 min then were yelled called into a table where we were basically touching the next table. the place only fit 30 people and the owner was very italian and yelled at everyone, ha! but it was very good! people are basically watching you eat while they wait outside though, ha!
the next day, knowing it was our last, we spent more time walking around the area right by our apartment.
we walked back over to downtown where cody wanted to have a tour of the trinity church, it was beautiful. built in 1837, so much hand painting and stained glass.
when we walked out of the church, the cutest farmers market was going on right in the middle of downtown. produce, baked goods, flowers, pumpkins, and more. I wish we could've bought some goodies!
we then took a lyft back over to MIT where I had read about a brunch that you HAD to have while in the area. well being the foodies we are, that was on our list before leaving that day. so we arrived at the restaurant, just to find out that they only serve brunch on the weekends. Grrrr, so we shared a pizza instead.
when you're at MIT, this is the "art" in a coffee shop ;)
I was bummed and tired but Cody was super sweet and made the most of it by saying lets go split one more lobster roll. we found a place back in the north end with great reviews and headed that way. this place only seated like 15 people, so we wrote our phone number down and walked around until they called us. we shared this deliciousness and by far our favorite. a hot buttered bun with hot buttery lobster. YUM.
then one more walk to our apartment to pack up and head to the airport!
the middle red building, black top floor was our apartment!
how cute is this interior brick wall!?
that's a wrap, boston!
we missed evynn like crazy during this trip but might have facetimed her several times a day. our parents had a blast with her and i doubt she missed us at all ;)
