Hello from Boston! (Or, what Scott likes to call Bah-ston).
It has been quite the cold and rainy weekend since the moment we landed around Noon Saturday. Although the weather outside has not been ideal, we haven’t let it dampen our plans to explore the city and enjoy our Memorial Day Weekend here!
Since our arrival into the city, we have been quite the on-the-go couple, trying to fit in as much sightseeing as we can. We flew out here for a work event last night, but with the exception of that have the rest of the weekend to do whatever we please. No complaints here!
Let’s get right to the good stuff – things to do in Boston. Since I have never visited this city before, I wanted go see and take pictures of everything, hence the need for daily posts about what we have been up to.
Day 1 (Saturday) hit us like a rainstorm! Literally…
The weather predicted off-and-on rain for the entire day, and that is exactly what happened. Andddd, that is the last photo you will see with my hair down. 😉
We left our hotel mid-afternoon ready to take on the city and weather.
Hello Boston!
The concierge at our hotel (I will give more details of where we are staying once we checkout – wink wink) gave us some things to keep us busy, and on our walk to to lunch, we passed by a few cool spots to revisit again later.
One is called Quincy Market, a 200-year-old food hall and marketplace popular for both tourists and locals to visit.
We walked inside and through the shops quickly, but took note of two restaurants we wish we had time for: Dick’s Last Resort and a replica of the famous Cheers Bar. We heard to come through the market hungry, because each shop is there to sell something unique and tasty!
It wasn’t long before we arrived to our lunch destination of Mare Oyster Bar in the North End. After a walk in the wind and rain, I was happy to sit down to a nice cold Down East Cider!
Earlier, we told our concierge we want to try oysters and lobster, and he recommended us visiting this place as well as making a reservation first. As soon as we walked in, I knew why.
Mare Oyster Bar is known as a nice sea food dinner spot, and we caught them right when they opened at 2 p.m. The food was absolutely fantastic, but more than a little out of our price range for lunch. Upon first glance of the menu, we decided to go for the oysters and split an entrée.
By the way… did I mention I don’t like oysters? The texture gets me every time. I am perfectly fine with shrimp, scallops, crab, and lobster, but have never been a fan of oysters or mussels.
Since we were in Boston (a city that has some of the freshest) I put my negative thoughts aside and just went for it.
The one (ha!) I tried was a Fire River, and the others on the plate were Wellfleet and Bagaduce <- whatever that means. It was actually tolerable!
For an entrée, we listened to our server’s suggestion and ordered the Lobster Roll. We have heard nothing but great things about them, and that this place has one of the best in the city! Split between the two of us, we had 2.5 pounds of fresh lobster warmed up on a buttered roll with a side of seasoned fries.
We also split a side of their grilled asparagus with an over easy egg and Parmesan cheese on top.
Everything was unbelievably good, and the lobster was dreamy! Absolutely amazing… just like our bill. Wow. Luckily, that was our big meal for the day!
Full and ready to tolerate the rainy weather, we walked just a street or two over to visit The Paul Revere House.
Yes, that would be the famous “The British Are Coming” Paul Revere! Today, the historical landmark still stands and has been restored and turned into a small museum. There were no photographs allowed inside, so all I can really show you is this exterior one.
For an admission of $3.50 a person, we passed an hour of time and learned a lot about him, his family, and his contributions to U.S. History. (Definitely worth the time!)
While in the North End, we wandered over to a famous bakery, suggested by a friend of ours back home.
Holy cannoli, was this place bangin’!
With a typical line out the door, Mike’s Pastry is the most talked about bakeries in the city. It has been family owned for generations, and withholds the traditional Italian way of baking (and packaging!) to this day.
Off hand, I would guess that they have at least thirty different types of cannolis, among other things including cookies, cakes, gelati, biscotti and a cafe of coffee drinks. Of course, I had to try the Mint Chocolate cannoli.
Most of you know by now that I have an obsession with this dessert combination, and this cannoli was right up there with the Lobster Roll in dreamland. Ridiculously delicious!
It is a good thing that Boston is considered to be a “walking city,” because we have been eating our faces off! The only thing saving our waistlines is getting to most of our destinations by foot, which has also allowed us to enjoy seeing the sights along the way.
We both prefer it that way, anyways.
After a morning of travel and a full afternoon of indulgences, we headed back to the hotel to rest before dinner. Apparently our food comas took over, because we both napped for two hours. <- oh hey there, vacation kicking in!
Dressed, rested and ready, we set out for a light bite with high hopes of finding entertainment from an Irish pub.
Once again, we heard about the hot spots from our concierge (gotta love Charles!) and walked over to Mr. Dooley’s on Broad Street. The place was packed to the tee and asking for a cover, so we turned to our second option of Barney Fanning’s Boston Irish Pub.
Before we even looked how to get there, we ran into a friendly couple who just got out of a Boston Bruin’s hockey game, also looking to get into the pub. We decided to walk over together, and both Scott and I thought it was funny how this couple seemed to know everyone on our way over.
By the time we got to Barney’s, we went right in and sat at the bar. We were offered a round of drinks “on them” and as it turns out this fun-loving couple were the owners of the place! What are the odds of that?
John and Enza were so welcoming and an absolute blast to hang out with! After a few rounds and another attempt at oysters (I ate four this time!) the four of us eventually went back over to Mr. Dooley’s and had a great night.
For those of you looking for two fun and entertaining spots to visit, I recommend both of these pubs. Barney Fanning’s for more of a Boston sports bar type of feel, and Mr. Dooleys for a more traditional Irish pub environment with live music and dancing.
Scott and I have tried to fit in as much as we can this weekend, and I have another action packed Boston post coming your way tomorrow. For now, we’re off for Day 3: A Duck Tour of the city!
Hope you all have a happy and safe Memorial Day! 🙂
Robert Smith
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