The Boston Blog

At long last, the tale of my Boston trip.

I flew in on Thursday evening, arriving in Boston at about 7:30. For the first time in memory, my luggage was spinning on the carousel before I got off the plane. We pulled into the airport and the jetway wasn't working, so I had to stand awkwardly in the aisle and listen to the pilot say, absently over the P.A. "It really is a complicated piece of machinery." But anyway, once I got down to baggage claim Renee was waiting for me, and we got on the T and headed back to her apartment.

On the train ride, I heard that Renee's roommates are just as obsessed with The Office as I am, if not more so. To celebrate the premiere they created their own Dunder Mifflin reception desk in their apartment and served giant jars of M&Ms and Surprise! ice cream sandwiches. So we stopped at Trader Joe's for some food and made it home in time for an excellent episode of The Office. The roommates were incredibly nice and welcomed me right in.

The next morning, Renee had a class, so after I ate breakfast I walked over to campus to meet her. It was kind of a long walk, and we were having really warm weather that weekend (upper 80s), but it was a beautiful setting on Beacon Street. We met in Marsh Square and then went to mass at the Catholic Center. I was so excited to finally see the Catholic Center itself and meet all the people I've heard Renee talk about.

We spent the rest of the day doing more walking and seeing the sights of Boston on foot. We shopped a little on the way, saw the Boston Public Library (Renee knows me well; I love libaries). It had a cool exhibit about WWII propaganda and another about the illustrations in Make Way for Ducklings. We ate lunch in its beautiful courtyard and smelled all the books. We continued on our way and walked through the Public Gardens, saw the "Cheers" bar (though I don't think I've ever seen "Cheers"), passed a couple of sites on the Freedom Trail and stopped at Quincy Market for a carefully chosen dinner (I really could have spent all day choosing if I weren't so hungry). For dessert, a Mike's Pastries peanut butter brownie by the sea.

Saturday was Concord day, and we spent it seeing the literary sites. We borrowed Renee's roommate's car and drove up there. Renee's friends Rachael and Helen came along. I almost peed myself when we arrived at Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott wrote "Little Women" (when I was about 10 I decided to read everything Alcott had ever written. I got pretty far before I switched to Judy Blume). We took a tour of the inside and learned about Alcott's family, which was much more tied to writers like Emerson and Thoreau than even I thought.

We ate lunch on the grass in front of some historic tree, then walked down to the Old Manse to find a little fall festival going on. We took the tour of that house, which turned out to be the strange story of how the wallpaper in the house had changed more so than the famous Emersons who lived there. The last stop was Walden Pond, and I almost peed myself again wading into it, trying to picture Thoreau doing the same. I wished I had brough my suit, because I would have swam right across the lake. Instead, I contented myself to walk around it, which was also fun. Renee and I capped of the evening with a viewing of "Catch Me If You Can" at her place.

Sunday was the worst day, weather-wise, but it wasn't even that bad. Just misty and chilly. It warranted a stop at Dunkin' Donuts, anyway. We started the day by watching one of Renee's roomies finish a half marathon near Fenway. I enjoyed cheering for the runners and guessing at people's names (yelling "Go Bill!" didn't turn any heads, though). Afterward it was museum time; we went over to to MFA and took the "highlights" tour, which meant we got to see a work in every room. The "highlight" for me was Gaugin's "Who are we?" which is somehow creepier in real life. We stumbled upon a screening for the documentary film "Run Granny Run" in the museum theatre, which was an excellent film, and the real life Granny D was in the audience. She and the filmmaker answered questions about the film. Watch for it on HBO this month; I'd recommend it. For lunch/dinner we went to a burrito place called Boloco and I tried something amazing: a buffalo burrito. That night we went to mass and stopped for ice cream on the way home at J.P. Licks. I got pumpkin flavor. It was like pie in ice cream form; it was like Thanksgiving in my mouth. Mmmm...

The next morning I had to get ready to leave, but we had a nice breakfast at a place where our waitress spoke real Boston diner talk and the booths were labelled with the names of the place's regulars. My french toast was made with chocolate bread. I said goodbye to Renee, and flew home in time for my Monday night class. All in all, it was an amazing way to spend an October weekend. Next time I visit Renee, it will be in Honduras!