Saturday, August 29, 2009

"When a man is tired of London...

...he is tired of life."

I love that quote, from Samuel Johnson, and insofar as I'm concerned, it applies to Boston too. How could anyone not fall in love with this city? It's physically beautiful, and intellectually bustling. The Liberty is the ideal place to stay: within walking distance of The Quincy Market (aka the Fanueil Market), and across the street from the subway, which will take you to Harvard Square in three stops. Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny fall day, with temperatures in the high 60's. After checking in, we walked to The Quincy Market, where we had lunch at Durgin Park, seated outside so we could people watch. Lunch was delicious: slices of gritty, good cornbread to start, followed by clam chowder, a tossed salad, fish cakes to die for, Boston baked beans, glasses of cold Samuel Adams ale and for dessert, Indian pudding with ice cream. It doesn't get any better than that.

We had drinks and dinner with the family in Back Bay last night; we were going to take a taxi but it turns out the Liberty provides a town car between 6 & 8 PM, we availed ourselves of that (very posh!). We had a great time catching up with family, most of whom I hadn't seen in years. We had breakfast this morning in the hotel restaurant, aptly called The Clink: French toast with Vermont maple syrup, sausage, eggs Benedict with a crab cake on the side, fresh orange juice and coffee. Then off to Harvard Square, for the wedding in Swedenborg Chapel. It was a joyous occasion that began with 4 friends of the bride and groom singing "Goin' to the Chapel..."

Afterward, we walked through the rain to Harvard, where we walked around admiring the buildings and ended up, inevitably, at The Coop. Of course we bought books: fiction for A (Under the Volcano); non-fiction for me: Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History, by Laurel Ulrich, and Daniel Schacter's The Seven Sins of Memory. We also bought souvenirs for the grandsons and a couple of giant Harvard umbrellas. Armed with our giant umbrellas, we made our way to Peet's for some restorative cappuccinos, then back to the subway, where passes are called Charlie tickets. I love that!

Tonight we're off to the lobby for a drink before heading out to the reception.

2 comments:

Mrs. L said...

Let's see, the last time I did something with my ex -- how did that go? Ah yes, we were in London for our younger daughter's wedding. He and his missus jumped into a black cab just as I jumped into the same black cab from the other side. Awkward! His wife and I managed to spend the ride talking about the new bride and groom. The ex never looked up once from his Blackberry. In a way, it was heaven.

emmapeelDallas said...

LOL! Well, you know that A and I are good friends, and it's fun to do a family thing like this together. We only threatened to kill each other a few times. ;p