Great Times in Beantown

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After driving 1,850 miles we ended our west coast tour in Los Angeles, CA. There we meet up with my brothers Rob, Tim, and Mike and my cousin Brian who was accompanied by his fiance Erica. We ate at some fancy Mexican restaurant in the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. It was an early night as Elyse and I had an early morning flight to Boston.

Thank God we arrived a few hours before our flight because LAX is just about one of
the worst airports we’ve flown in or out of. If you thought the DMV was inefficient the
TSA takes it to a new level. We nearly missed our flight as the security lines channeled
down to one line so that everyone could go through the body scanners. I miss the old metal detector days.

We had a few layovers first stopping in St. Louis, then Chicago (delayed 40 minutes due to weather in the Boston area), finally arriving at Boston eight or so hours after we left LA. We were to meet our friends Jimmy and Cali, the couple getting married that weekend, outside of baggage check. After our first stint in China we made plans to visit them with the ground rules that Jimmy pick us up in an all white tux and top hat. This didn’t happen because Jimmy said it was to expensive to get the tux so instead he showed up sporting an old fashioned handle bar mustache. We agreed that it was a fair trade off.

That night they drove us to Elyse’s friend’s house, Courtney, who lived in the Davis Square
area, which is a cool neighborhood right across the river from Boston. Courtney and Elyse
studied abroad in Europe Summer 2002 and have remained in contact ever since. The five of us went out for drinks and a late dinner at a nearby pub.

Our first impressions of Boston were good. Flying in it seemed much smaller than we
both anticipated. The next day Elyse and I bought a one week pass $15 each on the “T”, which was what they called their subway system. Our first day, would bring us to Fenway Park to watch a Red Sox game. It is America’s oldest stadium and has a similar feel to Wrigley Field, although we both preferred Wrigley. We didn’t have seats so we stood behind the people that spent $100 or so on their tickets on the first base side. We met a few locals that were eager to share with us their must see and do lists while in Boston.

After the game we stopped by Harvard Square and walked around a while. Later we
headed back to Davis Square where we ate at a nice Indian food place. The next day
we had an early afternoon tour on “The Duck”. The Duck Tour is both an on land and
in the water excursion where you ride on some old WWII vehicles. It was the best way
for us to get a sampling of the city as we only had one day remaining in Boston. I ended
up driving the duck while we were on the Charles River. It was a good tour and we know which places we will visit when we return to Boston.

Later that night we meet up with Elyse’s friend Liz who used to live in San Diego. Liz
and her boyfriend, Luke, took us to dinner in the North End at an amazing Italian place called Euno. They were big fans of the place and on previous occasions had closed down the joint with the owner. We drank wine and enjoyed a great meal. During the end of our
meal one of the owner’s friends, who looked right out of a mobster movie greeted us at
our table. He was likely in his mid to late fifties but was with a girl no older than 25. I
don’t want to draw and conclusions but I’m pretty sure that the saying is correct; if it
looks like a duck, it quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck. No more than five
minutes later the waiter brought us five deserts on the house and a few desert wines, all
because this one guy said hello to our table.

Elyse had said that the streets in the North End reminded her of Europe. It was definitely
a cool experience and we were glad that we got to experience that side of Boston. The
next day we had to pick up our rental car and meet our friends Kris and Kelly at the
airport before driving up to New Hampshire. We are looking forward to seeing them as we last saw them in Shenzhen in June 2010.

Massachusetts was Elyse's 38th state and my 12th state visited in the USA.

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Photos

Courtney & I
We studied abroad in Europe Summer 2002..now she lives in Boston