Advertisement
Published: January 24th 2016
Edit Blog Post
Our departure from Rutland, Vermont, headed to Boston for Martin Luther King weekend was a bit delayed because of treacherous road conditions. Once we got on the road, Beth, and her new car, handled the condition very well. It was my first "On Star" experience and I highly recommend it (although I still used the map feature on my phone).
We got into our rooms at the Faneuil Hall Hilton, 89 Broad St, earlier than the posted check in time, freshened up and headed out for the Old Town Trolley (I bought us three-day tickets on-line in advance for 30% of the rack rate). We got our money's worth with "BEAR" our Boston driver/narrator. He took us from the Quincy Market stop along the harbor through the North End (Little Italy) to the stop for the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill, and back through downtown, with drive-by experiences at the Public Garden, Back Bay, Fenway (the oldest professional ball park in the US), and with a bit of a detour to the theatre district where we “hopped off” cutting it close (15 minutes before the curtain at Blue Man Group at the Charles Playhouse 74 Warrenton Street).
Blue Man's Giant, Colorful Balls
Jack took this with his phone. Cameras were officially verboten! The show was perfect for our group. We laughed and gasped; thoroughly enjoying the various percussion performances and slightly slapstick, very fun show. With some mix up (my bad notes) and a bit of teen grumbling (can’t we get a cab?), we walked to the Pan Asian restaurant Fire & Ice at 205 Berkeley St. The meal provided a unique foodie experience! We took our sizeable empty bowls to various stations where we stocked up on noodles, raw veggies and meat; chose a sauce; and trotted over to a giant cast iron griddle with a fire in the middle and five or so cooks turning our ingredients into a very nice meal. There were even hot dogs which suited one picky eater just fine. DIY ice cream sundaes put the cherry on top of this meal for the young men.
One really feels safe in Boston. We were never alone walking, even at night. The streets and sidewalks are clean. Cabs are easy to nab; which we did to haul us back to the Hilton after dinner on our very busy and fun filled first day.
Room service
Blue Man Group Charles Playhouse
The theatre is a bit hard to find. It's not on Charles Street - it's in a little alley. helped us take turns in the shower (two women two teeners / one bathroom) and was worth it to get us all going at the same time. After breakfast, we walked to the New England Aquarium. The boys really enjoyed the fascinating and diverse denizens of the giant tank. A quick lunch at the aquarium (yes, fish is on the menu) before we walked back to the Trolley stop and headed for the Charlestown Naval Yard where Old Iron Sides (the US Constitution) is presently in dry dock. There was a free one hour tour aboard Old Iron Sides and we were within sight of the Destroyer USS Cassin Young which is usually open for free tours; but not this day. The USS Constitution Museum was a real surprise! It’s free with tons on interactive / hands-on exhibitry. We had to drag the boys away. I particularly enjoyed a sing-along performance by the
Boston Area Chantey and Maritime Sing, generally held on the 3rd Sunday of the month, from 2-5pm. When I replied Schenectady when asked where we hailed from, the broke into a hilarious sea chantey about the Erie Canal that had everyone joining in on the refrain: “Oh
Fire and Ice
So I gathered a few ingredients into my bowl; delivered it to a passel of chefs at the giant griddle; and came away with a fun supper. the Erie is rising and the gin is getting low and we don’t think there’s enough to drink til’ we get to Buffalo.” Much more fun to sing than “Low Bridge Everybody Down!”
We hopped back on the Trolley and hopped back off at Faneuil Hall stopped in at Cheers (Quincy Market) for a bit of refreshment for all of us (chowder in bread bowls for the boys, a bloody for Beth and an Irish Coffee with Baileys for me). I was impressed by Quincy – it seemed bigger, less tee shop “touristy” and cleaner than in previous years. Something about teens/pre-teens, they can find the only “head shop” in the square. I don’t know the name of it but it was chock full of things that make everyone chuckle – shirts, socks, greeting cards, etc. most sporting quasi rude sayings. Good clean fun!
Seafood at Durgin Park, a historic restaurant with an upstairs location a few doors down from the “head shop” is noted for brash/sassy servers. It hit the mark with all of us and Casey, our chowdah expert deemed it the best of the weekend. Our server was kind; only admonishing us that those clams
and oysters died for us and we should clean our plates.
It was snowing when we departed Durgin and the boys clamored for a taxi (even though we were mere short blocks from the Hilton). We ok’d the idea only if Casey hailed the cab and agreed to pay the fee and a generous tip with his own money. The deal was struck and we rode back to the hotel.
Next morning, we hustled to get going and on our way out of town followed Jack’s suggestion of an early lunch at Wahlbergers! The burger joint owned by actors and New Kids on the Block band members Mark and Donnie and their brother the chef Paul Wahlberg. It’s located at 132 Brookline Ave., next door to Yard House and three blocks away from Fenway Park. Wes and I love Donnie on Blue Bloods with
Tom Selleck. I believe the Coughlin’s follow the family in a
reality television series on
A&E about the family
restaurant owned by chef Paul Wahlberg and his brothers,
Mark and
Donnie.
What a nice time we had! Thanks for coming along, Beth, Casey & Jack. Let’s pick our our next day away road trip –
where do you want to head?
Advertisement
Tot: 0.479s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 24; qc: 124; dbt: 0.1311s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Views
Beautiful