Touring history...

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So... while I'm waiting for my long time friend, Chris who was flying in that morning from Las Vegas, I thought I walk around to the bay area. Alas, I saw the Atlantic Ocean! It was surreal once again; another feeling of accomplishment in visiting from the West to the East coast.

Time to pick up my friend at the station and right away dropped our backpacks at a nice centrally located hostel (Hostel International) up on the 4 floor in a co-ed 4 bedroom. I've never really stayed in a co-ed room before... which I thought that was going to be interesting.

We wasted no time and strolled along the streets; with no set plans, no reservations. Just simply living the day of where to go next... Along the way, seeing the old buildings of the past takes us back to what we had learned in history classes growing up. It was absolutely more beautiful than what we pictured -- from the old firehouse dept, the Episcopal Trinity church, and Boston Commons all in just one stretch of street.

Boston Commons, I must have to put it out there... this park is just gorgeous in the Fall. The trees were all in different shades of orange, brown, red, and auburn; the breeze blowing through lightly across enough for leaves to fall gracefully around me and with a little lake in the middle and statues laid out all around the park representing important figures of our nation such as Washington and others.

Right around the corner, and what did we know what would be there is Where Everybody Knows Your Name ... the original Cheers Bar on Beacon St. I must admit that I never really got into seeing that show, but the fact it is the real thing... I don't think it would have been as delightful if we were to had that plan to find it as opposed to not knowing where we are at any given time. That is why I love exploring! We didn't get to actually sit down and eat and enjoy the culture, but we still checked it out down below where the legendary bar from show was and I bought a few cool items from the gift shop. 😊

Chris is a HUGE sports fan, so he had to take the tour around Fenway Park, one of the oldest baseball parks in the nation. He thought I didn't want to go, but I did. Why not? It would have been better if we caught a game that day but just a tour around the stadium was good enough. 😊 It took the rest of the late afternoon and we headed back to our hostel to recover a little bit before we headed out for a fun night in town - to see where the hip areas are. Fenway Park was pretty much about a mile or two around the corner from our hostel so we just ended up walking towards that direction since it's usually to have bars next to the park.

On our way there, we came across some party in a garage on some random street with some bumpin' music. Turns out it was an art gallery party; it's not your normal upscale type party either. A $5 entrance fee covers the cheap, but simple drinks, viewing contemporary and yet one of those college style art galleries but with a theme going of crazy action heroes and Star Wars fans. We enjoyed the music and entertainment; not to mention a picture with one of the Stormtroopers. LOL! The next thing we know, we ended up being at some bar nearby the marketplace downtown. I don't remember the name, but it was semi-underground and was a pretty chill bar with a local band playing and Chris and I had a few beers, mingled with the bartenders, and made our mark with our signed names on a dollar bill and stapled it to the wall with the rest. We also made a couple friends who happened to be attending the Boston Bruins game the next night which was the only reservation we had for the weekend....

The next morning, bright and early... we took the metro to Cambridge University for a tour of the campus. I don't know why, but this college town was very unique compared to the ones I've been to (at least in the west coast). It had a great vibe of college traditions, busy streets and local pubs. We were lucky to join up with a free guided tour just in time. Out of all the facts the guide had told us, I could only remember ONE and it at the very beginning. That was the front gate - a tradition for students who first start school on this campus MUST enter through the front gate, but never to go through it again until their very last day of college, ever. Instead they must go through a small gate off to the side or at the back otherwise it would be bad luck. After that factoid, I was just so much in awe. My selective hearing kicked in and I certain things I do remember are some movies stars such as Matt Damon and what dorm room he stayed in (the guide just pointed at one of the windows). After the tour, we checked out the town and had some Mexican food at Border Cafe - it was some "good eats" there.

So, back at the hostel, we were resting before we headed out again. This time we actually got to meet one of our fellow traveling roommate, Geoff, a New Zealander who was visiting for a few days from touring and teaching all over Canada. Very nice guy and I was able to swap info so we can find each other on Couchsurfing (which by the way I've kept hearing that word thrown around, but never got to sign up for it until I met Geoff).

Already mid afternoon, we quickly headed out to find the infamous Freedom Trail. Starting from Capital State House, we strolled around the streets, following the Freedom emblem on the ground like a scavenger hunt. Along the way beautiful architecture, actual people dressed in confederacy outfits and wigs either standing at their post or telling stories at graveyards where the infamous Mother Goose was buried; visited Paul Revere's house which put us in the middle of cobble like streets of the European neighborhoods; The Old North Church; the story of the candles; across the river and finally to the infamous battleground which is now surrounded by neighborhood houses - Bunker Hill. We got there just in time to see the monument. By then it was about 6pm when we needed to get back to TD Gardens for the Bruins hockey game. Chris and I first met up with the friends from the bar the night before and had a few drinks with them. Mind you, I was pretty much hanging out with the Big Boys who love their bear and here I go drinking to keep up (aah... gotta love the peer pressure) :P After an hour, we headed off to the rink and we all went our separate way to our seats. Chris got us seats right in the middle. According to him it was good seats. I trusted him - what did I know? It was my first ever game. He was right... not only we got great view, the crowd around us was rowdy yet great, had more beers (and yes I was pretty wasted), got to see a few hockey players fight, and Bruins won!

At the end of the game, we met up with the friends again and went back to the bar we met originally. The bar that I actually remembered to take a picture of was called Black Horse Tavern. I don't know how these guys did it, I had one more drink there and I couldn't take it anymore. I was gone. Of course I was trying to hide my drunkenness by going to the bathroom to cool off, but by the time Chris and I got a taxi to go back to the hostel, well... let's just say I forced the driver to pull over to the street. 😊

Next morning, well... you know what happens. 😊 Off to a slow start for breakfast at The Pour House and getting our stuff packed and ready before we catch our flights. These 3 days were just beautiful clear days, but this 3rd day, was a bit too warm and humid and I only had thick clothes. As Chris and I were recovering, we just walked around the nearby park and enjoyed the peaceful serenity then walked over to the observation tour which we should have done in the first place. (Haha) A clear 360 degree view of Boston on a clear day was still a great way to end our weekend trip.

Good bye Boston! Until next time as I want to explore you more....

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