Bah-ston!

I don't think I developed Boston accent in the 36 hours (give or take) I was there, but it certainly is fun to say it that way. I didn't have any problem with the flights out there. I arrived at Logan Airport about 10:15pm EST Monday night. Karl was there waiting for me. It took about an hour in the car to get back to his apartment in Portsmouth, NH which gave us ample time to catch up and share the latest pilot B.S. we had heard or seen. We had a snack and planned out the following day before crashing for the night.
After a bowl of oatmeal we were out the door by 9am. We drove around Portsmouth for bit before driving across the bridge into Maine. We were going to get gas but didn't see anything, so we turned around and filled up in New Hampshire before heading down to Boston. We took the very scenic highway 1A south along the coast. Along the drive we saw the fall colors I was looking for as well as some surfers, which I was not expecting.

We parked at the hotel next to the airport where we planned to stay that night. It would be much easier for both of us than driving back again in the morning for my 8am flight. From there we took a shuttle to the nearest train depot and took a fare to Chinatown for lunch. We ate at the China Pearl Best Cafe. I had the Kung Pao Chicken and Karl had the General Gau's Chicken. They were both much larger portions than we were expecting and by the end of the meal, we were stuffed. Good thing we had a lot of walking to do.
We made our way back to the subway/train ("T" for short) and made a couple line hops en route to the Samuel Adams Brewery. We took the free tour and it was well worth it. We first learned about the history of the brewery, then we were treated to a free tasting and got to keep a souvenir glass.

Next we went back downtown to walk the Freedom Trail, a historic journey through downtown Boston marked with a large red line. We saw such sites as the burial site of Samuel Adams, the State House, Old City Hall, the South Meeting House, the site of the Boston Massacre, the Faneuil Hall, Union Oyster House (the oldest tavern in America), and Boston Harbor. We backtracked a bit to visit the Bull Finch Pub, more famously known as "Cheers." This pub was the original inspiration for the TV show.

After a couple glasses, we walked up to the North End to Little Italy. We joined the Freedom Trail again and walked past Paul Revere's house, and the Old North Church before eating at the Florentine Cafe for dinner. After a seafood and pasta dish, we had some gelato at Gigi's Gelateria. We took the T back to the Hilton by the airport watched a little TV before falling asleep.

Overall I would rate Boston as great city to explore. It's not too busy or loud like a Chicago or a New York, as one might expect. We only saw a small section of the city, but it was packed with history. We didn't get a chance to the Green Monster at Fenway or the campuses of MIT or Harvard. Perhaps on another day trip.

No problems getting back to Minneapolis. I did have a long layover, but had I missed the first flight for any reason, there was still another flight that was scheduled to arrive at MSP before the flight to Dubuque departed. Fortunately, I didn't need it and it gave me the opportunity to hang out in the observation deck and take some pictures.

The pictures are out of order again due to multiple sessions of uploading. Do your best to follow my narrative and the pictures place throughout the post to make sense of the rest of the images. The pictures have captions, but if you have questions about anything, feel free to email me or comment on my blog. (Hint, hint!)

Photobucket Album