Sorry for the delay, decided against spending my time on the net while there, but it’s all still fresh in mind. Beware the long-windedness.
If only we’d thought to take the Old Town Trolleys Tour on our first full day, and I place this at the top of this post for good reason. If anyone is reading this in advance of a Boston trip take note: jump on the trolley day one. Mary and I payed the $29 for the chance to take this tour throughout Boston. The pass allows you to jump on and off at will, which unlimited reboarding, and stops at 17 different places throughout the city. While the trolley is actually in motion, the drivers fill you with information about the city, and it made for a terrific way to see the city. Using this option on your first day would allow you to see the entire city, then use your subsequent days to visit the areas you liked the most.
We hit the USS Constitution early and spent some time perusing the big beast, as well as the locally docked USS Cassin Young, and the USS Constitution Museum. As cliche as it might sound they make learning FUN(!!!11), although I’d had about enough of it after a couple hours. Back to the trolley and we took a pass by the TD Banknorth Garden, the home of the Bruins and Celtics. My comment of “it’s cool that Boston’s famous Garden is now spnosored by a Canadian bank!” was met with at least one menacing glare. I got Evan’s text message noting that the Bruins had signed Chara right at that point, which was quite interesting. The next stop was Quincy Market, which we’d seen, and we didn’t get off on subsequent stops of Boston Common, Beacon Hill, and Charles Street, as we’d seen them. We did get off at Back Bay, but solely for the reason of making the long 30-minute trek to Fenway Park.
En route we stumbled on Bukowski’s, allowing me to knock one item off the Life List. We missed the weekday $1.69 hamburger special, but did manage to get a hot dog each and split the White Trash Cheese Dip. More importantly, I spun the Wheel of Indecision. The winner was Lone Star Ale, apparently the favourite beer of Texas according to the label, and I’ve never known a label to lie before. It was below average. The beer selection at Bukowski’s is unparalleled in my travels, but I was happier to note I’d already tried many of them, including the $14.95 bottle of Saison Dupont. Suckers, I paid $1.95 at the LCBO.
Fenway is awesome, and I only wish I could have seen inside. A massive rustic building that screams baseball, unlike our pitiful Rogers Centre. Right across the street is Boston Beer Works, a true brew pub with – they claim – 25 beers with 12 on tap at any time. What they didn’t claim before I arrived was that they’d be out of almost all the ones I wanted to try, although I still enjoyed the place. We’d already eaten so it was a lemonade for Mary and a Haymarket Hefe Weizen for me, and it was good. This city knows so much more about beer than pitiful Toronto and their Molson/Labatt/Coors.
We took the T back towards Trinity Church and jumped back on our trolley for the trip back to the wharf. After a brief rest at the hotel we came back over for dinner at Durgin Park, known for being one of the oldest restaurants in Boston, and perhaps more well known for having really crusty waitresses. Our waitress was a girl from Ireland, apparently over to make some money for the summer, although the crusty waitress behind her told us “they come here to make money, then p–s it away on booze”, which might be true. I wasn’t hungry so I did the Tour of Boston sampler – clam chowder and baked beans. Awesome. Our crusty waitress got mad when I laughed at her for collecting all the sugar bowls early, cradling them under her chin. She glared at me and barked “gotta save trips!” Fun. :)