Boston

I’ve fallen in love…with Boston!  Particularly the neighborhoods of Back Bay, the North End and Beacon Hill.  In each city I’ve visited thus far I’ve decided where I would live if I ever decided to call that place home.  I’ve found so far that I always pick the most unrealistic, most expensive neighborhoods.  So it was no surprise that in Boston I chose Beacon Hill as my intended.  The streets were cobblestone, the houses were Federal style rowhouses, the street lights were gas and constantly burning, the downtown was picturesque and charming.  And it was all on a big, steep hill lined with fancy cars.  I could have spent all day wandering around that neighborhood!  My next favorite neighborhood was Back Bay which consists of beautiful Victorian brownstones.  There is a pretty wide grassy parkway leading to the Public Garden and Boston Commons, which is the setting of one of my favorite childhood books, Make Way for Ducklings.  The North End in Boston is home to Little Italy and has some of the oldest buildings in the city.  Hanover St. is filled with hundreds of amazing Italian restaurants and bakeries.  Yum!  I’m getting hungry thinking back on them all!

You can’t go to Boston without walking The Freedom Trail to revisit our nation’s history.  I realized about half way through my trek that I was not only following The Freedom Trail but my dutiful self was literally walking ON The Freedom Trail path marker in the middle of the sidewalk.  I guess being the obedient type who has always followed directions to a T never really leaves you.  As soon as I realized, I tried my hardest to walk on the right side of the sidewalk but somehow always found myself back in the middle.

I knew there was a reason why I was a history major for a semester in college – I really love this stuff!  It was amazing to imagine what life was like during the American Revolution.  What it must have been like to witness the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence at the Old State House, the Boston Massacre, the Battle of Bunker Hill, etc.  I visited Paul Revere’s house which had been standing since 1660.  Parts of the original walls were exposed, period furniture adorned the tiny rooms, and pictures hung showing what life was like at the time.  My second dose of history came when I visited the John F Kennedy Library and Museum.  I am generally not a huge fan of museums or politicians, but I was absolutely fascinated by this museum, its contents and all the information about JFK!  The next day I walked across the bridge to Cambridge, passing the campuses for the famed MIT and Harvard.  Harvard’s campus town was much more appealing to me than the campus itself - it’s a good thing I didn’t have the SAT scores to get in there!  Everywhere I went I saw advertisements for the production Shear Madness which has been running nightly in Boston’s Theater District for 30 years, so I figured I had to check it out.  It was in a tiny theater in which you sit so close to the action that you feel like you’re a part of the show.  In fact, you become part of the show as the cast interacts with the audience.

Boston is crazy for its sports teams as I witnessed when I attended the Celtics game on my last night in Boston.  The cheering never stopped, the support never wavered (even when the Celtics were down by 10), and you could feel the love the town has for its beloved team.  I even became a Celtics fan!!

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."

-Neale Donald Walsch