Boston: Day 1

After many years of saying I wanted to visit Boston again, I finally found time to make another trip out to the East Coast! It was a hard trip to pack for because the weather was close to 70 degrees for my first two days there then dropped down to just about 28 degrees on my last full day there. What kind of wild swing is that! I think in the end, I did alright and was able to shove a good amount of light clothes and lug a trusty winter coat complete with earmuffs and gloves.

Day 1:
I left Chicago super early in the morning and was able to make it to George's house before noon. He started my trip off by taking me to eat at Zaftigs Delicatessen which serves a Jewish-American brunch.

Really yummy bagel chips with cream cheese

The banana stuffed french toast was one of the best I've had!

During the afternoon, I followed the Freedom Trail throughout Boston. The trail begins at Boston Common which is a central park in the middle of the city, similar to Central Park in NYC or Millenium Park in Chicago. It was super cool to follow the red brick road across the city and (re)learn the rich history of Boston from the early 1600s. I always loved my history classes growing up so it was awesome to walk the trail and read my self-guide.

The Freedom Trail runs along the red brick road throughout Boston and occasionally you see these cool plaques on the ground.

Paul Revere's grave at the Old Granary Burial Ground. Here you can also find the graves of John Hancock, Robert Paine, and Samuel Adams (3 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence) and the graves of Ben Franklin's parents.

Another stop on the Freedom Trail is a mosaic on the ground located where Boston Latin School used to be. The school is the oldest public school in America, founded in 1635, and was attended by 5 signers of the Declaration of Independence: Ben Franklin, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Robert Paine, and William Hooper.

It's so cool to walk around Boston and find interesting plaques embedded into the cement. This one is a Boston Herald American Newspaper.

Before I knew it, it was already late afternoon so I headed back to Boston Common where I met Annie in front of one of the fountains in the park (too bad it wasn't spouting water). George came a little bit later and we all headed to the "T" which is Boston's subway system.

The fountain at Boston Common with the Massachusetts State House in the back. The State House is the oldest running house in the United States and the 23 karat gold dome was put on in 1876, conveniently on the 100th birthday of the United States!

For dinner, George and I went to a ramen place called Yume wo Katare which is apparently all about sharing your dreams. After you finish eating, you have the chance to share your dream with the rest of the other diners and workers (around 25 people total) and then the host yells out anything between "Perfect!" to "Next Time" depending on how much of the ramen you finish. George finished his bowl and got a Perfect! Unfortunately, I only finished the noodles and pork so I got a Almost....sigh.

After dinner, even though I was super, super full, I managed to eat a little bit of rum raisin and black raspberry ice cream from J.P. Licks, a local Boston ice cream chain! After a quick stroll around Harvard's campus, we finally made it back indoors after a grand total of 23,000 steps for the day!!