Travels of THB: Boston Days 1 -2

Day 1: E-ville to Boston

Quote of the day:

And a special thank you to the citizens of Massachusetts: You are paying all the taxes, creating all the jobs, raising all the children. This government is yours. Thank you for letting me serve you. I love this job.

Weather: Warm, clearly rained early in the day

Pics: Zen (the restaurant)

United switches airplanes on us and we lose our economy plus seats and sit in the back with the riff raff. On-time arrival, short cab ride to downtown, easy check-in at Nine Zero (90 Tremont), a Kimpton Hotel, dinner at Zen around the corner (spicy seafood udon, couple of rolls, gyoza, wine and beer, $66).

Oh, and while we were in the air, Giants tie up series with Reds at 2-2, home field advantage worth exactly zero games and The Freak is looking at a career as a middle reliever. Who knew!

Day 2: Boston

Quote of the day: See above

Weather: Cool, clear, breezy, perfect for walking all over Boston

Pics: Note: some of the pics are not correctly rotated, though they look fine after THB stored them and aligned them, and saved them. Hmmmm….another change to Google Blogspot?

Along Charles River, Paramount Café, State House, utility box, art along Kennedy Parkway, ICA, Lance sighting, harbor from ICA, utility boxes, tree turning against blue sky, Mobilia shots including Bev’s teapot, O Ya (on its side)

Pre-breakfast, wake up to find the A’s have staged another miracle comeback walk-off. Rest of day pales. Well, not that much. We take a 4 mile walk (it’s in the high 40s, we are both wearing our non-matching cashmere hoodies) along two sides of the Charles (see pics) and eat at a jumping inefficient spot called Paramount. You stand in line and order, your food gets prepared, and then you wait to pay and get drinks. So, THB proceeds to eat (with his fingers) his toast and home fries, afraid to tackle his Spanish omelet. DB is much more courteous with her omelet and fries and toast. With coffee, $24.

After freshening up, it is a short walk to start along the Rose Kennedy Parkway, Boston’s equivalent to the High Line Park. Exactly the same except there are no people and nothing particularly noteworthy of the location, nor of the art, nor of the area around the Parkway. Otherwise, it is a pretty decent urban stroll, so they should skip the comparisons.

Another short walk from the end of the RKP is the ICA, a relatively new museum of contemporary art, and there are several very good exhibits and one dud (the infinity of glass…too long!). In one of the shows, one of the pieces is on loan from Lance Armstrong, a name in the news today (at least in the NYT, which has at least three articles on him).

Dine in the ICA café: cobb salad, potato cakes (mixed with chickpeas, needed to be warmed up some more), and lemonade soda (excellent), $36.

We are saving our energy, so now we take the T (the local subway/bus system) to Harvard Square , then walk 1.5 miles through a very pretty and exclusive neighborhood to visit Mobilia Gallery, where we have made a number of purchases. They are getting ready for a teapot show (Bev: your piece looks great! See pic…), and we do some looking, no buying.

Back 1.5 miles on foot, then T to the hotel to rest up for our big event (and big splurge), dinner at O Ya, an easy 10 minute walk from the restaurant.

Before we leave, the Giants overcome the Reds in Game 5, completing a miracle comeback. Cheering heard in Boston all the way from the West Coast.

At the restaurant, we opt for the chef’s menu, 22 small bite courses, and a split of the “wine” pairing (sake, French wines, a local cider and an IPA, a California Pinot), with a new beverage approximately every 3 dishes. Here are some of the dishes: