Remembering our second trip to Boston

This past November, Chuck and I decided to visit MIT for the LGO Ambassador Day again. He had already taken the GMAT and was most likely going to apply by the December 15 deadline, but we wanted to visit again just to make sure this was the right timing and the right move for him to make. As you read in one of my first posts, our first trip to Boston was less than great. So this time, we decided to do things a little differently.


Day 1: We arrived in Boston, took the T from the airport to the hotel and checked in. I immediately tweeted to Rondo and let him know that Chuck and I were in town for the weekend if he wanted to meet us for dinner or anything. (Sadly, he did not respond.)

You can see the map of the T behind Chuck. Not confusing AT ALL, right?

Our hotel was a good 15 minute walk from the T, so after we checked in, we headed back towards town and tried to find a place to eat. We started walking and then we accidentally walked all the way to MITs campus. There, we found a great place to eat- Cambridge Brewing Co., the oldest brewery restaurant in Boston and one of the first in the nation.

 Then since it was getting dark, we headed back to the hotel but stopped first at Trader Joes for some snacks and a bottle of Moscato I wanted to try which we realized once in the hotel we had no corkscrew for so Chuck attempted to open the bottle with a wire coat hanger and it did not work. Sigh.

Day 2: We slept in and hung out in the hotel until after lunchtime. Chuck prepared some questions for MIT the next day and I read magazines and I'm pretty sure we watched Casper because it was on TV. Also, I put $1.50 in the vending machine in our hallway for a Pepsi, and two Pepsis came out! Score!

Then my Aunt and Uncle who live only 1.5 hours from Boston came and picked us up! We drove to a shopping center and picked up my cousin Barby (their daughter) and then drove into downtown Boston to find a place to eat.  This is when I realized that if we ever moved to Boston, we most definitely would not be taking cars with us. Scary drivers and crazy intersections and Boston attitudes? No thank you! We ended up eating at Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in America.

My Massachusetts family!

After dinner we walked around a bit and then they took us back to the hotel. Since it was still early, we decided to meet up with my little sister Sami's best friend Ines who is a dance student at the Boston Conservatory. We took the T back over and found her, got some coffee and took a really long walk up and down a really nice road.  She was also kind enough to give us a tour of the Conservatory!

Me and Ines, outside the Boston Conservatory.

Day 3: MIT! All day.

Day 4: Harvard, Freedom Trail, shopping AKA the day we probably walked 50 miles. We started early in the morning in Cambridge at Harvard. I was on a mission to find the Harvard Business School so I could see the dorm my Grandpa stayed in when he was a student there in the early 40s. While we were trying to figure out which direction to walk, I looked up and said to Chuck "Hey. Isn't this the bank they rob in the opening scene of The Town?" (Starring Ben Affleck- amazing movie).

After a couple minutes of googling, turns out, it was.

The scenery on the walk to Harvard Business School was incredible.

My favorite picture of the whole trip:

Seriously beautiful.

Found the dorm!

According to his yearbook, my Grandpa lived in McCulloch D.  That door you see on the left is door D so I'm guessing that was the section he lived in!

We then walked into the library and the football stadium.  I think we were trespassing at both places but somehow we went unnoticed.

Not the nicest looking stadium ever but still cool.

Next we took the T to downtown Boston to the place where you start the Freedom Trail. Friends and family beware- I WILL force you to go on the Freedom Trail if/when you come visit. It was so great.

We could not have asked for prettier weather that day....

This was my favorite building. The first time the Declaration of Independence was read in Boston, it was read from that balcony. Now it's surrounded by skyscrapers. Apparently a couple of years ago the city wanted to tear the building down to make traffic flow better. As you can see, they did not tear it down.

  After our tour guide ditched us, we walked a little farther, found Mike's Pastry shop where we had delicious treats, shopped at Quincy Market and then ate a little food at a pub right next to the Union Oyster House. We then made a decision to call it a night and booked it back on the T (by now we are T riding pros) to our hotel right in time to watch Glee. :)

Day 5: Our plan was to check out of our hotel, take our bags and check them at the airport, and then head back out into Boston for a little bit of exploring for a couple of hours until our flight. Unfortunately we didn't realize you can only check your bags 2 hours before your flight or something weird like that, so we got stuck sitting at the airport all morning.  Womp womp. We were bummed, but our feet were still tired from all the walking the previous day, so I think we may have been kind of relieved too. 

This trip was much better than the first time and actually made us excited about living in Boston.