The second week of our trip turned out to be just as fun as the first. We took a bus into Boston from NYC, and were super excited to be staying with our friends Ryan and Nicole. We had met Ryan and Nicole the year before in Washington, at a Dave Matthews Band Caravan. Of course we can not stay away from our sports even when we are on vacation, so naturally the first thing we did when we were in Boston was see a Red Sox game. With our luck they were only playing the afternoon we were arriving. We knew we would be pushing it, but we didn't want to miss the chance. Ryan and Nicole were nice enough to send us their house key before our trip so we could drop all of our stuff off while they were still at work. So we raced to their house, changed our clothes real quick, and then found our way to Fenway. Once we got off the train, there was a pedicab calling our name. This guy was hilarious, he was literally yelling "Hey guys, come on lets go to the game!" We at first looked at each other and laughed, but this guy just wouldn't let us walk to the game on our own, so we jumped in. We were laughing the whole time, and actually got there a lot quicker swerving in and out of the cars waiting in traffic to park. Then that was it, we were at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.
We sat out in center field, of course around a bunch of die hard Sox fans(what Sox fans aren't) right next to the Green Monster. This was a dream for both of us, one of the most storied franchises, playing our favorite sport in a living museum. We were also there for the 100th season at Fenway, which made our first visit even more memorable. Being in the kind of atmosphere where a whole town is behind a single team is a really cool feeling, one I have only felt while visiting the city of Boston. Seeing a game in person was one of the most memorable experiences either of us have ever had.
After the game we spent the night exploring Boston with our friends, Ryan and Nicole Conway(even though at the time Nicole wasn't a Conway yet). Nicole met us by Fenway and took us to the North End where we were going to meet up with Ryan for dinner. Getting the true North End experience, we ate at Giacomo's and experienced some family style Italian cooking, delicious! Afterwards we still were restless and looking for an adventure and Ryan knew just the place. We went down a flight of stairs into a cigar bar underneath what appeared to be a normal business. The first booth we see has plaques reserving them to people like Johnny Silver, nothing unusual until Matt got up to go to the bathroom. He walked towards where he knew the women's bathroom was and went to open a door when a man in a suit stopped him and asked what he thought he was doing. After that we were not sure what this bar had going on in it, but apparently there was something going on that maybe we were not allowed to know about! Either way, it was a great night! Haha
Just like we did in New York, we decided taking a boat tour would be a great way to see the city. If you have never seen a city from the water, you are missing out. Not only did we get great views of the famous buildings, we also got to see the life that goes on around the water. Throughout the tour our guide told us about living in the city. She was a history major at one of the local universities and was a born and raised Bostonian, she was able to give some great insight into the city. The tour took us around the city to where the USS Constitution laid anchored, giving us spectacular opportunity to see the ship, since we never made it out that far on our sight seeing adventures. After docking where we started I think we both agree that if we have a chance to do a boat tour like that on vacation, we will always try and make it happen. We happened to pick the week when the Tall Ships were coming into harbor for Boston's fleet week. Seeing the massive sailing ships made me think back to learning about the Revolutionary War, when ships like that were all over. What made it even cooler is that when the Tall Ships came in, the United States had a carrier group protecting the harbor so that other countries sending their ships to Boston feel safe and know they are protected. So seeing the aircraft carrier at the mouth of the harbor was a cool experience. Side story, we went to dinner later that night with Ryan and Nicole and on our way back we ran into a couple of sailors who were on leave from the ship. They were nice enough to take a picture with us and even let Ryan wear one of their hats, probably because they were drunk and just wanting to have fun.
Keeping with our trend of drinking local beer, where else would we go but the Samuel Adams Brewery?
When we were at a bar on the harbor, we were discussing with Ryan what the plans were for the next day. We told him we had friends visiting their family house on Martha's Vineyard and she would have loved for us to come visit. Before we were even done discussing that possibility Ryan says with a straight face, "We're going to the Vineyard!" Not knowing before hand, Ryan and his family used to hang out on Martha's Vineyard when he was growing up, he loves the Vineyard. From the minute we landed I felt like I was in a movie. The houses and towns were small town America with a big time feel. Everything from little cottages to private mansions lined the roads and pathways. Ryan decided the bus would be too slow for us to be getting around and decided to rent a Jeep for the day, which turned out to be great because we got to see all of the island. After driving for a while, Whitney, who had been to Martha's Vineyard a couple times, knew the beach where our friends were and we headed to it. It was not like a beach I had ever been to before. It was clean and free of seaweed with white sand as far as we can see, and the water was perfect. We walked down to where our friends were and they invited us to come by their cottage afterwards to talk and have a beer, how could we say no to that? Their cottage was a walk through a neighborhood of gingerbread houses, all brightly painted and decorated. After a long day, we got back to the ferry to go back to mainland, sunburned and burned out.
Our trip to Boston was more fun than either of us could have ever imagined, with many thanks to our friends Ryan and Nicole. We got to take a tour of Boston Harbor, visit the Sam Adams Brewery, see a game at Fenway, and visit the Old North Church. They showed us around the city, and even took us out to Martha's Vineyard for the day where we met up with the Beermann family from back home in California(what a small world).
No comments:
Post a Comment