billbauer

We awoke this morning to the Boston Granary Burying Ground covered with a coating of white. As you can see it is and has been cold in Boston this week and very windy.  It is a damp cold.  It is not the most pleasant.  We didn't hit Boston in its prime weather.  It was in the fifties last week and it will be in the fifties next week.  But this week is cold.  At least we were planning on doing museums.  But, still, a little more street walking would have been nice. It seems appropriate to recognize the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) whose trains carried us all around Boston and vicinity this week.  As the nation's first subway it is not brand new and sparkly but it gets the job done.  Thanks "T". And then we head home to Minnesota / Wisconsin in our first class seats having both been upgraded by Delta. See you next trip.

For breakfast we walk across Boston Common and just a little ways up Charles Street to the Paramount, a bustling "order at the counter" restaurant, quick, efficient, delicious. I went for the banana pancakes, Bev for the yogurt and granola. The major event today is the Museum of Fine Arts, again out on the T green line. Bev admiring Monet's We stopped for lunch in the Bravo restaurant. lamb chop salad tomato bisque And a snack later on as our weary feet and legs wore out from gazing at the art. We ride back to the hotel on the T in Friday evening rush hour on a jam-packed train car with commuters and students with suitcases.  It is standing room only and many, many passengers on the loading platforms that can't get on the train. We are in the welcome seclusion of the hotel room and have opted for the comfort of in-room dining. Tomorrow it is back to Minnesota and Cable.

For a late breakfast, we head to the recommended City Table in the Lenox Hotel across the street from the public library. Now yet another T ride, this time out on the red line to the JFK Library and Museum.  We dovetailed with the free shuttle bus so nicely we didn't have to wait or walk in the cold. Tough to do justice to museums when photographs are not allowed in the exhibits. You can't go to Boston and not have Italian in the North End.  Tonight we chose Cantina Italiana, recommended by a friend and it was wonderful. gnocchi  mushroom risotto  And, of course, dessert, this time amaretto cake.  Alas, no limoncello this time.

We sleep late and awaken to heavy rain in downtown Boston.  It is warm, windy and rainy and it is great just lounging in the hotel room watching and listening to the rain.  No need to rush out early. By around noon, we head out on the T for the Isabella Gardner Museum, a great private museum and the site of the novel, The Art Forger . Our first stop is lunch at their very nice G Cafe. steak, beet & radish salad pear tartine with St. Alban's cheese Only pictures of the courtyard were allowed inside the Gardner. Realizing that we are now short on time to get to our next event, we have a very hurried meal at Scollay Square.  We didn't give this restaurant justice.  I'm sure that it is very nice.  We just didn't have time. After our quick dinner, we take a very long (over an hour) B train out to Boston College to hear a lecture from a visiting author, Leslie Jamison, The Empathy Exams .  It was good to get back on campus visiting Meredith&#

Since our daughter went to college in Boston (yea BC!), we have been to Boston many times and have done the Freedom Trail and the Ducks and .... However when Bev had a short notice work trip to Boston come up, I decided to join her there afterwards for a few days of R&R. By using Flexperks miles we were able to book a great room at a boutique hotel downtown that was practically "free", the 90 Hotel on Tremont with a "city view" room. When checking in the desk clerk said, "I don't know if they told you what room you were assigned but you have the best room in the hotel",  a corner room with views from the Park Street Church nearly across the street, Boston Common, the state capital, Charles River, Prudential Building, the Citgo sign near Fenway and more. The view at sunset: And the view at night: After settling in, we figure out how to navigate the "T" (Boston's subway system) it being around ten years since we had previousl