Historical Boston... My Version of it, Anyway!

So the North End... I was in this area once before on the quest to find the U.S.S. Constitution, but didn't much explore the area. We pretty much stuck to our mission. But on this day, I went exploring. First we discovered the cite of The Old North Church, where Paul Revere hung his "two if by land, one if by sea" lanterns. This photo is of a third lantern, placed there (by...Carter, I wanna say...?) as a reminder to strive for peace or something noble and glorious like that.

A fascinating fact I learned from the tour guide dude outside, was that church back then was a social event, THE place to see and be seen. I mean, if you think about it long enough that makes total sense, but The Old North Church was the place to see and be seen. Each family had to buy a pew--the first floor of the church was filled with little booths that had gold plaques on them stating what family sat there. These pews ranged in price (better seats were a higher price, as one would expect.). If you couldn't afford to buy a pew, there were cheaper seats on the second level, and if you couldn't afford THOSE, you found a different church. I found that concept to be pretty crazy. Anyway, this is me in one of the booths, I think a former governor or other politician.

Next, we quested to Mike's Pastries, THE dessert place in these parts. It was a bit of an ordeal to find but eventually we tracked it down. It's on Hannover street, a mecca of Italian food. Their specialty is cannolis and of the cannolis, the "best" or most popular, according to the lovely lady who served me, was the chocolate chip, so that's what I got. I also couldn't reist a red velvet cupcake. If you want to see just how lovely they were, click here. And by the way, it tasted just as beautiful as it looks.

Speaking of the Reveres, as we were about to leave to come back to the dorms, when I found a sign pointing the way to Paul Revere's house. I figured what the heck, I'll give it a go, so I followed the path (with only a little difficulty) and found Paul Revere's house, now a museum. It only cost $3 to go in, so I decided since I've come this far I might as well. It doesn't look like much, really.

And in reality, it's not much, but I learned some interesting things. Firstly, that good ole Paul had sixteen children, eight from his first wife, and then another eight from his second (not sure how many were thiers together, if any) whom he married about seven months after his first wife died. Dang, I thought, Paul didn't mess around! I also learned the origin of the phrase "sleep tight" which comes from the days when beds weren't mattresses on box springs, but mattresses on an array of ropes, which had to be tightened from time to time as they started to slack. This was done with a bed key, which looked something like this. Kinda cool, I think.

On my way back, I ran into several people dressed in colonail garb. I'm not really sure WHY they would wear such clothing on a day that was so hot, but they were, and I'm all about a cheesy picture with a dude dressed in period costume. So, of course, I took one. :)

The North End was my Monday adventure, Tuesday I worked and my only adventure of note was attending karaoke, where the guy who hired me performed a wicked (I've been here too long! I'm saying "wicked!") rendition of "Can't Get Enough of Your Love." Pretty hilarious and totally worth the trip. Plus, I had some bonding time with my friend pear vodka, so the night was a win.

At the Boston Harbor Hotel on several nights of the week are free events for the public. This knowledge was quite handy because on both Thursday and Friday nights, I attended the events there. Thursday there was a band playing on the "Blues Barge" and we took some kiddos down there to hang out. It's an absolutely beautiful area of the city, with views of the water and boats I will never be rich enough to own, or probably even go on.

The band was taking a break when we got there, so we walked around a bit and discovered these giant metal sheets just begging to be climbed. So some of the boys... and Cindy... tried to climb them until a security guard came out to stop us. It was funny. I, of course, saw them and thought "Senior pictures!" So here it is...

Gotta love some chin shelf!

We stopped for some ice cream, walked by the seals outside the aquarium, and headed back to the Blues Barge just in time to get the party started. We were the first to start dancing, but we couldn't stay long because the kiddos have a curfew! Still, a fun night.

It was pretty providential that I went out there Thursday, because the next night, I'd made plans with a friend to see a movie they play out there for free. This week's feature was The Maltese Falcon, which neither of us had seen. We went quite early to have dinner, and then stayed for the movie. Dessert was so pretty, I took a picture of it!

It was great to catch up with my friend and to do something free (well, free except dinner, drinks, and dessert!) in the lovely open air. The company was hilarious too--on either side of us were a first date, and a couple where the guy was significantly older and significantly drunk. SO funny and awkward to watch! Oh Lord... the mating rituals of humanity.

Before dinner, I took a walk to the bank, which is past Fenway park, which is about two minutes from where I'm staying so I took some pictures of it, and then stumbled into a gallery on the way back called 4th Wall. It was pretty cool and reminded me of the Art Walk in Miami--just an open gallery there for the viewing. I wish there had been more information about the artist(s) on display, but it was still pretty cool.

Saturday morning, I did a Literary Tour with Boston by Foot, a tour company here. It was only $12 and it highlighted some of the famous literary sites in Boston. We saw the first publishing house, and houses where Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Lonfellow, and others lived or went. This is actually where Alcott lived out the end of her life.

This house, and many of the others we saw, were located on or near Beacon Hill, which is a beautiful, old part of town that I am now in love with and will never be able to afford. But it's fine. Senator Kerry actually has a house very near this one. THAT's how baller you have to be. Sadness.

Sunday was the World Cup, and, luckily, I switched my shift to the morning so I could go watch it in the afternoon. A group of us went to a place called Bukowski's in Cambridge to watch the game because every other place was practically bursting at the seams. The game was great and Spain won so wooty woo. It was super fun! The only "bad" thing was that my beer, which was super strong, got knocked over when I was about half way done... and the bartender gave me another full one. I know--it sounds amazing. But this beer was STRONG. Like, a punch in the face from old school Muhammad Ali strong. I came back and attempted to act normally, but all I could manage for dinner was a bowl of Cocoa Puffs.

Later that evening, when my mind was in proper working order, we went to trivia for our weekly staff bonding. I thought we did well, but we were amateurs compared to the other teams there. It doesn't really matter, I suppose, since it was supposed to be fun. Which it was. And our waitress was from Dublin and I loved her solely for that fact. I also learned that Bulmers cider in Ireland is called Magners here. Um... At least I know I'm not crazy! I thought I was hallucinating that they had the same label. Win for me.

Also, as an FYI, I finally got around to creating a Facebook album for all my pictures. I will continue to update it as I take more pictures, but you can find it by clicking here. It's actually more up to date than this!

Much love to you all. I miss you.