Catching up on Boston

The Boston adventures continue!

Sorry I haven't been keeping up lately, I promise to do better from now on. (:

Friday, I went to the Boston Aquarium and the Institute of Contemporary Art.

I rode the train into the city again, and bought a 10 ride pass so that I wouldn't need to buy a ticket each time I ride in. I got into North Station and walked around a bit before searching for a place to eat that wouldn't be overly expensive... which is a little hard in Boston, but I found a hole in the wall place and had a really good chicken sandwich.. I'm not sure what marinade it was in, but there was some really great flavor. So after lunch I walked down to the waterfront and made my way to the aquarium. The aquarium was pretty cool, they had ginormous (4 story) main tank that had sharks and sea turtles. They also had a tank where you could pet the stingrays and as a Bostonian would say; shahks (sharks). On that note, I haven't heard any heavy Boston accents, just a little hint every once in a while. Anyways, after the aquarium I walked along the harbor to the ICA or Institute of Contemporary Art. It was a pretty small museum, but the gallery was nice. They had a variety of different modern art, but I think I'm more of a classic person. It was still pretty neat though, and they had a great view of the harbor. So, after a look through at the ICA, I walked along the harbor for a while before jumping on the train and barely beating the rain home.

Saturday Peg and Paul both had the day off, and the weather was perfect, so we decided it was a great day for the beach. We got a bit of a late start, but jumped in the car and headed to the beach in the early afternoon. We went to a beach that is north of the city, about an hour away. There are closer options, but this beach is really nice and had a restaurant that Peg and Paul wanted me to try. After a few hours at the beach (the water was chilly, but still a great day, walking in the sand, swimming, and reading books), we went off to supper at Woodman's. Woodman's is the type of place where you go up and order and then find your seat, and they're known for their fried oysters. I've never had my oysters fried before, but man are they good! I had fried fish, Peg had fried oysters, Paul had fried scallops, and everything was delicious. Sounds healthy right? (:

After we filled our tummies, we drove back into the city, and after a change of clothes headed to the Harvard theater to see Marie Antoinette. It was a comedy put on showing the life of Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France who has known nothing but wealth her entire life. I'm no expert in plays, nor a good reviewer, but I thought it was fun to watch. I don't think I would go again, but I'm happy I went to see it, it was fun.

Sunday, I slept in. Its hard not to sleep in on vacation. But after I woke up Peg made waffles, yum! And we, Peg and I, decided to check out the Harbor Islands while Paul was working and watching the Patriots. Don't worry, I got updated on the Bears game by dad. So Paul dropped us off by the aquarium, and we bought our tickets to ride a boat to Spectacle Island and Georges Island. We got on the boat and the Captain was telling us about the sights... but we could only make out half of what he was saying. So we got off at Spectacle Island, and it had a great view of the Boston skyline. Spectacle is a man made island that was formed when Boston went through the 'Big Dig', digging new tunnels for transport. They took all of the land from the tunnels and made an island with it. Right now its just dirt, grass, a few trees, and a beach, but the view is nice. We were only there for half an hour before jumping on the boat again and heading to Georges Island. Georges Island has an old Navy fort built by the Americans during the War of 1812. It was never actually used, but is now open for tours to see how the military fortified it's forces back then. It was pretty neat. So then we hopped on the boat back to Boston and walked to Quincy Market for an ice cream before calling Paul to pick us back up.

Today has been kind of low key, I went for a walk early this afternoon, but other than that have taken the day off. I've been looking at some colleges to check out while I'm in Boston, who knows where I'll end up after I'm done travelling. (:

Boston Aquarium

Sea Turtles!

Along the Harbor Walk

The ICA

Boston skyline: view from Spectacle Island

Part of the Fort on Georges Island