So far we have been staying at a hotel near Fenway Park for obvious reasons. We are done with baseball for this trip so it is time to move closer to our other passion……..FOOD. On previous trips we have enjoyed the amazing restaurants of the North End of Boston. This area has traditionally been the Italian section. We were told that years ago the area was 90% Italian. The same guide also said that now it is 30% Italian and 70% Yuppies. The wonderful restaurants have survived and there are numerous places to get a scrumptious cannoli.
Yesterday was raining so we opted to take a trolley tour of Boston protected by a bus. Today the weather was much nicer. After moving to our new hotel in the North End, I realized I had left my credit card at the restaurant at which we had dinner last night. So that meant a return trip to the Fenway area and since we were there Patrice suggested that we take a Fenway Park stadium tour. Patrice is great at recommending things to do. Frequently they are not things I would pick myself (like a tour of Fenway). Just as frequently they turn out to be enjoyable experiences (like this time). The tour took us all over the park and the friendly guides filled us with interesting facts. I got a chance to show off some of my storage of useless knowledge, such as who wore #9 for the Red Sox (Ted Williams, of course). And why #42 is in blue while all the other retired numbers are in red (it belonged to Dodger Jackie Robinson and all of baseball has retired his number).
We then headed to James Hook & Company (at the recommendation of my friend, Eric) to have lobster rolls. Sorry I was too hungry to take a picture of them before we ate them. But here is a picture after.
After lunch we walked to the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum exhibit. Remember how I said Patrice gets me to do things I wouldn’t ordinarily do on our vacations and I’m pleasantly surprised how much fun they turn out to be? This was not one of those times. It was a Boston Tea Party reenactment that was more geared for 8 year olds. Unfortunately for us our 8 year old was with his parents and not with us.
At night Patrice found us a comedy club on the North End called “Improv Asylum”. As the name implies it is a local improvisational comedy troop and they were hilarious. I think they might have been shocked to see us since I don’t think there was a couple there whose ages added together equaled either of ours. If fact when we came in we asked if there was a senior’s discount and the cashier didn’t know. There was and this might have been the first time they ever had to use it.
More fun planned for tomorrow. The forecast is for rain but only a 100% chance of that. I am still hopeful that the skies will be clear.
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 