Left Our Hearts in Boston...

**This is a long post,     so if you are only interested in pictures scroll to the very bottom for the link**

We had an amazing opportunity to vacation in Boston from Friday Aug 12 to Wednesday Aug 17, thanks to my fabulous aunt and uncle.  We had never been to Boston before and absolutely fell in love with this city after just a few short hours of arriving.  We loved it....everything about it.  Boston is hands down one of our favorite cities now and we would love to either move there some day or at least make it our regular vacation spot.  We did a little bit of research prior to leaving, got some ideas from my aunt and uncle, and from Jared's cousin Elise, who lived in Boston for several years too.

Friday

We landed at the Boston airport at around 5pm and took a taxi to my uncle's company apartment.  It was pretty crazy going through their underground highway. I'm not gonna lie, it kinda freaked me out because I didn't want to get trapped in there.  We got up to the apartment and were amazed!  It's on the 19th floor and looks out over downtown Boston and the Charles River.... I loved it. I wish it was my home!! :)

After we got situated, we walked across the street to the galleria for some dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  I know it's not a Boston specific restaurant, but I had been wanting to eat there lately and since it was almost 7pm we didn't feel like starting our exploration of the city just yet. So when we saw it we stopped for some dinner.  It was tasty.  We then walked around the galleria for a bit and then walked back to the apartment.

Saturday

A few days before we left for Boston, we bought tickets for the Boston Duck Tours.  I am so glad we did this on our first day there because it gave us a great overview of the city and helped to orient us with our surroundings.  Our tour guide was a retired Boston police officer, with a great sense of humor, and yes he did say "wicked awesome" several times and we LOVED it!

For lunch we ate at the Bell in Hand Tavern, where we first tasted Samuel Adams Boston Brick Red beer, which apparently is only brewed and found in Boston....it was so good and was my drink of choice the rest of the trip.

Then we walked around the Faneuil Hall Marketplace where we checked out some nice shops and some impressive street performers.

From there we walked to the Old State House and the King's Chapel and Burying Ground, then we walked through the beautiful Boston Common. It was sooo cool to see so many people just out enjoying the park. We decided that the next time we go to Boston, we are gonna take a blanket to the park and have a picnic and a nap like so many other people were doing!

Not too far from there is the original bar (on a Beacon Hill) that inspired the tv show Cheers, so of course we had to go there and have a beer.  Cheers is one of the things that makes me think of my Grandpa Roggie because he always watched that tv show. :)

After that we walked around Beacon Hill and the neighborhoods around it.  Oh. My. Gosh. If I was a multimillionaire I would totally buy a home there... not right on Beacon Hill, but the streets right behind it. I loved them. They were sooo cute and the architecture was amazing!!

After that we took the subway back to the apartment.  We had never been on a subway before and we thought they were sooo cool! I love the idea of them and we took them everywhere after that.

Sunday

On Sunday, we started our day by taking the subway to Harvard, or as everyone there referred to it, "Hahvahd."  We took an educational tour of the campus, walked the streets on our own, then headed back to downtown Boston.  Harvard was cool, but not as amazing as we thought it would be.  We are so glad we checked it out, but overall just felt it was kinda comme ci, comme ca.

When we got back from Harvard, we did the Freedom Trail Tour from Faneuil Hall to the North End.  Our tour guide was dressed as William Dawes' wife and she did a fantastic job narrating the history in character as we moved along the trail.  We got to see Paul Revere's home, the Old North Church, and the nearby Copp's Hill Burying Ground.

From there we meandered around the North End where we had some gelato and then some DELISH cannolies from Mike's Pastry on Hanover St. Those cannolies were huge and oh so incredible!!

For dinner we walked back over to the Faneuil Hall area and ate some very tasty chowdah at the Union Oyster House.  We took the subway home around 9pm or so and just crashed.  We walked and walked and walked so by the time we got back to the apartment, we were beat.  It was totally worth it though!

Monday

Monday was a rainy day. It didn't stop us though, we trekked down to a local coffee shop called Equal Exchange.  It wasn't too far from the apartment.  Ya just take the bus to the North Station subway stop, then walk a few feet down Causeway and it's right there on the corner.  Equal Exchange is a fair trade coffee shop that uses local farmers and businesses for their food, coffee, and products.  They also make the cute little coffee art design in your cup.  If I lived in downtown Boston, I would come to this coffee shop every day.  We would just sip our coffee, eat our scones, and people watch out the window. Ahhh... I miss it already.

We also went to the Museum of Science that day.  It was really cool.... and they just so happen to have a facilities supervisor position open right now too.... hmmm.... :)

For dinner we wanted to go to a local Italian pizza place so we did some research and decided to go to Regina's Pizzeria in the North End.  Apparently it is the oldest or one of the oldest pizzerias in that area. Oh my gosh the pizza was AMAZING!!  Sooooo good.

From there we wanted some more Sam Adams so we walked back to the Green Dragon Tavern, which is rumored to be a possible location that the Boston Tea Party was planned.  To think of those men coming to meet there and discuss their frustration and thoughts with the government at the time is amazing.... and to think we had a beer there too at that same place... I love it.

Tuesday

Tuesday, we had tickets to see a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, so we left a little early to walk around the park area a bit before the game.  It was rad!  Then we went to our seats in the Green Monster -- very rad!!  The game was great, the fans were energetic, and the red sox won!  It was such a fun experience!!  Next time I would love to get a tour of the actual stadium too, so much history there.

From there we took the T over to Coolridge Corner Theater to see a movie.  We wanted to see Life in a Day, but got there too late, so we ended up seeing Sarah's Key.  We didn't know anything about it, but we are soooo glad we ended up seeing that movie.  It was really really good - I highly recommend it.

After that we headed back to downtown Boston.  We didn't really know what we wanted to do for dinner, but ended up deciding on some Italian food in the North End.  The streets are lined with cute little Italian restaurants and cafes.  We walked the streets and ended up going to Benevento's right next to Hanover Street.  Man oh man am I glad we ended up there.  That was seriously the BEST spaghetti and lasagna we've ever had.  Loved it!!

After that, we slowly walked back through the streets taking in our last night in Boston.

Wednesday

Today was our last day in Boston... sad times :(

We of course went to Equal Exchange for our morning coffee and scone. Then we went to the galleria for some last minute gifts, then back to the apartment to pack and take pictures from the roof top.

At 2pm we called our taxi, then headed to the airport.  We landed at Houston's IAH close to 8pm, grabbed dinner at Jimmy John's on Nasa Rd 1, then made it home by 9:30pm.  We unpacked and crashed.

We had an absolutely amazing trip.  We are now HUGE fans of Boston and can't wait to go back.  We would love to go back during the different seasons to see what it's like.  Maybe we can pull off a Spring Break trip or something.  I don't know.  We just can't wait to go back!!  We love history and we love all the history that is in Boston.  We love the downtown area so much - how busy it is with people walking and running and riding bikes everywhere.  It's such a neat city with so much life. I've never seen so many joggers out in my life - it was great.  And I know it's probably weird, but we also loved the subway! 

All in all, a fantastic vacation.  Simply fantastic.

Here's a link to our Boston photo album.  We completely forgot to bring our camera so these were just taken with our iphones... they do the trick though.

Enjoy!