Boston: Day 3
Rebecca had to work today but James and I went for a walk that eventually took us to Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox. We walked through Boston Commons, which is where I think alot of people used to raise cows. It was pretty cool although much more of a large city park then a reprieve from the city like Central Park is in New York.
So, here comes my first complaint about Boston: I can't get away from the city. I suppose Cleveland has been nice because I have always lived near some sort of wilderness. Either Lakeview Cemetary or, recently, the ravine acrost the street have given easily accessable "Getaways". As much as I love this city I have started to feel somewhat claustraphobic. It is just a low level ich to get out and run through the forest. Plop a central park down anywhere in the city and I think the problem would be solved. Could be though that I am really a country boy at heart! In that case I should be right at home in West Lafayette.
City Gardens was directly adjacent to Boston Commons and was groomed like a gardens area. Very nice overall with a pretty cool lagoon in the middle. There were even these boats that held about 20 people with one poor guy in the back pedeling the paddel. I felt so bad because it had to be 80 something and fairly humid. He didn't look to happy either!
Well, the rest of the city after Boston Commons was pretty typical city although it still somehow had the feeling of Boston. We eventually stopped at the Prudential Building, which has a mall at the ground floor, for lunch. The food court offered an Indian option so we tried that having had an excelent experiance at Richmond Mall's equivilent. Um, so ya... apparently not all Indian food is good. It felt very half assed which just doesn't work well with spicy food.
After lunch we found a Barns and Noble and I bought two books, the second and third in the Artemis Fowl series. We then went to the loby of the Sheriden I think and read for a while. Apparently the Indians, who are in town to play the Red Sox, are staying at that hotel because I saw tons of boys running around with baseball cards and baseballs looking for people to sign them. I even saw one player but I didn't recognize him so he must not have been Grady Siezemore ;-) .
Since we were in the area we headed over to Fenway Park after eventually breaking down and asking for directions. We were heading in the right direction!!! Anyway, Fenway was cool and we even briefly toyed with the idea of waiting in line 5 hours to see if there were any free tickets . When else am I going to get the chance to see the Indians play the Red Sox at Fenway?
After a quick subway back I crashed on the couch and James played some Warcraft Worlds. I tried to spend some time on my work for school but had a brain freeze so I went for a walk. I crossed the Charles River and must have been passed by 20 or 30 people walking back from work. I was walking slow because I was deep in thought :P I managed to get undernieth the new bridge that Boston built. A completely unnecessary design that is a waste from a structural standpoint but... wow is it pretty. And, even though I don't agree with the overall approach, many of the parts were beatifully designed.
After drooling over the bridge I walked across the damn holding back the Charles River. Apparently they had to do it to keep the level constant otherwise the tide makes it alternatively flood and dry up twice a day. I managed too to see a boat go through the boat locks which made my day. Seriously, the engineering section of my brain was tickled pink.
After I got back I had a mini-epiphiny related to work and so went out and typed for a while in the park along the harbor. It was a very pleasent experiance and definately got rid of that itch to get out of the city! After I came back to the appartment to type some more it was time for dinner...
ETHIOPIAN FOOD ROCKS OUT HARD CORE!!!! It isn't the best food I have ever had. That distinction still goes to Vasu's Mom's chicken curry. This restaurant, Addis Red Sea, was though on par with Uddipi Cafe, my favorite Indian restaurant. In terms of ambiance though Addis Red Sea won hands down. We sat on these short squat stools around a woven wicker table on which they placed one giant plate with all our food on it. We orded two combo dishes so we had a wide veriaty to taste from. Since all the food was good I deffinately recommend this approach. All the food was eaten with this flat, almost swedish pankake like bread that was absolutely wonderful. It didn't hurt that everything tasts better when eaten with your hands!
Tremont street, where the restaurant was located, was beautiful but quite obviously yuppie central. From there we walked through China Town before getting to the downtown area. Again, I can't stress how much I love from the downtown up through North End. It was quite a pleasant walk except for the fact that we all had to use the restroom before we got back.
So, here comes my first complaint about Boston: I can't get away from the city. I suppose Cleveland has been nice because I have always lived near some sort of wilderness. Either Lakeview Cemetary or, recently, the ravine acrost the street have given easily accessable "Getaways". As much as I love this city I have started to feel somewhat claustraphobic. It is just a low level ich to get out and run through the forest. Plop a central park down anywhere in the city and I think the problem would be solved. Could be though that I am really a country boy at heart! In that case I should be right at home in West Lafayette.
City Gardens was directly adjacent to Boston Commons and was groomed like a gardens area. Very nice overall with a pretty cool lagoon in the middle. There were even these boats that held about 20 people with one poor guy in the back pedeling the paddel. I felt so bad because it had to be 80 something and fairly humid. He didn't look to happy either!
Well, the rest of the city after Boston Commons was pretty typical city although it still somehow had the feeling of Boston. We eventually stopped at the Prudential Building, which has a mall at the ground floor, for lunch. The food court offered an Indian option so we tried that having had an excelent experiance at Richmond Mall's equivilent. Um, so ya... apparently not all Indian food is good. It felt very half assed which just doesn't work well with spicy food.
After lunch we found a Barns and Noble and I bought two books, the second and third in the Artemis Fowl series. We then went to the loby of the Sheriden I think and read for a while. Apparently the Indians, who are in town to play the Red Sox, are staying at that hotel because I saw tons of boys running around with baseball cards and baseballs looking for people to sign them. I even saw one player but I didn't recognize him so he must not have been Grady Siezemore ;-) .
Since we were in the area we headed over to Fenway Park after eventually breaking down and asking for directions. We were heading in the right direction!!! Anyway, Fenway was cool and we even briefly toyed with the idea of waiting in line 5 hours to see if there were any free tickets . When else am I going to get the chance to see the Indians play the Red Sox at Fenway?
After a quick subway back I crashed on the couch and James played some Warcraft Worlds. I tried to spend some time on my work for school but had a brain freeze so I went for a walk. I crossed the Charles River and must have been passed by 20 or 30 people walking back from work. I was walking slow because I was deep in thought :P I managed to get undernieth the new bridge that Boston built. A completely unnecessary design that is a waste from a structural standpoint but... wow is it pretty. And, even though I don't agree with the overall approach, many of the parts were beatifully designed.
After drooling over the bridge I walked across the damn holding back the Charles River. Apparently they had to do it to keep the level constant otherwise the tide makes it alternatively flood and dry up twice a day. I managed too to see a boat go through the boat locks which made my day. Seriously, the engineering section of my brain was tickled pink.
After I got back I had a mini-epiphiny related to work and so went out and typed for a while in the park along the harbor. It was a very pleasent experiance and definately got rid of that itch to get out of the city! After I came back to the appartment to type some more it was time for dinner...
ETHIOPIAN FOOD ROCKS OUT HARD CORE!!!! It isn't the best food I have ever had. That distinction still goes to Vasu's Mom's chicken curry. This restaurant, Addis Red Sea, was though on par with Uddipi Cafe, my favorite Indian restaurant. In terms of ambiance though Addis Red Sea won hands down. We sat on these short squat stools around a woven wicker table on which they placed one giant plate with all our food on it. We orded two combo dishes so we had a wide veriaty to taste from. Since all the food was good I deffinately recommend this approach. All the food was eaten with this flat, almost swedish pankake like bread that was absolutely wonderful. It didn't hurt that everything tasts better when eaten with your hands!
Tremont street, where the restaurant was located, was beautiful but quite obviously yuppie central. From there we walked through China Town before getting to the downtown area. Again, I can't stress how much I love from the downtown up through North End. It was quite a pleasant walk except for the fact that we all had to use the restroom before we got back.
posted by Craig Snoeyink at 3:43 PM
2 Comments:
Oh. My. God. If it really was Grady, and you either didn't recognize him or totally ignored him... I will beat you down when you get back.
I mean... miss ya, can't wait for you to come back!!! ;)
it was great seeing you craig...you'd better come back soon and let me know about new year's eve =) hopefully i'll make my way over to cleveland...probably when my boss sends me there for work. take care!
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