#5 Boston 411 - July 9, 2004
Hi All,
Time for the Boston update! Another week has gone by, and I still do not have any furniture (aside from a conference chair that the homeowners' association lent to me). Apparently my earthly belongings are in a truck in Chicago (the truck is somewhat kaputt and is being fixed). But I do have my car, it arrived in one piece (and not with 7000 new miles on it, as it did in one of my little nightmares).
I am promised that the guy from the moving company will call me now every day, and provide me with progress info and that I will get money back, and that they are so so so sorry..... yada yada yada....
With my car now here, I had my first driving experiences in Boston, and I have to say it was not that bad. With my reputation of being a bit refractory and also because
I was used to being around aggressive drivers in Germany, I fit right in and immediately honked at the electricity company truck who stood between me and my left turn. (Here you actually "bang" a left). I managed to find Trader Joe's in Cambridge, found my way to a shopping mall near the Fenway and when returning from Waltham on Saturday got only slightly lost in South Boston.
My friend Lisa Miller (hi Lisa) came into town on Saturday evening for the holiday weekend, and we certainly lived it up. Now as you know I am no teetotaler, but I might have given the impression that I do not eat any food here and live entirely off beer. So I will try to report on some good restaurants as well. Lisa and I for example went to "The King and I" on Charles Street, a very nice Thai restaurant. It is one of Boston's first Thai restaurants and opened in the early 1980s.
July 4th was quite the event here in Boston, what great place to experience it! Along with six million tourists of course! We started out at 9:00 AM with the raising of the flag and a parade of people in revolution-era garb shooting muskets in the air near the Granary Burying Ground. From there everyone headed to the Old State House, where the Declaration of Independence was being proclaimed from the balcony. Then Lisa and I embarked on the Freedom Trail and we did it almost in its entirety. We ended it in the North End, the Italian part of Boston, where we collapsed and headed for some tasty Italian food at a place called "Saraceno Ristorante"(see I told you I eat...). We then headed home and prepared for the evening on the Charles River Esplanade (along with 500,000 of our closest friends). The Boston Pops gave a concert and featured guests like Toni-winner Jennifer Holliday and –I know this would have been your next guess - David Lee Roth. I actually heard Mr. Roth practice a couple days earlier as I jogged along the Esplanade, and thought "what a good cover band, they sound just like Van Halen."
The subsequent fireworks were absolutely stunning, to say the least, they were coordinated perfectly to the music being played and lasted for quite a long time. We were very impressed (and - what a miracle - no fog!). Afterward our 500,000 friends and the two of us went in search of a bar, and we finally ended up at Harvard Gardens (http://www.harvardgardens.com/?). We celebrated into the 5th of July making new friends and learning about interesting new drinks (Kamikazes, also known as "the lemony things").
Needless to say, Monday was a little slow. It rained on the 5th and we made up for it by going to Filene's Basement and shopped until we dropped. We then headed to Harvard University, Cambridge and Somerville, where we ended up at "The Burren" for their absolutely wonderful Guinness Beef Stew (we might have had a beer or so......). We also went to the Beacon Hill Bistro for a late night desert (http://www.beaconhillhotel.com/bistro.html).
In a non-food related event, I attended a meeting of an organization called Boston Cares (http://www.bostoncares.org/), which is a nonprofit that registers volunteers and sends out a monthly calendar of opportunities. This way you can volunteer when you have time, and also pick different activities every month.
Work at Mass General continues to be fun and amazing, with some wonderful opportunities to learn, interesting people to meet and nice place to meet them at. This morning we attended a retreat at the Harvard Club of Boston (http://www.harvardclub.com/site/content/about/history.jsp)
- it was funded by a group of alumni in 1908.
That's my news for this week folks and I am sticking to it.
LOL to all of you, more next week (and lets all hope I have my furniture by then......).
pet:)
Time for the Boston update! Another week has gone by, and I still do not have any furniture (aside from a conference chair that the homeowners' association lent to me). Apparently my earthly belongings are in a truck in Chicago (the truck is somewhat kaputt and is being fixed). But I do have my car, it arrived in one piece (and not with 7000 new miles on it, as it did in one of my little nightmares).
I am promised that the guy from the moving company will call me now every day, and provide me with progress info and that I will get money back, and that they are so so so sorry..... yada yada yada....
With my car now here, I had my first driving experiences in Boston, and I have to say it was not that bad. With my reputation of being a bit refractory and also because
I was used to being around aggressive drivers in Germany, I fit right in and immediately honked at the electricity company truck who stood between me and my left turn. (Here you actually "bang" a left). I managed to find Trader Joe's in Cambridge, found my way to a shopping mall near the Fenway and when returning from Waltham on Saturday got only slightly lost in South Boston.
My friend Lisa Miller (hi Lisa) came into town on Saturday evening for the holiday weekend, and we certainly lived it up. Now as you know I am no teetotaler, but I might have given the impression that I do not eat any food here and live entirely off beer. So I will try to report on some good restaurants as well. Lisa and I for example went to "The King and I" on Charles Street, a very nice Thai restaurant. It is one of Boston's first Thai restaurants and opened in the early 1980s.
July 4th was quite the event here in Boston, what great place to experience it! Along with six million tourists of course! We started out at 9:00 AM with the raising of the flag and a parade of people in revolution-era garb shooting muskets in the air near the Granary Burying Ground. From there everyone headed to the Old State House, where the Declaration of Independence was being proclaimed from the balcony. Then Lisa and I embarked on the Freedom Trail and we did it almost in its entirety. We ended it in the North End, the Italian part of Boston, where we collapsed and headed for some tasty Italian food at a place called "Saraceno Ristorante"(see I told you I eat...). We then headed home and prepared for the evening on the Charles River Esplanade (along with 500,000 of our closest friends). The Boston Pops gave a concert and featured guests like Toni-winner Jennifer Holliday and –I know this would have been your next guess - David Lee Roth. I actually heard Mr. Roth practice a couple days earlier as I jogged along the Esplanade, and thought "what a good cover band, they sound just like Van Halen."
The subsequent fireworks were absolutely stunning, to say the least, they were coordinated perfectly to the music being played and lasted for quite a long time. We were very impressed (and - what a miracle - no fog!). Afterward our 500,000 friends and the two of us went in search of a bar, and we finally ended up at Harvard Gardens (http://www.harvardgardens.com/?). We celebrated into the 5th of July making new friends and learning about interesting new drinks (Kamikazes, also known as "the lemony things").
Needless to say, Monday was a little slow. It rained on the 5th and we made up for it by going to Filene's Basement and shopped until we dropped. We then headed to Harvard University, Cambridge and Somerville, where we ended up at "The Burren" for their absolutely wonderful Guinness Beef Stew (we might have had a beer or so......). We also went to the Beacon Hill Bistro for a late night desert (http://www.beaconhillhotel.com/bistro.html).
In a non-food related event, I attended a meeting of an organization called Boston Cares (http://www.bostoncares.org/), which is a nonprofit that registers volunteers and sends out a monthly calendar of opportunities. This way you can volunteer when you have time, and also pick different activities every month.
Work at Mass General continues to be fun and amazing, with some wonderful opportunities to learn, interesting people to meet and nice place to meet them at. This morning we attended a retreat at the Harvard Club of Boston (http://www.harvardclub.com/site/content/about/history.jsp)
- it was funded by a group of alumni in 1908.
That's my news for this week folks and I am sticking to it.
LOL to all of you, more next week (and lets all hope I have my furniture by then......).
pet:)
posted by My Boston at
8:47 AM
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