Boston

I spent this past weekend in Boston visiting my best friend Valerie and we had lots of fun. Boston is a really cool place and I had never been there before. It was nice to get away for a few days and catch up with Val. For those of you who aren't aware, Val and I have been friends since we were somewhere around 4 and she is definitely one of my best friends. She moved to Boston at the end of July, and this is first time I've seen her since she left.

I love big cities that have good public transportation systems and where people walk a lot. It reminds me of being in Europe, and well, I love it in Europe. Plus it's nice that things are within walking distance and that people actually use the sidewalks.

I got to Boston on Thursday evening and after navigating the bus and the T by myself, I met Val at the station as she was getting back from work, and we made the treck up to her apartment. We cooked dinner and hung out with her bf, Adam. Friday I bummed around Harvard area while Val was at work, which was kind of neat to see. We had the best burgers that night at this little place (and by little I mean 30 people max can be in there at one time, if you have to wait you do it outside!), that was just down the street from the apartment. I am slowly becoming addicted to The Simpsons, thanks to Val and Adam! I've never really watched any episodes before and we watched more than a few this weekend. I must say most of them were pretty funny, even if they are a bit ridiculous! Saturday it was cold and really windy, thanks to the hurricane that moved up the coast. So after bumming around for most of the morning, we braved the elements and ventured out to shop at this big indoor mall place, which had pretty much any store you could imagine in it. Thankfully, the weather in Boston changes almost as quickly as it does here in the South, and Sunday was a perfect day. We went down to the waterfront and walked around a lot so I could get a taste of Boston. It was fun. We spent the late afternoon eating wonderful seafood and sadly watching the Colts get beat at this nice resturaunt near MIT. It was a really good weekend and I didn't want to leave on Monday.

Here are some random interesting things I learned about Boston during my trip:

1. There's no such thing as Happy Hour due to some weird law

2. You can only buy alcohol in a liqueor store, not the grocery store or the gas station, another one of those crazy northern laws. Talk about having to plan in advance.

3. You can't smoke in bars, which is really nice.

4. All those items in the LL Bean catalog that you thought people couldn't possible ever need to wear, are for people who live in Boston. You have to dress for warmth and comfort and not fashion, or you will freeze to death!

5. 95% of Boston owns a pair of UGH boots, or it least it seems like they do!

6. Valerie lives at the top of one of the only hills in Boston and I'm willing to bet that someone has probably had a heart attack walking up it at some point!