August 12th&13th-Arriving in Boston

Europe doesn't seem to be in my plans for 2009, so I took Matt to Boston, which was as far East as we could go. A co-worker of mine who lives in Boston said if we ever made it out that way when the Red Sox were playing at Fenway, he would sell us his season tickets for a game. I managed to arrange the trip for the week of the Detroit series. The game was Thursday, and we took a red eye out (less points and guaranteed first class) Tuesday night. We arrived in Boston after a 5 hour flight at 5am, EST.

After gathering our luggage, we made our way to the "T Station" and only had to change trains once to arrive at our hotel, which was conveniently located just outside of a T Stop on the orange line. I loved Boston's public transportation; it made life much easier, and was a lot more economical then taking cabs, which we didn't have to do at all. We checked into the Downtwon Boston Doubletree, found a Dunkin Donuts for coffee, avoided a ridiculously expensive breakfast at the hotel, then took the T back to the Aquarium stop and waited for the New England Aquarium to open up for the day.

It was grey and overcast, so we thought we would avoid the rain by staying inside. (Later this proved to be the wrong decision. The weekend was HOT and HUMID. This coming from two people who have lived in AZ almost their entire lives.) If you ever visit Boston, definitely make time for the aquarium. We spend a few hours there, and there were some amazing exhibits. A large tank filled with a representative sample of fish/turtles/sharks from the Caribbean, a Penguin display, a seal exhibit, and lots of little tanks with a ton of educational information. As the morning wore on, more and more families and school groups showed up, and it was encouraging to see the kids so excited about something other than television or video games.

After the aquarium we walked over to Faneuil Hall Marketplace in search of clam chowder and beer for lunch at a local pub. We were not disappointed. After lunch it was back to the hotel for naps, then getting all cleaned up for our dinner cruise aboard the Odyssey.  The cruise was recommended by a few of my friends, and definitely worth the splurge. We got to dress up and get a few nice photos, as well as enjoy being out on the water, seeing the small islands in the harbor, and a light house. We shared two bottles of wine, had dinner, and danced. What a wonderful evening, and a perfect start to the trip.