Day 2
Sunday was a gorgeous walking day. A late breakfast - made by me - gave us our start as LG and I headed off to enjoy the Freedom Trail. Now, the walking tour was excellent -- for those in the know, we went from Boston Commons to Quincy Market and back again. I'm not going to lay out details of everything we saw -- though I took some neat pictures, which I'll share after I get home -- but it was just plain fun.
Boston Common especially is simply beautiful; historical significance notwithstanding, the Commons are just a gorgeous park. I loved it. Among the sites we visited were the King's Church, the Boston Massacre site and Faneuil Hall. The thing I really noticed about these sites and others was that while they were all very deeply steeped in patriotism, it was very casual; appreciate this, understand what it means, but fervor isn't really called for. Unlike, for example, Mount Rushmore, where everything is very somber and red-white-and-blue, and I think they come and staple your hand to your heart if you don't look proud enough to be there. The patriotism of Boston is relatively subtle, despite the big production they make of having tour guides running daily, a red brick line cutting through the sidewalks and streets past all the historically significant places and so many museums that you're constantly tripping over them. There's production value, but it's not ostentatious at all.
The important places I visited, in my mind, weren't the historical sites but the cultural and culinary. I'm forced to confess I don't care about which pew at the King's chapel was reserved for the Revere family, but I know I'm in a bit of a minority there. The statuary, on the other hand, really kind of did it for me. Later we went on a bike path that was more my speed, but I get ahead of myself.
As I mentioned, Boston Common was fantastic. I could spend hours there, much like everyone else who was relaxing, playing with their families, running scavenger hunts and touring. The place is just so well designed and maintained that it's hard not to appreciate, and I'm actually only talking about the Commons proper; the Garden side was considerably more beautiful, naturally.
After spending a day basking in your nation's history, nothing hits the spot like a bowl of authentic New England Clam Chowdah. Quincy Market is full to the brim with vendors, most of whom appear to have their only location in that building. Every type of cuisine that matters, local seafood, pastries, pizza and so on were all represented under that roof. Further, when you step outside, there's a wealth of vendor stalls, apparently just there to celebrate the weekend. I've been informed that even during the winter they get enough foot traffic to keep even most of the outdoor kiosks open. It was crowded, but I kind of like that; it's like having an outdoor vendor selling funnel cakes who sticks around after the summer fest leaves.
The tourism completed for the day, and my feet ready to take a break, we sat down and considered our options. It turned out we were only a few blocks from the restaurant at which I'd made reservations, a place called Deuxave (pronounced "Doo-zahv," we eventually learned -- so named because it's at the intersection of Massachusets Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue, or two aves.), a posh, upscale but relatively reasonably priced restaurant. My feet rested, LG and I put our stuff in the car and walked down the bike path from the Commons to the restaurant, enjoying the statuary even as the sun set, as Boston's brownstone residents are greeted with lovely art and bronze statues of locally-grown thinkers, revolutionaries and other assorted Rennaissance Men and Women. It's beautiful, and I aim to bike it one day.
I never eat at places like this -- I'm not sure I ever have -- so this was exactly what I wanted: a little fancy place run by an executive chef. I loved it; we ordered the duck confit for an appetizer (married perfectly to the tomatoes and escarolle), and for dinner I had (copying and pasting from the menu): Line Caught Atlantic Halibut ~ Pan Roasted with Sweet Corn Succotash, Chanterelle Mushrooms, Peppers, Herbs, Okinawa Yams, Laughing Bird Shrimp in Ginger, Espelette, Tomato, & Burgundy Butter Sauce. It was amazing -- the shrimp was very subtle, it added perfectly to the succotash, and at large I really quite enjoyed how complex the flavoring was, how each ingredient worked with each other ingredient (I felt pairing ingredients worked better than taking a forkful with a little of everything on it). I might complain that the halibut was still retaining a bit of water in its center, but the truth is I was kind of pleased to learn it, since that's what happens whenever I try to pan-fry whitefish.
And no, EG, I did not order it "just for the halibut."
That was my day. As such days go, I felt at the end of the day that I could safely say that it had been the best vacation day I'd ever had. I still feel that way -- Monday was fairly stressful due to Boston having been built in such a way that anything not on the Freedom Trail feels like an afterthought, but more on that later -- but I've enjoyed all my time here. I had some big fancy food, most of the local cuisine (no Boston Baked Beans, but I can't actually say that's a regret as much as an oversight -- LG's cousin told us we wouldn't find them in restaurants anyway), soaked up some history, beautiful architecture and a couple of museums. I'm just about has happy as I could be with this vacation, and as I write this it's not even half over. The next chapter will be coming to you from Niagara Falls, I expect.
Boston Common especially is simply beautiful; historical significance notwithstanding, the Commons are just a gorgeous park. I loved it. Among the sites we visited were the King's Church, the Boston Massacre site and Faneuil Hall. The thing I really noticed about these sites and others was that while they were all very deeply steeped in patriotism, it was very casual; appreciate this, understand what it means, but fervor isn't really called for. Unlike, for example, Mount Rushmore, where everything is very somber and red-white-and-blue, and I think they come and staple your hand to your heart if you don't look proud enough to be there. The patriotism of Boston is relatively subtle, despite the big production they make of having tour guides running daily, a red brick line cutting through the sidewalks and streets past all the historically significant places and so many museums that you're constantly tripping over them. There's production value, but it's not ostentatious at all.
The important places I visited, in my mind, weren't the historical sites but the cultural and culinary. I'm forced to confess I don't care about which pew at the King's chapel was reserved for the Revere family, but I know I'm in a bit of a minority there. The statuary, on the other hand, really kind of did it for me. Later we went on a bike path that was more my speed, but I get ahead of myself.
As I mentioned, Boston Common was fantastic. I could spend hours there, much like everyone else who was relaxing, playing with their families, running scavenger hunts and touring. The place is just so well designed and maintained that it's hard not to appreciate, and I'm actually only talking about the Commons proper; the Garden side was considerably more beautiful, naturally.
After spending a day basking in your nation's history, nothing hits the spot like a bowl of authentic New England Clam Chowdah. Quincy Market is full to the brim with vendors, most of whom appear to have their only location in that building. Every type of cuisine that matters, local seafood, pastries, pizza and so on were all represented under that roof. Further, when you step outside, there's a wealth of vendor stalls, apparently just there to celebrate the weekend. I've been informed that even during the winter they get enough foot traffic to keep even most of the outdoor kiosks open. It was crowded, but I kind of like that; it's like having an outdoor vendor selling funnel cakes who sticks around after the summer fest leaves.
The tourism completed for the day, and my feet ready to take a break, we sat down and considered our options. It turned out we were only a few blocks from the restaurant at which I'd made reservations, a place called Deuxave (pronounced "Doo-zahv," we eventually learned -- so named because it's at the intersection of Massachusets Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue, or two aves.), a posh, upscale but relatively reasonably priced restaurant. My feet rested, LG and I put our stuff in the car and walked down the bike path from the Commons to the restaurant, enjoying the statuary even as the sun set, as Boston's brownstone residents are greeted with lovely art and bronze statues of locally-grown thinkers, revolutionaries and other assorted Rennaissance Men and Women. It's beautiful, and I aim to bike it one day.
I never eat at places like this -- I'm not sure I ever have -- so this was exactly what I wanted: a little fancy place run by an executive chef. I loved it; we ordered the duck confit for an appetizer (married perfectly to the tomatoes and escarolle), and for dinner I had (copying and pasting from the menu): Line Caught Atlantic Halibut ~ Pan Roasted with Sweet Corn Succotash, Chanterelle Mushrooms, Peppers, Herbs, Okinawa Yams, Laughing Bird Shrimp in Ginger, Espelette, Tomato, & Burgundy Butter Sauce. It was amazing -- the shrimp was very subtle, it added perfectly to the succotash, and at large I really quite enjoyed how complex the flavoring was, how each ingredient worked with each other ingredient (I felt pairing ingredients worked better than taking a forkful with a little of everything on it). I might complain that the halibut was still retaining a bit of water in its center, but the truth is I was kind of pleased to learn it, since that's what happens whenever I try to pan-fry whitefish.
And no, EG, I did not order it "just for the halibut."
That was my day. As such days go, I felt at the end of the day that I could safely say that it had been the best vacation day I'd ever had. I still feel that way -- Monday was fairly stressful due to Boston having been built in such a way that anything not on the Freedom Trail feels like an afterthought, but more on that later -- but I've enjoyed all my time here. I had some big fancy food, most of the local cuisine (no Boston Baked Beans, but I can't actually say that's a regret as much as an oversight -- LG's cousin told us we wouldn't find them in restaurants anyway), soaked up some history, beautiful architecture and a couple of museums. I'm just about has happy as I could be with this vacation, and as I write this it's not even half over. The next chapter will be coming to you from Niagara Falls, I expect.