Boston Trip

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Boston with Kelly, my fabulous teacher friend. We picked Boston for a couple of reasons: 1. Kelly has never been there and 2. I have 2 good high school friends that live there in which 1 I had not seen in like 16 years! So it seemed like a great place to visit plus we found great airfare and a wonderful hotel at a great price!!! So... We set out Monday and drove to Atlanta to catch out flight (it is a lot cheaper to fly out of Atlanta). Of course on the flight to Boston we sat by a screaming 12 month old, I felt so bad for the mama and worse for Kelly who was directly beside them the entire flight. I have to say I secretly thanked God that was not me sitting there with a screaming child. :) We arrived in Boston and took a cab directly to the Fairmont Copley Square. This hotel is nothing short of fabulous. It is an old hotel with all the finery of old Boston. The chandeliers were unbelievable and the the staff were so helpful and nice. Our room was quaint and charming. The room overlooked the city street and a sign that pointed us in the direction of New York... (that was tempting!) We rested and then got dolled up for our first meal in Boston at Sibling Rivalry. This restaurant is named this because the chefs are brothers and there are 2 menus to choose from... it is a neat concept and the food was amazing. THis is a picture of us a the hotel before we left for dinner.

Marc, my friend from high school in Panama met up with us at the restaurant. Let me tell you a little about Marc. We have know each other since 1991 and have kept in touch pretty well this whole time. Marc went to Morehouse in Atlanta for college and then proceeded to Harvard for grad school. He currently works at Boston College in fundraising. He is going to be returning to Harvard in the fall to pursue his DOCTORATE... He is one smart dude!!! In Panama, Marc, Kent, Meg and I all took math with Mr Oliver and sat in the back of the room where we really paid attention and goofed off and built long lasting friendships. Now, Kent, Marc and Meg are all at least 6 foot tall and then there is me... barely hitting 5 foot 4 so I am the short one in the bunch. But I love being the short one... considered the short one with the big mouth... imagine that... now fast forward to Boston...
When we arrived at our hotel Marc had left gift bags for us with our very detailed itenerary, treats and some neat Boston magazines... WOW what a host and a very sweet gesture, He had even taken vacation time to show us the site of his town. After dinner we went to Dave and Renee's (which I thought was a restaurant) but are actually friends of Marc and live in a very Boston-y walk up... which was so cool to see. THey were the sweetest couple an it was so nice to chill and have cupcakes (that Marc made) and champagne. What a neat idea, Marc! Here is a picture of me and Dave and Renee.

After our visit with them, we headed to Top of the Hub which is a great place to catch an incredible view of the city.

We talked way into the evening and had a great time catching up!
The next day was St. Patrick's Day in Boston so we headed to have lunch at an authentic Irish Pub....well the one we had planned on going into had a line out the door so we head down the street to McFadden's. We feasted on hamburgers, fried cheese sticks and chicken fingers... no corn beef hash for us folks!
Here is a picture of the three of us in our St. Patrick's day gear...

We spent the rest of the day taking in the sites on the Freedom trail. We did not do the whole thing just the sites that were in our immediate area. The weather was perfect, sunny and just chilly enough to need a coat. The wind is what got us from time to time. Here are a few pictures from our walk...

That was Marc being the ultimate tour guide... so funny!

Being the teachers we are we had to get out picture taken in front of the "School Street" sign

My favorite scenic picture of the trip... so pretty!!!
I will post again with the other half of our trip... this has taken me forever to do and right now I need to be getting the kids up and ready to head to Nashville for the gymnastics meet.... so check back in a few days!
Jen