Bean Counters take on Bean Town

It's been a while since I blogged and I have to make a few posts over the weekend to catch up. The posts will be a little out of order but something tells me y'all don't mind. Somehow a week has quickly flown by! A week ago today I was in Boston, reuniting with two of my favorite people: ADF and CCB. We decided a few months ago that we needed to get together under the guise of our erudite underground club.

Highlights:

-We stayed at NineZero, one of the Kimptons. CCB enjoyed TWO free wine happy hours, ADF and I arrived too late on Thursday to partake. Oddly, none of us got into the animal print robes the entire weekend. meow!

-The hotel was uber close to (1) the granary cemetery: the one and only site we saw on the Freedom trail (more on that later). It also is the resting place of Ben Franklin's fam, Sam Adams, Paul Revere, the Boston Massacre victims, among others. (2) the Boston Athenaeum. The Mecca of Book Lovers. All three of us fell over each other in literary lust and jealously that none of us could join and enjoy the Athenaeum on a regular basis.

-On Friday, we headed over to Cambridge and spent some time at Harvard. The area is really pretty and reminded me a bit of Europe with the brick streets, old buildings, and little nooks of stores hidden away. We did a tour of campus and learned all the cool facts. The tour only covers Harvard Yard and a few other buildings so you only see a little bit of campus, but the tour still took close to two hours. Afterwards we headed back across the river to Boston, had coffee, and went through the Granary Cemetery.

Memorial Church

Memorial Hall

Harvard Square - apparently Bostonians eat more

ice cream than any other major US city

In Harvard Yard

Totally look like we belong here

"John Harvard"

LIBRARY!

-so more on the one lonely stop on the Freedom Trail. Weather was generally good, as in it was not sleeting, snowing, or below 40 degrees. But on Saturday, it rained. And the wind blew. And we were not prepared to walk around outside all day. However, we hit the Granary Cemetery at the end of day Friday at dusk and it was SO cool in a very historical, creepy way. I was taken aback at how thin the tombstones were and the macabre picture of skulls. Funny how nowadays, tombstones have cherubs and angels on them (Catholic ones at least). Apparently volunteers dress up circa 1750 and do tours around the cemetery, but we were rogue visitors and went on our own. After dinner this night, we went to the Parker House for Boston Cream Pie.

-Given the rain, on Saturday, we hit the Athenaeum, then to the Boston Museum, then to a bookstore. Bliss! We ate at a yummy seafood place and had the best crab cakes. Afterwards we shopped a bit then back to the hotel to read in bed and get ready for our superfly dinner that night. (sorry photos are out of order here and I am too lazy to redo it...forgive me!)

Inside the Boston Library

Outside the Athenaeum

-Saturday night we were very trendy with our 9pm reservations at Bricco. We got cocktails at the hotel at 8 and then waited at the Bricco bar. At 10 we were seated and had the pre fixe menu. They were out of the bottle of wine we ordered so we got an $80 bottle for $40! yay! Now here's the exciting part - we saw TomKat!! Can't believe they were there. It was way cool, especially since the place was so small (though they ate upstairs). After being star struck for about an hour, we headed home and to bed. So sad we had to leave the next morning!

It was great seeing these lovely ladies over the weekend and I am happy to know RJB and I will see them again, along with more friends, at a wedding in Texas in two weeks! yay!

I can't wait to go back to Boston. It is a haven for history buffs. RJB and I have discussed going there once we are released from fiscal responsibility.