Back From Boston (with pics!)

For the past few days, I've been at a work-related conference in Boston. I'd never been there before, so of course there was tons of walking and sight seeing! I had one day off to wander around the city and boy did I wander!

First, from my hotel to the convention center and downtown is approximately 2 miles each way. I walked this every day because I think that walking around is the best way to learn a city (being careful and aware of my surroundings of course). Did I mention that I had to carry a 15-lb backpack? On my day off, I started out at Boston Medical (near my hotel) and walked up Massachusetts Avenue to the Hynes Convention Center via Boylston and the Shops at Prudential. From there, I walked up Boylston to the Public Park and up to Beacon St. to the original Cheers bar to do the tourist thing and snap a photo. Then, I decided I was hungry and walked back to Prudential to try some "chowda" at Boston Chowda, a little place in the food court (I have no qualms about back tracking [more than once or twice even] during my solo sight-seeing adventures, which would probably annoy the heck out of a traveling companion I'm sure).

After lunch, I decided I wanted to walk up to Quincy Market and take a look around that part of the city. So off I went. On the way, I kept my eye out for anything interesting. I found the Corner Mall, which consists of several closed-off city blocks for shops and restaurants. I wandered around there for a while and stumbled upon St. Anthony's Shrine, which was tucked away on a side street, identifiable by a large iron crucifix above the entrance. I stopped in and said few prayers and lit a few candles.

From there, I stumbled upon the Old State House and Meeting House and various other historical buildings. Finally, I arrived at Quincy Market. Since it was Saturday, there were tons of people there, and the atmosphere was festive. After wandering around the marketplace, I decided that I wanted to find Paul Revere's house, which happened to be in Little Italy. On my way there, I happened upon an open-air farmer's market and fish market teeming with people shopping for fresh seafood. Then, I found myself in the historic North End and the harbor. Finally, I found little Italy and Paul Revere's house.

By then I was EXHAUSTED and COLD and pretty much found all the places I wanted to find. So it was time to head ALL THE WAY BACK to Boston Medical, which I'm thinking was about 4 miles away from where I was. Of course, I couldn't just walk straight back. I thought it would be fun to run up and down the Government Center steps as a short cut. It was ok because everything below my waist was pretty much numb at that point anyway, LOL.

Well, I realized that I was hungry but didn't want to be too far out at night so I managed to get back to the hotel and ate a nice, well-deserved burger at the restaurant in my hotel. It was really good and hit the spot!

The next day, I just hung out at the convention center to give my legs a rest. On the last day, my coworker gave me a couple of hours off for lunch, so I walked back to Quincy Market and ended up eating some chicken and rice then headed back to the convention center to close up the exhibit.

Phew! I am tired today!

Well, I'm in town for a week and then I'm headed out to San Diego again next week for a long conference. Then it's Boca Raton for conference after Thanksgiving. At least they're going to be warm!After that, I think I just might be home for a whole month!

Even though I complain about these conferences and traveling too much sometimes, they've really given me the opportunity to go places I've never been, see things I've only read about, and fill my life with some adventure. There's really nothing like setting out on foot in a city I've never been, with a map in my hand and a camera in my bag, with a day full of possibilies ahead of me.

Enjoy some pics!