Boston as a Tourist (and other stuff)
30 Oct 2006(This should have gone up 2 weeks ago, but I was waiting to get pictures.)
A couple of weeks back (October 12th, to be exact), my beloved Hokies were playing the hated Boston College Eagles on a Thursday night on ESPN. Back in 1999, some friends and I made the trek up from Blacksburg to Chestnut Hill to spend Thursday-Saturday with some of my friends who were at BC and take in a game (which VT won in a torrential downpour). We (Aaron, Mike, and Jared) drove up, and given the weather and the amount of time we had before we had to drive back, we didn't see much of the city. Or, I should say, they didn't see much of the city, since they were here for the first time. I'd been to Boston (and BC) a bunch of times, since I'm a Masshole.
Well, 7 years later, with a chance to relive that initial trip, Mike and Jared (henceforth referred to as Billy and Bob, because that's what we call them) decided to come up, take in a game, and crash at my place. It'd give them a chance to see the city, give us a chance to hang out, and hopefully give us a chance to watch our team beat up the Eagles.
The trip got off to a rocky start, as their plane was delayed by Cory Lidle's plane crash. Still, hard to go wrong with a week off and a football game. So, I ventured out to help them do the tourist thing around the city. I really haven't done that in a few years, probably since before college. We started out heading down to Park Street and doing the walk down to Quincy Market, out into the North End, grabbing some dessert at Modern Pastry, then walking all the way down Beacon to give them a glimpse of Fenway. It's a bit of a hike, but hell, we had all day to kill and it was gorgeous out.
Here's me (left, sexy bald head) and Bob (right) walking outside of Fenway. Billy is taking the picture.
Then we headed back and got ready to meet co-worker and Notre Dame fan (so fellow anti-BC rooter) for the game. We were pumped and happy.
Then the game happened. We were not so pumped and happy.
Then Friday came, and we continued the tourist trip. I've been to probably 30 games at Fenway in the last few seasons, but I've never done the tour. So we headed over to do the Fenway tour, got a crazy, awesome old guide who told ridiculously corny and punny jokes (so I thought he was pretty much a comedy god), and got to see the stadium from a few places I've never seen it before (the press box, the new seats at 3rd base). As a Sox fan, I was pretty underwhelmed. The one big selling point for me would be to go on the field and touch the Monster, but apparently they don't do that anymore. But, for folks who don't get to see as many games at Fenway, or who may never have seen a game there (i.e. Bob and Billy), it's a pretty great trip.
Here's a picture of seats, just because I think it looks cool.
After that, we headed over to the Skywalk, which I haven't done in years and don't remember being as costly as it was, but I guess things change in 10 years. It was a gorgeous clear day, so we could pretty much see for miles. Walking around, Billy caught a few good pics. Here's my fave.
We wrapped it up with some good BBQ from Blue Ribbon, called it a night, and then drove back to Logan on Saturday morning. All in all, a fantastic few days, outside of a few hours where our football team forgot how to play (they remember this past Thursday when they beat down #10 Clemson).
I'd forgotten how cool (and small) a city Boston is. I tend to hang out on the Red Line and really only get as far as Park Street to change over to head down to Fenway. Walking around the North End and then down on Boylston and Beacon, if you give in to the romanticism and beauty (and block out the construction), you can still sort of feel like a newcomer, even if you've been here you're entire life.
On a slight tangent, I need to get my walking shoes on again and make my way down to see the statue of Red. My first real sports love wasn't the Sox, it was the Celtics, and that's pretty much solely due to Red Auerbach, who's place in national history is probably grossly understated.