Boston Day 2

Boston Day 2

The second day of the trip, I decided to move away from the center of the city. There were a handful of things I wanted to do that weren’t within easy walking distance of downtown, but they were close enough to each other.

Fenway Park: This wasn’t on my original list, I’m not much of a sports person. However, so many people had recommended it to me that I added it on the list. And they were right, this was a really good tour. They do tours of the stadium with lot of history and photo ops. The stadium is original, it is the oldest stadium in baseball. They still use the original old fashioned score board. I sat in the oldest wooden seats in baseball. We talked a lot about Ted Williams (who is basically a baseball demi-god) and records that have been broken here. It was well worth the time and effort.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: I really didn’t know much about this museum, but it was about 1.5 miles from Fenway Park and I liked the picture on the advertisement. Plus, it was free with m Go Pass, so if I didn’t like it, nothing lost except some mileage on my sneakers. Isabella Stewart Gardner was a lover of the arts. She traveled the world and collected every medium of art you can image: paintings, sketches, furniture, textiles, sculptures etc. Then she designed a beautiful building to store and showcase her collection. It is a fantastic collection. Even more than the art, I love the building and the courtyard and the landscaping inside the courtyard. 

Samuel Adams Brewery: Now onto the next close by activity and this is a good 2 mile walk from the art museum. Due to my wonky phone, it was a bit longer than that. I hadn’t really considered the neighborhood I’d be walking through either and that was a mistake. Honestly, I should have taken some time to familiarize myself with the train system and was kind of thinking that same thought as I was walking through graffiti filled alleys. But, I survived and found the brewery. The Brewery is the original Samuel Adams Brewery and is currently no longer working in production. They company has expanded past the available space at this location, so they do mass production in their other

locations. This location is strictly R&D. Every flavor of Samuel Adams beer started at this brewery. Except the original Boston Lager which was started in the owners kitchen (we all start somewhere). Now, they experiment with different flavors and when they get one they like, they make a small batch. That batch is used at beer festivals to get public feedback. Its also shared with a handful of Boston area pubs that originally supported Samuel Adams when it was just a little struggling startup. The tour isn’t very long but its really interesting. After the tour, we have the tasting...we all go sit down and we’re given a nice glass. Pitchers are passed down and we try different flavors of beer. We tried the original Boston Lager, Oktoberfest and Pumpkin Spice. Most of the taste is all in the nose and honestly, these all tasted the same to me. I feel sad I can’t taste/smell the flavors. At the end of the tour, I walked outside to find the skies had opened up and it was pouring rain. I was also very hungry and was ready for lunch. I walked to a local bistro and had a lovely pizza and then called Uber to get me back downtown.

Hop on/off Cityview Bus: Honestly, I was cold and wet and I was really ready to go back at this stage. However...I have plans for tomorrow that require me to pick up my 2 day Hop on/off Cityview Bus ticket that night. I’m going to Uber into the city early on the 3^rd day and I want to catch the bus from a secondary location. I need to already have the ticket in hand by then. So I head back down town, get my ticket and its just early enough to do a full trip on the bus to hear the narration and get a visual on where the bus is picking up and dropping off. I know that after this, it will be after 5pm and everything will be closing down. And I’m really not up for much anyway. The narration was very good, the route covered a good part of the city and I made mental notes so I could use it the following day, when I needed to. Then back to my hostel. Early night, fight in the dorm with the owner and another resident and I wish I hadn’t come back early. But it is what it is.