New Years in Boston: Don't Expect the Expected

Happy New Year.

I spent mine snowed in up in Boston, where I decided to go for a quick trip with a few friends because I've never been there and the weather report was clear until at least today. We left after lunch on the 30 and returned this afternoon due to some unexpected weather. Overall impression: I dig the city and want to visit again... but maybe not during a snow storm!

We got up to the city around dinner time, checking into our hotel in Framingham and eating the dinner we packed before wandering around in the vicinity of Commonwealth Avenue. The trees were all lit up for Christmas along the walk in the center of the avenue. I was immediately taken with how pretty the architecture in the city is. I like the patterns that many of the buildings maintain while being somewhat unique from their adjoining structures.

Kevin, Timmy, Jessica and I started our New Year's Eve with the intention of starting at the Boston Common and following the Freedom Trail and stopping at a few museums along it. We farfed around the Public Garden for a bit as it began to snow a little, jumping into empty fountains to get photos with the statues. The snow began to stick a little bit but we weren't worried, until the three of them launched themselves into the last fountain before crossing back over to the Common, which wasn't empty, but had a thin layer of ice, dusted with snow, covering a few inches of water. Jessica caught herself before flying ankle deep into cold water; Kevin and Timmy got their feet wet. This put our adventure on the wrong foot...

After sitting in Kevin's car with the heat on and getting dry socks, we ventured back out. The snow had picked up quite a bit, but we decided to try to take on the Freedom Trail. We wandered through the Boston Common and then went down Joy Street to the Afro-American History Museum. It was nice to be warm and inside the historic schoolhouse, but the snow really picked up, prompting us to cancel our New Year's Eve plans at home and to call our parents and have them look up hotels in the city for us. We got a room at a hotel within city limits (Framingham is about half an hour outside Boston) and went to check in and move the car. The room had a lovely view of the Charles River, so we took a stroll along that, half playing in the snow and half looking for transit stops. Our feet were pretty cold and wet by then so we took another break, having Chinese food for lunch in the hotel (with the added attraction of a man selecting one of the live fish, and hearing it flop about as it was pulled from the tank behind me) before taking a bus and then the T back into center city.

We took the orange line down to Massachusetts Avenue in attempt to see the Harriet Tubman House, as per the boys' intense wishes, only to discover it was a community center named for the heroine, not actually her house. So, orange line back up near the Common and back on the Freedom Trail after getting some DD, but the sun was setting and our feet were not drying. We saw a few sites: Park Street Church, Old State House, Fanueil Hall... but started our chilly trek back to the hotel not too much later.

This morning was clear as a bell but absolutely frigid: 7 degrees Fahrenheit and quite windy. As a result, we drove around Boston instead of walking a bit more before heading home. I continued to be in awe of the historic architecture, and also enjoyed passing by the wharfs (wharves?). This was only meant to be a quick visit to begin with, but turned into a quick visit over a few days. I'm looking forward to going back one day.