Tudd Time

I have been an awful blogger lately. Partially because I don’t have a working computer at the moment, but really that’s just the excuse I’m giving.

But I will try and catch up…

Back tracking to two weekends ago, my best friend Todd (better known as Tudd) came to Boston to visit. He was taking a bit of an East Coast road trip with stops in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. While technically he had been to Boston to help me move almost a year ago, he was only in the city for about 12 hours and most of that time was devoted to hauling my furniture up two flights of stairs. So this was his first real Boston experience.

After a very chill Friday night, we got up pretty early on Saturday so we could fit as much touristy stuff into the day as possible. Post-breakfast and quick walk around Cambridge, we headed to CRI because Jimmy had offered to give us a launch ride tour of the river and Boston. The weather was perfect for this: sunny and warm, with not too much wind. Todd was able to see all of the old, East Coast style boathouse like CBC, Harvard, Northeastern and Riverside that look like mansions compared to MSU’s shed. I also love the view of the Boston skyline (picture below) that you get from the river.

After lunch, we decided to go to the beach. Todd wanted to “touch the Atlantic” and the beach is my favorite place in the entire world so I didn’t object. We went to Carlson Beach, which I had never been to and is honestly not very impressive. But it’s a beach nonetheless and is only a quick T ride away in Southie. By the time we got there the weather had switched to chilly and cloudy so we didn’t stay very long.

Jimmy and Laurissa joined us for dinner at the Barking Crab. I’ve wanted to try this place for a while but never have since the menu is a little pricey. But after trying it, I think it is totally worth it. The Barking Crab is located right on the water and has a small indoor eating area and a covered outdoor patio. We ate outside under what looks like a giant circus tent decorated with various fishing equipment. I got to try Harpoon’s Grapefruit Shandy which may be my new favorite. The food was fantastic too.

The four of us spent the rest of the night walking around Boston. Before I list all of the places we WALKED to, I want to note I was wearing HEELS and I only complained A LITTLE BIT. From the Barking Crab, we headed towards Faneuil Hall. Even though this area is so tourist-y, I like it. I love the look of it at night with all of the trees lit up and the old style buildings mixed in with the new shops and restaurants.

From Faneuil we made our way to the North End. The North End is Boston’s Little Italy. It’s another area of Boston that I really like, but unfortunately, one I never visit. We spent a lot of time walking down the little side streets, going into all of the small, family-owned shops, and peering into all of the amazing smelling Italian restaurants. We made a stop at Modern Pastry – Mike’s Pastry’s rival. I had never been before. While I didn’t get a cannoli, I did sample Todd’s and think that I prefer Mike’s. Modern’s was great, but it was like a third of the size of the cannolis you get at Mike’s and they had nowhere near the flavor variety.

After spending a considerable amount of time ogling over all of the mouth water sights and smells, we started to make our way back. We walked through Boston Commons and headed up Charles St., once again, taking quite a bit of time to gaze into the fancy shops.

By the time we finally made it home, my feet hurt.

Sunday was another day of exploring Boston. We spent the morning browsing around Newbury Street and made a stop at the site of the Boston Marathon finish line. We headed back towards the Boston Commons, had lunch at Boloco, passed through China Town, and then hopped on the Silver Line (the sketchiest T line there is – like who makes an underground bus? Why can’t it just be a subway?) to go to the Harpoon Brewery.

Our initial plan was to go on the brewery tour. But after learning there was an hour and a half wait, we decided to just drink and eat instead (always a good choice). Todd and I shared two flights of beers, which we justified as being able to taste all the beer we would’ve tasted on the tour. The grapefruit shandy was still my favorite, followed by the summer beer (not surprising at all). The three of us all shared one of Harpoon’s giant pretzels which was delicious.

Once again, a great weekend with my favorite people. I love when my friends visit and I get to play tourist.