First Night in Boston

Wednesday 12/28-Saturday 1/1: Ferry, Art, Food, Fireworks

Mr. E and I opted for Boston for our NYE festivities this year. We haven't visited the city for quite some time, probably since the fall of 2010, so we were looking forward to (re)discovering various parts. Thanks to United points, we were able to book First Class for the cross-country flights, which made the journey much more comfortable and enjoyable. A bit of a delay in SMF on our way to ORD + a long taxi + a gate change for the connecting flight = running through the airport with our bags. But we made it! Late night arrival at BOS with a first attempt at a taxi, but seeing the line and no waiting cabs, we pivoted to Lyft and got even more steps since the pick-up spot is in the Central Parking lot. 

We stayed at the Residence Inn Boston Harbor Tudor Wharf (longest hotel name ever!!!), which is on the north side of the harbor in Charlestown, and area we knew only from walking the Freedom Trail years ago. And it ended up being a great choice of neighborhood! Relatively close to the airport, and from our suite on the 8th floor, we caught glimpses of several local landmarks: Bunker Hill Monument, masts of the USS Constitution, airport control tower, and lots of boats in the harbor.

Given our late night arrival, we slept in a bit on Thursday morning but managed to make it to the buffet breakfast before the 9:30am clean-up time. Then we found the local Sorelle Cafe for second coffee, which we enjoyed as we strolled along the harbor walk towards the USS Constitution and the other piers, where we caught the Charlestown Ferry (part of the T public transit system) over to Long Wharf near the Aquarium. We of course had to greet the frolicking harbor seals in their aquarium entryway habitat! Then we wandered along the Greenway towards the North End and found Thinking Cup Coffee cafe for our lunch spot (tofu bahn mi for Mr. E, veggie quiche for me + some sweet treats for later).

We also strolled through Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, making a stop at It's Sugar for me. Then about 20 minutes on the T Green Line to our destination for the afternoon, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which is one of my favorite art locales and one of the museums with reciprocal benefits thanks to our Crocker membership here in Sacto. After our tour through all three floors of the museum, we caught the T back to North Station, where we discovered a Star Market by TD Garden that allowed us to pick up some wine and snacks. Our suite had a full kitchen, including plates, silverware, glassware, pots and pans, and cooking utensils, so it was very convenient for having some provisions in the room.

Dinner was at Pier 6 overlooking the harbor and with a great view of the Zakim Bridge and downtown. Despite the chilly weather, I couldn't resist ordering the Endless Summer cocktail (grapefruit), which was divine. Mr. E enjoyed a beer first and then a cocktail with his burger, and I accompanied my fresh oysters and delicious scallops with a glass of sparkling rose. Chocolate bread pudding to go for Mr. E's dessert, but I had the sweet treats from our lunch stop back in the room do didn't need anything else.

The next day, I took a chance on the hotel pool to swim laps and had the entire place to myself for my workout. Lovely!

I grabbed some stuff from the buffet to take up to the room for breakfast. Our morning appointment was at the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art), so we took the ferry again and walked south along the Greenway, making a stop at Starbucks for coffee and food for Mr. E.  We got to the ICA just after it opened, which was perfect timing for our 10am tickets. Luckily, the museum offers lockers, so we could store our umbrellas and winter coats and even my little backpack purse rather than needing to tote everything around the galleries.

The primary exhibition areas are all on the fourth floor, which is reached via a big glass elevator in the middle of the building. That level also offers a great lookout view over the harbor in the part of the museum that extends out over the rest of the building.

The different exhibitions definitely offered an eclectic and thought-provoking assortment of different types of art, from photography to painting to sculpture to installations.

We had made plans to meet with my aunt and uncle for lunch at Nisa's Thai Restaurant in Canton Center, so we caught the T green line to the purple commuter rail line for that slightly longer journey. Given the train schedule, we only had about 75 minutes to spend during our visit, but that still gave us time to catch up with family and enjoy our meal. Once we got back to Boston and procured some food at Star Market for later, we repeated our walk along the pedestrian pathway on top of the locks that run alongside the Zakim bridge at the water level, which was a really fun way to travel rather than being up higher on the side of the North Washington Street bridge, which was the closest driving route to our hotel. Dinner and a movie in the hotel room to finish up the day.

The next day was December 31st, which is host to a number of free activities of various kinds in central downtown Boston locations. This celebration is known as First Night, and I have attended a few times over the years, which is one of the reasons we chose Boston for our NYE site this year, as I wanted to share the experience with Mr. E. Due to ongoing COVID conditions, the offerings were very streamed down and all outside, but we still enjoyed a few musical performances, including the Boston Saxophone Quartet and singer Maddi Ryan. 

We also had a wonderful time exploring the Boston Public Library and stumbled across the amazing Tea Room, which will definitely be on our to-do list for the next visit! However, despite the fact that they did have room for us in the 1pm seating, we had already purchased tickets for Matrix: Resurrections at 2:30pm, so we couldn't really manage to fit in both activities. We headed off towards the Boston Common for the AMC theatre, making a quick stop at a nearby Starbucks for some food since we hadn't had any lunch (buffet breakfast in room again for me after second morning swim, coffee and breakfast sandwich from Sorelle for Mr. E).

The movie wrapped up around 5:20pm, so we walked back to Copley Square for the opening remarks and 6pm parade. We grabbed an elevated spot on top of some stairs about halfway to the Boston Common, which gave us a fabulous view of the parade once it started up. When all of the official participants had passed by, the route became a public procession as spectators filed in to follow the parade to the Boston Common for the 7pm fireworks. We stopped along the way at Parish Cafe for a cocktail rather than waiting 30+ minutes for the fireworks to begin. Our seats at the bar had a great view out the big windows overlooking the street, so we could see everyone walking along.

When we finished our drinks, we walked to the Public Garden and arrived at a perfect time, just as the fireworks were starting.We had a great view since we were a couple of blocks from the origin site, at the intersection of Newbury Street and the Public Garden. This was also ideal for walking to our dinner destination, Sonsie, where we had 7:45pm reservations. We arrived a little early and were able to be seated at a table in the cafe right by the window out to the street, which was perfect since the restaurant quickly started to fill up. Service was a little slow, but we still had a wonderful meal, starting with fresh oysters, sides of roasted cauliflower and roasted brussels sprouts to share, a Margherita pizza for Mr. E, and Nantucket bay scallops for me. By the time we finished the light rain had tapered off, so we caught the T (free after 8pm on NYE) back to North Station for a final evening promenade to our hotel.

Originally, our return flight on Saturday 1/1 was scheduled for the afternoon through Chicago, but we had learned on Thursday evening that the flight was cancelled. Mr. E was able to re-book us on a flight through Denver instead, but it left much earlier at 7:30am. Luckily, we hadn't scheduled anything for New Year's Day at that point, so we could make the change pretty easily. I got the number for a local livery service from the helpful Front Desk staff, and our drive was at the hotel 15 minutes early for our 6am pick-up time. Snow in Denver caused delays, as we sat on the runway for nearly 40 minutes, but our outbound flight was also delayed, so we didn't have to run through the airport this time around, and I even had time to buy a book to tide me over since I was almost finished with my third and final library book by then. 

The benefit to the travel change was arriving home in the mid-afternoon on Saturday rather than late at night, so we could get laundry and chores done that day, giving us all of Sunday to relax before going back to work on Monday. Well, Mr. E had Monday off, but I had to work!

Happy New Year to all! Best wishes for a healthy 2022 that is full of joyful moments, gratitude, awe, inspiration, challenges, and love.