New England Road Trip - Boston, MA (Days 2-3) ~ absolutely loving my life

Anytime we take a road trip, I always plan a combination of quiet sleepy towns and the hustle and bustle of the city. The reason for that is because I prefer visiting quiet and peaceful scenery that help me relax, but Matt prefers visiting a big city where there is lots to see and do. We had already been to NYC together, so for this road trip we spent twenty-four hours in Boston.

Boston is such a beautiful and historic city. We arrived in the afternoon and checked into our hotel, just as planned. The hotel was a cute boutique hotel in a safe area within walking distance to everything we wanted to see. Once we parked the car at a nearby parking garage, we didn’t need to do anymore driving until we were ready to leave the city.

Even though I had planned out every detail of this vacation, we actually diverted from the planned itinerary for this part of our trip. Rather than catching the train and heading across town for dinner, like we had planned, we decided to just walk the city and find a place to eat as we explored. The reason for that is because I didn’t make reservations for dinner, and we were on limited time to see everything we wanted to see in Boston.

We spent the evening walking around the historic part of the city. This meant that we didn’t need to take the Freedom Trail tour the falling morning, like we had planned, because we actually followed the trail that evening while exploring the city. The trail is easy to follow. No need to pay money for a tour guide unless you want to stick to their schedule and hear all of the things that you have probably already read in your history books.

Along the way we stopped for dinner at Pagliuca's Restaurant. We actually only stopped here, because we got caught in a torrential downpour. Seriously, I’m talking raining cats and dogs. The kind of rain where an umbrella is of little use to you. Dripping wet, we entered one of the first little Italian places we saw. I ordered the lobster ravioli, and it was really good. After dinner, the rain had passed and a rainbow appeared over the city. Before heading back to our hotel for the evening, we stopped by a local bakery and shared a Boston cream pie.

The following morning, we enjoyed more of the modern part of the city. We walked to “the Common”, a park in the middle of the city, and enjoyed the beautiful public gardens nearby. From there we walked to China Town, where of course my husband had to stop for a little snack of dim sum. Afterwards, we headed towards the financial district and walked along the pier, before finishing our afternoon at Faneuil Hall Marketplace where we enjoyed our first ever lobster roll and Boston clam chowda, which was delicious.

After lunch we walked back to the car and started driving towards our next stop, Maine. Along the way, we made a quick stop in Salem. We weren’t there very long. There really wasn’t much to do there. It was just some place I wanted to go, so I could say I had been to the infamous town of the historic Salem witch trials.

And that was how we spent twenty-four hours in Boston. Below is the basic itinerary and a few pictures from this part of our trip.

Summer Vacation

New England Road Trip

Day 2 Part 2

Monday, June 18, 2013

Travel to Boston at 1:00 p.m. (3hrs. 10 min. / 146.76mi)

Check into Bulfinch Hotel at 4:00 p.m.

107 Merrimac St. Boston, MA 02114

(617) 624- 0202

Govt/Rate w/cont.breakfast ($201 + $30parking)

Take the T to and from Dinner ($10)

www.mbta.com/rider_tools/trip_planner/