Boston – Day 1

Hello from Beantown! That’s right, Katie, Laura, and I are in Boston for the weekend. Last year we took a trip to Boston to see the Red Sox play at Fenway and had such a good time we decided to do it again this year!

We’ll be going to the game on Sunday, so today was spent traveling and unwinding and tomorrow will be spent exploring the city.

We had an 11:00am flight, which was nice because we didn’t feel rushed or exhausted. However, combined with the fact that we lose an hour when traveling East, it kind of felt like we wasted a day. We didn’t land in Boston until 5:00pm! This means lunch was eaten during our layover in Milwaukee. I was stunned to find such a great option:

A veggie wrap that didn’t contain huge pieces of raw onion, slimy brown lettuce, or cold, soggy grilled vegetables…can you believe it?! The veggies were crisp and fresh, and the hummus had to have been homemade – chunky, a little spicy, and very filling.

I enjoyed the wrap with some salt & vinegar chips and an iced tea. Yay for decent airport food!!!

I had another pleasant surprise while traveling this afternoon:

…in-flight internet! Granted, we had to pay $10 for it, but it was a nice way to entertain ourselves. Once we realized the 2 young girls sitting behind us were going to prevent us from sleeping, we decided reading blogs, watching TV shows on Netflix, and researching things to do in Boston would be good ways to spend our time.

Katie and Laura (and some woman we don’t know, surely pitying us for having to sit in front at the annoying girls)

And finally, after a car, 2 planes, a bus, and 2 trains, we arrived!

We are staying at the Onyx Hotel, which is near Government Center. I really love staying in hotels, and so far this one seems pretty good. First off, they have complementary iced coffee in the mornings, Arnold Palmers in the afternoons, and sangria happy hour in the evenings! Here are a few pics of our room.

Yep, you saw that right, cheetah-print robes in the room!

The Onyx describes itself as “A downtown Boston boutique hotel with sparkling style and priceless location.”  I would translate this as:

• boutique = small
• style = non-floral prints
• priceless location = close to transit, restaurants, bars, and sights

The location was a big factor for us. Last year we got a good deal on a hotel, but it was much further away from everything we wanted to do than we realized. For those that know Boston, we had to take the blue line to the last stop (ironically and kind of creepily called ‘Wonderland’) and THEN get picked up by the hotel shuttle. We spent so much time on or waiting for transportation that we were ok with spending a little more to get a better location this year. And with the flight+hotel deals you can find, we didn’t even end up spending much more.

After checking in, we cleaned up, unpacked a little, and then headed out to find some dinner. It was so nice to just walk out the door and wander around! At first we stopped in the famous Union Oyster House, but did not end up eating there. The menu was slim pickings for vegetarian fare, and the prices were steep. But it was still neat to look at!

Instead, we walked over to Faneuil Hall / Quincy Market and ate at an upscale pub called Ned Divine’s.

I started with a delicious Black and Tan.

For dinner I had a (somewhat disappointing) tomato and cheese grilled flatbread sandwich with fries. The best part of the sandwich was the spicy Guinness mustard, but otherwise there was too much bread, not enough cheese, and flavorless tomatoes – all common complaints in my book.

I ended up eating half of the sandwich and all of the fries.

After dinner, Katie and Laura wanted to go get a beer and watch the rest of the Red Sox game, so they headed to a bar. I decided I’d rather relax in the room, so I came back to the hotel. On my way I snapped this spooky picture.

I showered, flipped through some Boston books, and blogged in a plush cheetah-print robe.

Don’t judge. You know you want one.  Nighty night!