‘Cheers’ to the Happy Couple
Nothing like a weekend getaway to give your relationship a shot through the heart.
Me and my lovely were in Boston, MA. for a couple of days this week. The furthest trip either of us have taken up north, the city and its people took our breath away. It was a little nippy for us natives of the Mid-Atlantic region, but you could tell Boston folks were glad to have a little sunshine; bicycles and short sleeves were all the rage during our stay.
We fell in love with the town. I personally have heard a lot about Boston being a racist place, but I certainly didn’t experience it. We found all its people to be very friendly, and the city itself is easy to navigate in terms of directions. A tremendous upgrade from our home metropolis’ of Baltimore and Washington D.C., where one wrong turn is going to send you down several one-way streets on your way to Lostville.
The lowlight of our visit was our trip to little Italy. Baltimore has a little Italy that is well-known for delicious food and good times, so we expected much of the same from the quaint yet vibrant city of Boston. We thought we were in the right place, as delicious smells wafted through the streets and intermingled with thick Italian accents. From shop to shop, you almost felt out of place if you didn’t hear Ol’ Blue Eyes or some other Italian song blaring from the doorways.
We settled on a place called Pagiuluca’s, which had looked like a trendy little joint where young people hung out for a quick bite. The service was good, but the setting seemed a little cramped, something discovered was a theme in several Boston establishments.
Then came the food.
A total let down.
Between her lasagna and my sausage and ziti, we did not receive the taste of the old country that we thought we would. It was rather plain, and it was even more of a let down considering that the restaurant was featured in National Geographic in 2000 as one of Boston’s best.
While our hearts sunk at this place, we only had to go where everybody’s knows our name to get the true Boston experience. The Bull Finch Inn, better known as the bar “Cheers,” was one of our lasting memories of the city. It doesn’t look like the one on TV, but you can settle into it as if your name was Sam or Norm.
Here, we got the best of the city’s trademark foods in one of its trademark watering holes. Beans, clam chowder, beer, burgers and Boston creme pie. Yep, I took all that down while she looked on disgust. To watch the Red Sox-Yankees game and sit in among exuberant tourists and laid-back locals was great. We commemorated the dining expereince with Cheers mugs, and we certainly plan to make it a point of visiting from now on.
Match this experience with peaceful walks around the river in Cambridge, drives through some of the city’s historic districts, and it made for the perfect trip. Although the primary reasoning behind the travel was a PR conference, we still managed to have a really romantic time. There are no real nuggets of wedding or relationship insight in this post, just to relay how much fun you can have with a free trip to a nearby state.
