lessons learned

consider this post a "how to" guide of sorts on your future visits to boston.

1) when planning a trip to boston from d.c., the number one thing you will need: good friends to travel with you.

2) when going with good friends, and you geniusly decide to take the eight hour amtrak ride, do not take the 315 a.m. out of dc. you may think it's a good idea because you think you'll be able to sleep through the night and arrive bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 1115 a.m. ready for your boston adventure. well you won't, because the train will be freezing and the bright lights will remain on for the entire ride. do these people look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to you?

3) if you are from california and have moved away, you will most certainly be starved for mexican food. you will be snobbish about how the only place you can get good mexican food is california. (well, and mexico). but you will be humbled in the city of boston. go to angela's cafe.  we stumbled on this treasure, and learned that guy fieri visited recently and it will be featured on the food network. or go to burrito express for a $3.99 breakfast burrito that is delicious.

4) definitely do the freedom trail. you will see amazing parts of u.s. history. here is a sampling.

5) go to a baseball game at fenway park. just trust me on this. even if you do not like baseball. i do not like baseball, and i may or may not have taken a quick five minute cat nap during the third inning, but there's something about being at fenway park. it's the oldest baseball park in america, and as you sit there, you feel the richness of its history sink into your bones.

6) go to mike's pastry and get a canoli. any one of them. and you too can have this look of absolute culinary bliss.

7) if it's a dreary, rainy day while you're visiting boston, there are plenty of used book stores to peruse. we stumbled on http://www.buddenbrooks.com/  this place was amazing. the collections and number of first editions was just incredible. but it was also expensive. and when i say expensive i am talking luis vuitton ball park. there were collections that started at twelve hundred dollars. so you can only imagine the trauma and absolute mortification when i knocked over a starbucks grande green tea onto a bookshelf. you can only imagine how i panicked and tried to throw my body on top of the pile of tea as we all watched as the water crept, as if in slow motion, over the bookshelf, falling onto first edition, hand illustrated copies of don quixote.  you can only imagine the terror that swept through me, as i tried to rip the books off the shelf to prevent any more water damage. you can only imagine how awkward it must have been for our friends as they stood there helplessly. and you can only imagine me sobbing over the already water damaged, thousdands of dollars worth of antique collector's item books, as i wiped with paper towels and my sweatshirt sleeves. i was alternating between sobbing and whimpering out of embarassment and terror. there i was, kneeling on the floor of this amazing and expensive bookstore, having caused what i imagine was thousands of dollars worth of damage. there i was expecting to have to line up all our credit cards to spread out the cost of our new antique books collection, when the store owner came over and calmly told me not to panic. this man must have kids. he was beyond gracious. (maybe my sobbing had something to do with it). he assured me that this happens to everyone, of course this didn't happen to mark or miriam or david, but to me. of course. he assured me that the pages themselves were not damaged and he could fix the leather covers of all the books. and he would not even accept my offer to pay for the repair of the leather covers. you would be right if you imagined we left shortly thereafter. we definitely did not stay to browse after that incident. the thing is, it's really not entirely my fault. it was rainy and cold out, so we had to make a stop at starbucks. when we got to the bookstore - it was the kind of store where you had to knock on the door and have the store owner unlock the door to let you in - we offered to leave our drinks at the door, but the owner himself told us to just place them on top of the counter-height bookshelf. i'm sure he has since changed his food and beverage in the store policy. and i am no longer allowed in used book stores.

8) downton abbey. oh downton abbey. this got me through the eight hour train ride home and i'm almost all caught up. i powered through all but the season two finale. a certain friend tried to spoil it for me and told me the entire estate gets hit with a meteor!! well it hasn't happened yet, so i guess it must hit at the very end of the season finale! i wonder who will survive...no doubt the dowager, as if a meteor could stop her. i'm already looking forward to season three, which i only just learned does not air in the u.s. until january 2013!!! what will i do until then?!