Boston - Nov. 22 - Sunday - Day 4

Last day in Boston! After a very lazy waking up, we checked out in the hotel and decided that we were in the mood for Brazilian BBQ, after all it is Sunday, Churrascaria day! From what I heard Boston is one of the best places in the US to eat Brazilian food, just because there are thousands of Brazilians who call this city home.
Although there is no official numbers, I was reading that there are between 150 000 to 250 000 Brazilians in Boston and area. I am not sure where they are because we didn't have a chance to meet anyone from Brazil. I heard you can find churrascarias, stores selling bikinis and bars with coxinha and pastel in Framinghan, Cambridge, Somerville and Allston . We picked Cambridge because it was the easiest area to get by subway.

These are a couple of Brazilian restaurants (one right across from the other) in Cambridge. Since Mike is allergic to fish, Moqueca Restaurant was out of the question. So it wasn't hard to pick the BBQ house, The Midwest Grill.

If you haven't been to a Brazilian BBQ place, here is how it works: you have a buffet with all kinds of Brazilian food like rice, beans, beef stew, many different types of salads, fried bananas, farofa (cassava flower), fries, corn, cheese and many vegetables. After you almost pass out looking at the abundant buffet, the waiter comes to your table every 3 minutes with a huge piece of meat on a stick straight from the barbecue. It's different kinds of beef pieces, lamb, chicken wrapped in bacon, sausages, pork, etc. If you say yes, he will slice out a piece of the meat in your plate. And the meat feast continues until you can't eat anymore and start feeling sick. that's when you ask for the bill and roll back home.

This restaurant was pretty cheap, only $12.95 for lunch a person. All you can eat meat plus buffet! Can you believe it? We recommend!

After few caipirinhas (Brazilian drink with tons of alcohol), Mike and I left the restaurant singing and laughing very much. Then we went back to downtown to go shopping. Bad idea!!!! You don't want to try on clothes when your stomach is completely full! Anyway, we had only one hour to enjoy Boston's bargain stores. We were told that there are no outlet malls in Boston (?), but that we should check out this place called Basement. It is basically like the Canadian Winners, that sells brand name items with discount. Like in Winners, you can find something interesting with a bit of luck and time. I got a couple of winter tops. Mike, instead, rushed to the coffee shop to kill some of the caipirinha effect.

Gabi's best shot in this trip!!!!!

4:45 we got into the little plane back to Buffalo, and then drove back to Toronto.

Boston was fun, beautiful and clean. But it is not really in our list of places to go back without a reason. Totally worth checking out once, though!

Bye Boston!

Boston - Nov 21 - Saturday - Day 3

First of all, happy birthday, Mike!


The day was perfect, with beautiful blue skies. We went back to our favorite breakfast place and walked around in this very fancy neighborhood called Beacon Hill. This is home for many millionaires, as you can see bellow.

Beacon Hill has been home to many notable persons, including: Uma Turman, John Hancock, and Edward M. Kennedy. Someone told us that this house in the photo below, with an America flag, is the home of Senator and former US presidential candidate John Kerry.

FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Beacon Hill is a historic neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts that along with neighboring Back Bay is home to about 26,000 people. It is a neighborhood of Federal-style rowhouses and is known for its narrow, gas-lit streets and brick sidewalks. Today, Beacon Hill is regarded as one of the most desirable and expensive neighborhoods in Boston.
The Beacon Hill area is located just north of the Boston Common and the Boston Public Garden and is bounded generally by Beacon Street on the south, Somerset Street on the east, Cambridge Street to the north and Storrow Drive along the riverfront of the Charles River Esplanade to the west. The block bounded by Beacon, Tremont and Park Streets is included as well, as is the Boston Common itself. The level section of the neighborhood west of Charles Street, on landfill, is known locally as the "Flat of the Hill."
Because the Massachusetts State House is in a prominent location at the top of the hill, the term "Beacon Hill" is also often used as a metonym in the local news media to refer to the state government or the legislature.

Although it still feels like fall here, we found some people crazy for the winter. Ice skating is already popular here. Go figure!

In the afternoon we headed to America's most famous university. We were impressed to see so much (expensive) life at Harvard Square. We walked around for a few hours and we had dinner again at Bertucci's restaurant. Cheap, quick and good food. Totally worth going, just for its olive oil and garlic with spices dip with fresh - just out of the oven - bread! To die for!

I can say "I went to Harvard University" :)

There was a line up to take a picture with Mr. John Harvard, the founder of the first American University. It's like by touching his foot you will somehow get a little bit of the knowledge that lays here. It's silly, but oh well, it doesn't hurt to try!

Mike and I killing sometime in a coffee shop and being goofs. But really, this is one of the few pictures that we have together on this trip.

Happy birthday Mike!









After dinner we watched a comedy show at Comedy Studio, considered the best place for stand up comedy in the city. It was a lot of fun!
http://www.thecomedystudio.com/

This drink was called The Scorpion Bowl. We asked the waitress what's in it and she said she had no idea. Whenever asked about it, the bartender said there are all kinds of liquors in it with a bit of fruit juice. Oh well, I believe it! Mike and I had a hard time finishing this bowl that costs $16. Good choice!

This photo was taken by Mike right before he abandoned me to go to bed. I don't blame him! It's past midnight, I am at the hotel lobby and we are both exhausted after a long day walking around and drinking. But blogging is a must-do-thing for me now. I don't mind, as long as you don't mind to read it with its spelling and grammar mistakes! And I don't even have my glasses on! Maybe I should go to bed now! Good night.

Boston - Nov. 20 - Friday - Day 2

As much as I like to get out there and discover a new city, I just love to enjoy the warm and good smelling white sheets and big pillows of a nice hotel. And that's what Mike and I did in the morning in Boston. After all, this is a mini vacation too.

But our biological clocks - a.k.a. stomachs - reminded us that we needed fuel, so we headed on a quest to find a "greasy spoon'.

We started walking toward the restaurant, in downtown Boston. The architecture is amazing and the streets look very clean and quite.

Our first stop was at the Boston Public Gardens, a park in the middle of the city that reminds us of Central Park in New York City. But this is not just a park. Like many other sites in Boston, this place has a history behind it. You can read about it here.

FROM WIKIPEDIA:

The Public Garden was established in 1837 when philanthropist Horace Gray petitioned for the use of land as the first public botanical garden in the United States. Grey helped marshal political resistance to a number of Boston City Council attempts to sell the land in question, finally settling the issue of devoting it to the Public Garden in 1856. The Act establishing use of the land was submitted to the voters on 26 April, 1856 where it passed with only 99 dissents.
In October 1859 Alderman Crane submitted the detailed plan for the Garden to the Committee on the Common and Public Squares and received approval. Construction began quickly on the property, with the lake being finished that year and the wrought iron fence surrounding the perimeter erected in 1862. Today the north side of the lake has a small island, but it originally was a peninsula, connected to the land. The site became so popular with lovers that the John Galvin, the city forester, decided to sever the connection with the land.
The twenty-four acre (97,000 m²) landscape, which was once a salt marsh, was designed by George F. Meacham. The paths and flower beds were laid out by the city engineer, James Slade and the forester, John Galvin. The plan for the garden included a number of fountains and statues. The first statue erected was that of Edward Everett by William Wetmore Story in November 1867 on the north part of the Garden near Beacon Street. The bronze statue of George Washington by Thomas Ball which dominates the west side of the park was dedicated on 3 July 1869. The signature suspension bridge over the middle of the lake was erected in 1867.
The Public Garden is managed jointly between the Mayor's Office, The Parks Department of the City of Boston, and the non-profit Friends of the Public Garden.

Downtown Boston is not really a place for these kind of cheap breakfast restaurants, but with the concierge lady's help we managed to find the best: the Paramount, a place that has been around since 1937 and serves breakfast and small lunch items, like salads and sandwiches. The cost? It was pretty affordable. A Breakfast for two costs $20. Not bad.

http://www.paramountboston.com/

Mike had the traditional bacon and eggs and I had a tuna melt with sweet potatoes. YUMMY!!!!!!

This is the famous bar Cheers, that inspired the TV series. It doesn't mean anything to me, because I didn't grow up watching it, but many Boston visitors come to this corner and do exactly what Mike did: register in their cameras a shot that reminds them of their childhood.

This must be the maple leaf's cousin!

Fall is hanging on here in Boston!!!!

The old and the new meet all the time in this cool city.

A pedestrian street downtown. A bit busier, but still very orderly.

A Polish monument symbolizing the struggle of that people first under the Nazi forces and then under the Soviets.

The famous Charles Bridge in the background.

An art display in the entrance of the Institute for the Contemporary Art.

Charming old bridge.

In the middle of the afternoon a stop to enjoy a Guinness. After all, we are in Boston, the New England.

After the beer, this is how we feel.

This is for Jaqueline, our little unicorn.

BOSTON'S COOL BUILDINGS

METRIC'S CONCERT

I am glad I have tattoos and I was wearing funk yellow tights, otherwise I would feel like an onion in a fruit salad. I am talking about the Metric concert, a Canadian band that Mike started to listen to about six months ago and I enjoy in the car - via Ipod - sometimes.

The House of Blues was almost full and for a little while I thought I was the oldest person in the venue. But as I was commenting this to Mike, this guy in front of us heard us and said, "I am from 1974". Great! I am not the old grandma anymore here.

All this age non-sense disappeared when not so young musicians and singer Emily Haines started playing their music on stage.

Metric is a very cool Indie Rock band that I would be all over it if I had heard them 15 years ago. Still, I enjoyed the concert very much this Friday, especially because of their performance on stage. Beautiful! The girl has so much confidence.

The kids there knew most every song and loved them all!

I have to say that Boston youth also impressed us. We didn't see - or smell - any drugs and by the end of the night, they spared us from the normal drunk scenes that you get in a place full of kids under 25. Maybe those kids were more mature than us.

Anyway, here are a couple of YOU TUBE videos of Metric, for those interested in hear what the cool kids are listening these days!!!! Enjoy!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEz8N8AT-yo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw1Jjc5Baw0