#1 Boston - Year 2 - June 9, 2005

My beloved friends, Year 2 in Boston has commenced and with it summer has arrived with a bang! We pretty much skipped spring here, decided to have several weeks of rain instead, and are now baking in mid-80 degree heat! Of course most of my days are spent in an air-conditioned hospital with a jacket on, but it is hot out there!! Last night we had a most impressive thunderstorm that lasted late into the night and cooled us off a bit.

My anniversary here in the hub this past weekend was celebrated with a fabu dinner at the most quaint Oleana Restaurant, a truly hidden gem on Hampshire Street in Cambridge - http://www.oleanarestaurant.com/main.asp. The place has received numerous accolades, among them the 2004 James Beard "Best Chef in the Northeast" award - the food was excellent, nice ambience as well!

I could have not picked a more clashing volunteer task for Saturday than my stint at the Women's Lunch Place on Newbury Street (http://www.womenslunchplace.org/). Located in the basement of a church on fancy schmancy Newbury Street, where you can easily plop down $200 just to have your hair looked at, it has been providing food, friendship and shelter for poor and homeless women in Boston since 1982. Saturday was an absolutely sweltering day, and standing next to a 165-degree hot commercial dishwasher for several hours meant "sweating it out" in a totally new way for me.

After degreasing, I dedicated most of the weekend to R&R and rested my weary feet, as I awaited my friend Jimmy and his visit to this splendid town of ours. In what felt like a repeat of my initial steps here in the Boston area a little over a year ago, Jimmy and I hit the Freedom Trail in a jiffy, tracing early American history (http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/) and encountering favorites along the way, in particular "Lucky Bob", one of the many street performers along Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. Every year the performers have to audition to be among the select group of thespian talents allowed to entertain tourists and locals alike. http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Boston's_Faneuil_Hall_selects_2005_performers.
The trail ended for us at George Washington's old watering hole, the historic Warren Tavern (http://www.warrentavern.com/history.htm) in Charlestown.

Even on Monday, nothing could stop us from pursuing revolutionary era history - we headed to the Concord-Lexington area and Minuteman National Historic Park, and hiked along the battle fields of the American Revolution, where the minutemen were able to mobilize a militia 20,000-men strong (in a day!) in response to the British forces (http://www.nps.gov/mima/ -- http://www.lincoln-ma.com/town_groups/minutemanpk.htm), which were announced by Paul Revere and two friends during the famous Midnight Ride (http://www.nationalcenter.org/PaulRevere'sRide.html)

Walden Pond (http://nanosft.com/walden/), honored by American nature writer David Henry Thoreau, who roughed it there in a cabin in the woods for 2 years, provided a welcome and anodyne sight - with its emerald green waters, and a display of fauna that included Eastern Blue Jays, Orioles, toads and tons of tadpoles trying to escape swarms of fish gunning in their direction.

No visit to the Concord area should be without a stop at Kimball Farm's in Carlisle - a roadside stand with frappes and ice cream concoctions so huge, that even little kids completely ignored the (I am sure very pleasant) animals in the petting zoo. A goat just cannot compete with a pile of whipped cream, my friends!! My new friend Ian, age 2 1/2, completely agrees with this statement.

Since the visit ended with yet another high-calorie expedition, this time to The Burren in Somerville (some of the caloric intake did come from beer), there was a definite need for some exercise, so it was a very opportune coincidence that I had signed up for the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge on Tuesday night. Of course, the race of 3.5 miles took place in 87 degree weather (7PM!!) and more than 12,000 of my closest friends were there with me. Needless to say on account of the unmerciful heat it was not a fast event - in addition, the course had several bottle necks where it was impossible to even attempt to run. (http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=4). Everyone was sweating up a storm, the water stops were completely mobbed, but the runners kept clumping down beautiful Comm Ave (http://www.tucman.com/boston-photos/?boston=streets) and eventually made it back to the Boston Common. The event raised $30,000 for the Boston Arts Festival. Favorite t-shirts: "I have been sucking wind for the last 30 minutes" ; Runner-Up: "Will run for food".

Enclosed for you (on account of the anniversary) is a very arbitrary top ten list featuring a pretty mixed bag of Boston impressions - enjoy!!

Boston - First Year - Top Ten

1. Best Pub Name = The Squealing Pig (Honorable Mention = The Flying Rhino in Worcester)

2. Weirdest Experience = The Hypnotizing Dermatologist (who also at the end of the treatment touched my forehead like a TV evangelist and declared me healed)

3. Favorite Restaurants = Oleana (quaint, upscale); The King and I (Thai); Antonio's (Neighborhoody Italian); Ma Soba (Sushi); Finale (Deserts Only)

4. Favorite Pub = The Burren in Somerville, no contest

5. Best Organizations to Join = Boston Cares, Appalachian Mountain Club; Boston Ski and Sports Club; Running Partners

6. Best Museums = Isabella Stewart Gardner; Kennedy Library; Museum of Fine Arts

7. Best Experience = World Series Win of the Boston Red Sox - 15 minutes before my birthday

8. Best Neighborhoods = Beacon Hill, Back Bay, the North End

9. Best Visual = New England in the Fall; the view to Beacon Hill and Back Bay from Cambridge

10. Best New Friends = You know who you are! Thanks for making this easy. Love you all.


pet:)