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| On The MIT Campus |
Friday May 16
Yesterday was a long, tiring day. Getting to the train was easy in retrospect, but I was nervous because it was an unfamiliar process and Dan and Kelsey had so much paraphernalia for Emi. But they knew what they were doing; I shouldn’t have worried. Even with two suitcases, backpacks, a diaper bag, a stroller, a pack and play and a car seat, they were only a couple of minutes behind us in their Uber.
We went to the Amtrak waiting room and just like the instructions said, our train was called a few minutes before departure. They told us our track and there we were. We found our car, our seats, and got settled. At first Emi was very busy. We walked up and down the aisle several times, read books, played with toys, ate some snacks. Finally she got fussy and tired and fell asleep off to the side in her stroller. She slept for over an hour, which was good.
We decided to get off at Back Bay instead of going all the way to South Station because it was a little closer to Cambridge. Lee and I were trying to remember the last time we were in Boston proper. We’ve been back to New Hampshire several times but we don’t think we’ve been in the city since we left.
By the time we got settled in our hotel it was close to 3 pm. The hotel is right by the MIT campus. Daniel was finished working for the day so we took a walk to find some coffee. We found a playground but it was kind of drizzly so we headed to the MIT campus instead. There Emi could run around, pick up rocks, and climb steps to burn off some energy.
That night Dan and Kelsey went out with friends, and we took Emi to Legal Seafood for dinner. We ordered a Sole to share with broccoli and rice pilaf. I thought the sole was inedible but Lee thought it was ok. I mainly ate rice, broccoli and bread, haha. We got Emi a kid's plate. The pasta was terrible but she ate all the rice and a lot of our rice pilaf and bread too. Then we went back to our room and listened to music and played until Dan and Kelsey came back.
I was in bed by 9, and asleep shortly after that. I woke up at 6. I wouldn’t have minded sleeping more but that’s actually plenty of sleep. We’re just relaxing and hanging out now until it’s time to start our day.
We bought a $4 self guided walking tour and strolled around the MIT campus. Lee and I have done this before but it’s been a long time. We love the Frank Gehry building that’s like a cartoon building. We saw the man statue made out of equations, the MIT chapel that is a round brick building surrounded by a moat. Emi liked the ducks on the green lawn a lot, and the small Adirondack chairs that she could climb on easily.
We walked over to the MIT dome and then to the Charles. We walked across the Charles to Back Bay and Newbury street on the Smoot Bridge, and then strolled up Newbury to the Public Garden. The Smoot bridge is kind of a joke. A smoot is actually an official length of measurement, named after an MIT student that measured the bridge by laying down on it over and over. It's about 360 smooth long, by the way. They are even marked on the bridge! This was back in the 1890's so the smoot has been around for a while. Lee commented that he was kind of short.
We stopped several times along Newbury Street, once to get a burger for me, once to get chicken tenders at Shake Shack for Emi. There was a Beard Papa right next to the Shake Shack so of course we had to get cream puffs. I tried the green tea ones but I always like the plain ones with powdered sugar the best. And then there was a Levain cookie place. Dan says they’re better than Crumbi so I got one to try later with my afternoon coffee. Turns out a coconut-chocolate-caramel cookie is pretty great.
Right when we got to the Public Garden the sun came out and it suddenly got HOT! Lee and I were both tired so we said goodbye to Dan, Kelsey and Emi for the time being and proceeded to wander all over the commons looking for the T Station for the Red Line. I was sweating like crazy; it was terrible. We finally found it. Boston has recently implemented transit express just like New York so getting on the train was simple and pretty soon we were back in Cambridge, taking it easy until dinner time.
Sunday May 18
We are home now, but I’ll fill you in on the rest of Friday and Saturday.
For dinner on Friday we took the T back to Back Bay and went to the Salty Pig. Not realizing that it was graduation weekend in Boston we didn’t try to make dinner reservations in time and the best places in the North End were already booked. Oh well! The Salty Pig was just fine, imo. We got a variety of things to share. We got a meatball appetizer that I think everyone else liked more than I did. We got a salad that had too much dressing on it, sigh. We got a pizza that Emi loved. We got two different pasta dishes, a bucatini which was ok, and a mushroom ragu that I thought was fabulous. Then we took the T back to Cambridge and called it a night. With each subsequent T experience we improved, lol.
We pretty much had Saturday to ourselves, while they went to a baby shower and hung out with friends. In the morning I went for a long run along the Charles, 8 miles. It went ok, but it was pretty humid. I gradually sped up, but only a little, and then slowed back down at the end.Then at noon we walked back over the Charles to eat lunch at an oyster bar called Select Oysters. Neptune has changed their policy. They still don’t take reservations but now they don’t take your phone number either so you have to stand in line. This place that we went to instead was really great. The oysters were awesome and so was the lobster roll. The lobster roll was crazy expensive though, $60!! We split it, but still. We also got white anchovies on toast. Lee has decided he likes fancy anchovies in his old age. Yay!
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| Running Along the Charles |
We also used an app called InKind to pay for the restaurant. The restaurant gets free adversing through their app and we got $50 off a $160 bill! Not bad. Unfortunately not many restaurants in the Twin Cities use it so we probably won't have a chance to use it again unless we're on the east coast.
We walked from there back to Levain and I bought a lemon cookie this time. Also very good! Then we took the T back to Cambridge. This time we took the Green Line from Copley Square. I got us on the right train (there are multiple green line trains) but initially going the wrong direction. Fortunately I realized it after one stop so we got off and got back on going the right way. The train was very slow, stopping a lot, but that’s the Green line for you. Its old. Once we got back to Cambridge we basically laid around the rest of the afternoon.
For dinner we went to a chinese restaurant nearby that Lee had found online. Very popular, and everyone there was Asian. We didn’t have to wait but it was very crowded and hot inside. Emi had kind of had it, so we took turns taking her outside to run around a little bit. When the food came she must have been starving. She ate 4 dumplings, fried rice and white rice too!
That was the end of the trip for everyone. We all had early flights on Sunday so we said goodnight. We’ll see them again in a little over a month when they come to Minnesota for the 4th of July. I wonder how Emi will have changed by then?
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| MIT Dome |
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