Surprise! Sajal and I are in Boston. For a multitude of reasons, Sajal and I left Hawaii. Covid-19 cases were really increasing; trails, beaches, and restaurants were shutting down, and the time difference was too much for me and my new job! I woke up at 3:30 for 3 weeks and it was too much.
After the heat of Hawaii, I was really missing fall, changing leaves, and pumpkin flavored things. So Sajal and I decided to go to Boston for the month. I also really wanted to explore Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Vermont. We decided to live in Back Bay. I will reference the map below often throughout this entire article. Back Bay is super beautiful. It actually used to be all water. They filled it up, which is why it's called Back Bay. Back Bay is an area that has all these pretty short buildings, like 3 stories max. But then it also has these skyscrapers. It feels all historical but also modern at the same time.
Our first real weekend in Boston was so much fun! On Friday morning, we took a 2 hour long walk in the morning. We walked around the south of Back Bay, South End, and Fenway. We saw so many Colleges and Universities it was crazy. It was a really nice walk where we saw churches, schools, and students. I personally really liked the area around Fenway Park. There were all of these restaurants, pubs, and music areas. The architecture here was very similar to Back Bay.
We started Saturday by going to the Prudential Center. The Prudential Center is a huge mall in back bay. It's near the sky scrapers part of Back Bay. We ate at Eataly. Eataly is this really cool center where there are all of these little Italian vendors. They all sell and make these amazing Italian food, from Pizza, Pasta, to sandwiches. They ingredients in the food was just amazing. We got Pizza which was just super yummy. After that we went for a bike ride along the Charles River. There's this great pedestrian and bike pathway that we rode along for a bit. Boston also has these blue bikes that you can rent if you're visiting, which is what Sajal and I rode. The water was really pretty to look at.
After that we walked up Newbury St, which is also located in Back Bay. Newbury is a really long road with lots of restaurants and shops. It's one of the places that every body goes to in the city. Everyone was out and about. People tried to keep their distance as much as possible and everyone wore masks, but in general the city looked kind of full at times. Sajal and I said that it was probably at 70-80% capacity. One of the reasons that it was like this was also because Boston's Covid rates have been really low for awhile. Everyone here is doing their part by keeping covid down.
From Newbury St, we walked through the Public Garden and Boston Common. Boston Commons is this really large park that kind of reminds me of Central Park in New York. It was really pretty and people were having picnics, playing music, and just having a great time. From there we walked around Beacon Hill. Beacon Hill is a very posh area in Boston. It was very pretty and historic. We walked all the way through Beacon Hill and and West End to Long Fellow Bridge. This bridge goes over the Charles river to connect Boston to Cambridge and Charlestown. This bridge was really beautiful because it allowed us to the Boston skyline as well as the Cambridge skyline.
After that we walked to Historic Downtown and the Financial District. Sajal and I did the Freedom Trail, which has all of the historic sites in Boston, on Sunday so we didn't spend too much time there. Downtown Boston feels a lot more like New York. There are tall skyscrapers everywhere with these glassy windows. At the same time, you see these historic squares, statues, and sites that just make you realize that it's Boston. From there we walked to the Waterfront. It was really pretty and we saw lots of boats and seagulls. Finally, we ended up in North End to eat Italian Food! North End is known for it's amazing Italian food, especially Cannolis.
After Dinner we started our walk home. We walked a more direct path this time, walking through China Town and the Theatre District. Both Places were really alive. People were walking around, going to dinner, and just generally enjoyed themselves!
On Sunday, we did the Freedom Trail (shown on the map above). I had done the freedom trail before, and Sajal was kind of interested but not super interested. So we didn't get a tour guide. But if you're really interested, I would highly suggest it. Boston has a lot of history and some pretty important sites, especially concerning the Revolutionary War. Sajal and I went to most of the sites (except the ones in Charlestown), and we would just read about it from the https://www.thefreedomtrail.org/ . This website lays out the trail for you and gives you information about each site. Sajal and I also really considered getting a Hop on Hop Off Tour, but since we had seen most of the city on Saturday we didn't feel like it was necessary. We also really considered a Duck Tour! Those are about 80 mins, and they start on land and then go into the water. I had gone on a couple Duck Tours before, but we didn't feel I needed it since again we had seen so much of the city already.
And that w as pretty much our weekend. Sajal and I had so much fun exploring Boston. Next weekend we are planning to go to Maine!!! Will update you as I go along :) .
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