To travel is to experience joy.

What I’ve Seen

 

Howler monkeys on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

 

 

 

 

Where I’ve Been

• British Isles (England, Scotland, Wales) & Ireland
• France (Paris, Versailles), Spain (Barcelona, Madrid), Italy (Rome, Florence)
• Norway (Oslo), Sweden (Stockholm), Denmark (Copenhagen)
• Switzerland (Zurich, Geneva), Austria (Innsbruck)
• Australia (Darwin, Kakadu, Sydney)
• China (Beijing, Harbin)
• Dominican Republic
• Costa Rica

Favorites

I have so many favorites, that it kinda negates the word favorite.  Gah!  If I had to pick, for now, I’d vote…

*drumroll*

The Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica!

Where to go now?

Africa!

Rio!

 

———————————————-

Boston

Hi kids.

It’s official.  Boston rocks.  Totally my favorite U.S. city.  It’s great here.  Such a fab blend of history, big city, water stuff, high end shopping, Irish pubs, Italian cafes….

So wonderful.

Our plan for today was  a mix of very touristy and local.  We did the Freedom Trail Plus.  The Freedom Trail is a cool touristy walking tour of Boston full of historical buildings, museums, etc.  Verty cool.  The Plus part comes from my friend Tim’s added bonus of walking us on the Tour and stopping at all the cool Pubs along the way.  Plus.  Plus!

We started the day with a ride on the T into Quincy Market, Fanueil Hall.  Got a ferry ride across the bay over to Charlestown Navy Yard.  So completely inexpensive.  $1.70 to ride the ferry all the way across the bay (15 mins).  This seems so cheap to me! 

Landed in Charlestown and did a tour of the USS Constitution (navy ship).  From there walked thru Charlestown and back across the Charles River into the city, walked into the North End where we stopped at Old North Church (the site where the lanterns were lit for “1 if by land, 2 if by sea” leading up to the Revolutionary War + Paul Revere’s midnight ride).  Walked from there into the Italian neighborhood in North End where we ate lunch at the city’s oldest open air cafe ().  I had the Caprese panini + the house Sauvignon Blanc.  Both excellent.  This whole restaurant made me feel like we were in Europe.  Totally.

From there, we went to the famous Mike’s Pastry where I had that caramel pecan brownie.  The hubz had the world famous cannoli.  Both out of this world!  Walked past Paul Revere’s house, and then thru Haymarket (look at the produce!) and then to the Green Dragon for beers.

After beers, we walked back to Quincy Market, more beers at the Black Rose (Irish pub) where we watched the KY Derby and saw that awesome long-shot horsie win the race!  Walked to Beacon Hill…saw Boston Common, saw the bar that inspired Cheers, walked thru the gardens, took the train to Fenway, and had dinner and MORE beers at Boston Brew Works.  This is where I had a very nice Back Bay IPA.  It’s a good beer.  A very pleasant IPA that mixes sweet +hoppy very well.  I’m a sucka for all things hoppy, so I thought this coulda been heaps hoppier, but I’m always in the minority here.

Tim + Erin!

 

Din…

• veggie burger + sour cream and chive fries (that totally rocked my world!!!)
• look, I used 3 exclamation pts up there

after a good-on buzz, we took the T back home to Tim & Erin’s house.  Just rounding out the night with the blog then sleep.

Tomorrow is coffee + chats with my friend Beth.  I can’t wait!