Aug 20, 2012

Have I done Thee, Boston? How I count the ways

As I sit here at BOS airport waiting for my flight back to St.Louis, I realize that Boston is one of those strange cities where I have lived but do not feel that I've truly owned this city. It has not yielded itself up to me in the same way that I now understand Phoenix, or St.Louis. I have been unable to make this city mine, although I think I've done a damned good job at hitting all the tourist highlights. What have I done with my time here in New England?
  •  Sampled at least 20 clam chowders in and near Boston, including attending and voting in Boston's Chowderfest and definitely identified the best clam chowder in the region ( The Lobster Pot, Provincetown)
  • Duck Tour where you are driven around Boston on land and in the Charles river by not entirely obnoxious conDUCKtors. Did that one not once, but TWICE.
  •  Museum of Fine Arts
  • Isabella Gardner Museum (also twice)
  • Lobster in numerous ways- lobster rolls, lobster bisque, steamed lobster, etc.
  • Institute of Contemporary Arts
  • Walking and shopping and dining on Newbury street
  • Chinatown, where I went nearly every day of the week.
  • Harbor islands
  • Drank beers from three local breweries
  • Walk Harvard and MIT
  • Revere Beach, Nantasseraggat beach, Crane beach
  • Walked through Salem
  • Drove up to Marblehead
  • Peabody Essex Museum
  • Attended Shakespeare in the Commons
  • Drinking with locals
  • Cape Cod day trip with beaches, small diners, Provincetown.
  • Rockport day trip and bicycling.
  • The Union Oyster House Dining Experience and Ye Olde Yankee Gifte Shoppe featuring actual scallop puppets.
  • Purchased wayfarer sunglasses and striped tee shirts worn with white canvas shorts and boat shoes.
  • BONUS- used a CharlieCard to commute from my Back Bay brownstone apartment to my job in the seaport district

What have I missed?
  • Red Sox baseball game
  • Getting a drink at Drink
  • Taking the swan boats at the public garden
  • Whale watching
  • New England Aquarium

1 comment:

Carla said...

It is hard to make a city yours, I can imagine. Especially when it is an important one like Boston... I´m telling you I understand because I have been in the same situation. I travelled to Argentina, and went to the capital of the country. Not only was it a much bigger city than the one I come from, but it was a cultural shock. I also drank with locals and that made me feel more adapted but still there was something missin. The one thing that made me feel less like a tourist was the rental of buenos aires apartments. Not staying at a hotel makes the difference: people think that you are a foreigner living abroad and they make you part of society. That was the key for me!

Medium is the message

I moved the blog again. I deleted the Tumblr account and moved everything to Medium.com, a more writing-centric website. medium.com/@wende