Boston-NYC Trip

So you've heard about my hellish trip getting back from these fantastic places, but not yet of the trip itself.  So here goes...(get ready for photo overload)...

Last Tuesday afternoon I boarded a Boston bound plane for what was to be my first true vacation since entering the working world.  My sister goes to school in Boston and we've been planning this North Eastern vacation for months.  After a long day of commuting, I finally landed at Logan International, grabbed my luggage, and met up with my sister and her friend, Sam.  After settling into her dorm room (yes, I kicked it freshman year style! hey, saved me a couple hundred bucks on a hotel!), changing clothes and freshening up, we headed out for the night to begin what was to be a fantastic three days in Boston.  Here's a glimpse of what we did:

Tuesday:

Went to 'Taco Tuesday' at a local taco joint next to Fenway.

Walked around Back Bay area.

Wednesday:

Ate breakfast in the cafe.  Walked through all the Berklee buildings and saw where my sister goes to class.  Found a staircase with a great black and white contrast in one of them.

Went shopping down Newbury.  Bought some things.

Popped into Dunkin' for some coffee and donuts.  When in Rome, right?!

Met up with my friend, Carrie, who drove down from Maine.  Did some more shopping.

Went to eat at this fantastic Italian restaurant in The Northend.  Drank some wine, ate some stuffed cheese shells, and was serenaded by an accordion player.

Walked to the famous Mike's Pastries.

Bought a cannoli.  Or three.

Continued walking around The Northend and took pictures by the pretty decorations.

Thursday: Thanksgiving Day:

Walked around trying to find a place to eat breakfast.  

Find nothing so settle with Dunkin Donuts.

Catch the T out to the beach.

See my first ever East Coast beach.

Cynthia sees her first ever East Coast beach.

Decide it's too cold to swim but I want to touch the water to say I've officially been from coast to coast.

Convince my sister she wants to do this, too.

Walk along the peaceful beach talking about life with my sister.

Take the T to Boston Common.

Sit on a bench and people watch.  Find people taking pictures in the leaves and decide that's a good idea. 

Make our way to the Cheers bar to grab some cheese fries and an Apricot beer.

Walked down Commonwealth back to Cyn's dorm.

Decided I could definitely live in a place like this.

Went to an Irish pub/BBQ joint on Boylston to watch the A&M vs UT game.

Met some fellow Aggies and Texans and ate a great Thanksgiving dinner of chicken fingers and french fries.

Let a little tear slip out as that last field goal was kicked.

Friday:

Get up entirely too early and take the T to the Boston bus station.

Board a double-decker bus bound for NYC.

Four hours later, get dropped off in the middle of NYC and find our way to our posh hotel.

Get settled in and discover how small, yet cool the room is.  Felt like a real New Yorker getting the true, cramped city experience.

Explore the community bathrooms in our hall (note: we didn't have our own bathroom).

Got excited to find that each one was different (yes, we might have explored different floors as well...all different).

Discovered the cool panel above our room door that lit up above the community bathroom that was currently being occupied.  Nifty.

In the midst of exploring, also found that the elevators had cool paneled walls.

Finally left the hotel and walked around Midtown.  Got some New York pizza then headed to Times Square.

Walked around and people watched.

Stayed until it got dark then headed to Rockefeller Center.  Was disappointed that the Christmas tree was not lit.

Saturday:

Woke up, got ready, grabbed breakfast, and headed to Central Park.

Walked around soaking up the beauty and vastness.

Stopped to watch the skaters on the ice rink.

Decided we should take some more pictures in the leaves.

And some more.

 And another one.

And another.

Tried to find our way out and got side-tracked, again.

Said good-bye to Central Park and headed down 5th Ave to take in all the fancy store displays.

Hopped on the Subway and headed to the East Village.  Walked around and finally ended up at S'macs.

Split some delicious Mac 'n Cheese concoctions.

Headed to the largest Macy's in the world to see the pretty holiday decorations.

Several hours and lots of shopping later, we're headed out of Macy's on the authentic, old-fashioned escalators.  I couldn't get over how fantastic these were.

Walked to Times Square, again, and saw some street performers.  

Did some more shopping.  Walked around.

  

Ate dinner.

Sunday:

Woke up and took the Subway to (what I believe) was the 'Upper East Side' (given how ornately and designer-clad all the 5 year olds were).  Seriously, these kids were wearing more money that I have in my bank account right now.

Grabbed some breakfast then walked to Hillsong Church to attend Sunday service.  Enjoyed an awesome worship service but was not impressed by the visiting pastor.

Grabbed a quick snack before heading to Broadway.

Went the wrong way (51st and West 51st are apparently way different) but finally (and barely!) made it to see Wicked.

Was thoroughly impressed/amazed/awed by what was hands down the best musical/play/production I've ever seen.  Phenomenal.  Worth every pretty 225 dollar I paid.

Jetted back to our hotel to grab our luggage and make it to the 'bus stop' (I use this term loosely as we were given a 'general street area' to meet at).

Find that our 8:15pm bus will be two hours late and sneakily jump on the earlier 6:00pm which had just arrived.  This still didn't leave until 8:30pm making it a long and late trek back to Boston.

Monday:

Ate breakfast in the cafe.  Packed.  Met my sister for lunch.  She left for class and I jumped on the T to head downtown.

Walked around Faneuil Hall for hours by myself: shopping, people watching, generally taking in the Boston awesome-ness.  Continued to walk around downtown, through the Boston Common, and ran some errands for my work event that night.

Hopped the T back to the Back Bay area, grabbed my luggage and said good-bye to my sister.  Took a cab to my hotel.  Checked in and freshened up.  Took the T to Cambridge for my work event in Harvard Square.

Wined and dined some HBS students.  Went to dinner with some work colleagues.  Took the T back to downtown to pass out.

And that leaves you at my previous post.  My ridiculous trek back to Dallas!

I absolutely loved Boston.  I honestly almost didn't come back.  New York was fun and, I'm sure given a few more weeks and some friends and knowing my way around better, I would learn to love it.  But Boston?  Boston was an immediate love.  The people are friendly, the city is authentic and unique, and the culture and opportunities are superb.  Although when I'm honest with myself, I know I'm a Texas girl at heart.  But I see many more trips back up to Boston (I've yet to catch a Red Sox game!).