Lydia and Tim: Trip to Boston! Friday

My friend Elizabeth did a crazy thing last fall. She moved to Boston. Las week, Tim had a conference in Boston for work giving us the perfect excuse to go visit Elizabeth for the first time since she moved to Boston. Tim and I had both visited the city before. I didn't remember much of Boston because I was about 10 years old the last time I was there. I don't think Tim remembered much, either... but he was 28. Anyway, we had a fantastic weekend. We tried to miss the cold by coming in late April, and according to most of Boston, we must have since almost everyone we encountered was wearing shorts and flip-flops. I would have been happy in a wool sweater and mittens, but we survived.

We arrived Friday around lunchtime and met Elizabeth outside of her work to get her apartment keys. Unfortunately, she couldn't leave work early so we grabbed her keys and she gave us tips on were to find some restaurants. We were off to brave the city alone for a few hours.

We had a great lunch at bouchee, a little french bistro on Newbury Street. We laughed at my inability to order off of a french menu. I had a Madame Crocque (I think). It was a ham sandwich with a fried egg on top. It was delicious. I can't remember what Tim had. We were incredibly fascinated by the table next to us. From what we could gather, a girl had taken one of her friends out for a celebration lunch. Perhaps the friend had received a new job. The friend was Asian, but she obviously did not arrive yesterday. She could speak English very well with a slight accent. The girl was explaining to her Asian friend what that this restaurant was a very authentic French restaurant and going on about how everything on the menu was very very French. Her friend asked her what "brasserie" meant, to which the girl replied that this restaurant was a brasserie. She believed they referred to it as a brasserie because of all the brass fixtures in the restaurant. She says this as she is tapping down on the brass railing right next to the table. I could not believe it. Tim could see her face and I said, "surely she was joking." But Tim said that she had a straight face. As we were leaving, the girl was explaining to her friend the premise of the show The Colbert Report. She said, "It is a joke show that makes fun of Republicans." Pretty close, pretty close.
Picture of bouchee.

Tim and I continued our exploration of Elizabeth's Back Bay neighborhood by walking up and down Newbury Street. Newbury is filled with cute boutiques and restaurants. Tons of people were out enjoying the sunny Boston day on the restaurant patios. I was enjoying all of the blooming trees. They were beautiful.

Coply Place Views

Our walk took us to the Boston Gardens.

It was almost as if the city planners knew how much the people of Boston would need some sort of nature. Although it was only around 59 - 60 degrees out, Bostonians were using the Gardens to its fullest. Can you see all of the people in shorts?

Those Bostonians. So rebellious.

By this point, we were pretty worn out. We walked back to Elizabeth's place to rest and wait for her to come home. That night, we were treated to a wonderful dining experience in Boston's South Side at a place called Stella's.