Back to Boston

The launch time of Third Coastin' was set more or less around a long weekend's trip to Boston, as it seemed a great opportunity to begin the whole thing off with fresh material. So this past weekend I set out to Bean town with a group of friends, this time making sure I paid really good attention to everything I did there so I could write about it when I got home. Or something along those lines. I had been to Boston before, but this was the first time both in the summer and as an adult, arguably the best way to see the city.

What struck me this time was how small the city feels, something I heard both as a compliment and a criticism. It may be a major metropolitan city, but walking around I felt at times that I was just strolling through small New England towns, ones that happened to all be located adjacent to each other to form the city. Not only the size and scope of the neighborhoods, but the architecture, the simple colonial style housing found in many parts of the city bears a sharp contrast to the stone and brick row houses and apartments that dominate so much of Chicago (the Third Coastin' city of reference for pretty much everything).

We spent some time in Cambridge as well as the North End of Boston, but I think my favorite part of the city was South Boston. Nothing against downtown Boston and the more touristy areas of town (in fact I think Boston does a great job of embracing this and that the Freedom Trail is wonderfully done) but at the end of the day I go looking for neighborhoods. Now South Boston is nowhere near the middle class Irish stronghold it once was, and the signs of gentrification were clearly visible as we strolled along Broadway. But at the same time it felt pretty authentic. We were less than a mile from downtown Boston, but with much of the neighborhood located away from the 'T' we found the streets devoid of other tourists. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon in South Boston and everyone seemed to be moving at a relaxed pace. We even managed to stumble across an international pick up softball game (it was Venezuela vs Boston Irish with Venezuela coming out on top). It was a great afternoon of exploring and almost immediately I started to picture what it would be like to live there.

Long story short, I've always liked Boston and this trip only helped reinforce that idea. It's one of the few true cities in America and has a strong identity well known around the country. Sure I got screwed over by the T multiple times and prices made me miss Milwaukee already but it's a simple reminder that things are more crowded and cost more when you are somewhere people want to be.

Speaking of prices, wow did Third Coastin' drop some cash on food and drink "research". I will be going in depth into this more in some other posts but suffice it to say I boarded the plane home with my craving for fresh seafood fully satisfied. I will say this though after gorging myself on the gifts of the sea for the first time in a while. It is amazing how little must be done to seafood to achieve great taste. In the heartland we spend hours and hours marinating, seasoning and slow cooking our meats to achieve perfection, but yet these ugly, unappetizing creatures plucked from the murky depths need nothing more than to be boiled and dipped in butter or even better just shucked, hit with a squirt of lemon juice and hot sauce before shoving it in.

Unfortunately no pictures to share as of right now due to issues with camera gear still being located in Chicago, but going forward there should be more visual accompaniment with the posts. Bear with me as I get this thing up to speed.