Boston & Cambridge

Treated myself to a trip to Boston for my past birthday, together with the boyfriend and some friends. It was, in a word, DIFFERENT.

-Unlike Virginia, there is real traffic in the little city of Boston -- more like the traffic on EDSA during non-rush-hours.
-Unlike many past trips, this city tour was more historical. A lot of firsts in this city.
-I saw the grave of Sam Adams, Paul Revere, and James Otus -- pioneers of the American Revolution -- on a walking tour held by no other than James Otus himself (of course, he was a tour guide. It was surreal when he talked about his own burial ground hahaha).
-I stood in front of the old state house where the Declaration of Independence was first read in July 12, 1776.
-We passed the "corner store", where a lot of famous classic poets/writers got together, including Louisa May Alcott. I made sure to take a picture with me in front. Whooot-whoot!
-I took a picture of the first public school in the US, which greatly resembled the old administative building in the White House.
-We went skating in the frog pond in Boston Commons(first public park), where in the 1700-1800's, they punished murderers, witches, and quakers.
-We had dinner at Cheers, in honor of the famous show.
-We had a quick tour of Harvard Yard in Cambridge.
-We got on the USS Constitution, the first US Navy ship, for free!
-People would just cross the street out of nowhere. Of course, cars couldn't do anything as there was a state law that said pedestrians had right of way and cars could be fined a hundred dollars for not complying.
-It was my first time to see original paintings by Rembrandt and Whistler, among others, in the Isabella Simmons Gardner Museum.
-Living Room, a lounge bar on Mass. Ave., had the best set-up. You get inside to see people, with their shoes off lounging -- legs extended in front of them. There were sofas on the right, and carpetted wood with pillows on the left side, so you could just prop yourself up against the wall and relax. It is, by far, the best lounge I've been into.

Of course, it wasn't perfect (the weather was gray on Saturday, and extremely windy on Sunday), but I enjoyed it just fine.

Sigh, where should my next out-of-town-in-the-US-vacation be?