Boston Vacation

My husband and I have been dreaming of vacationing in Boston for many years.  We’ve longed to see the fall colors and this year we finally made it happen.  The food was out of this world!  And the sights were pretty good too. 😉

Of course my love for nature led me to the Boston Garden. An oasis in the city, just across the street from Boston Common.

Another area of Boston Garden. So lush and picturesque. Actually those two words define the whole trip!!

Strolling the great shopping on Newbury Street. Check out those beautiful fall colors.

A walk along the Charles River. Some of the best Boston colors were seen here. We caught this walk on a gorgeous day and enjoyed watching the sailboats cruise by.

The Boston Public Library really is it's own destination. The architecture and history filling this building are magnificent. I really enjoyed the evening here. There's a center garden courtyard that is beautiful at night.

We also enjoyed a few side trips, one of them being Barrington, Rhode Island (outside of Providence) to visit family.

Another day trip included Walden Pond State Reservation near Concord, MA. This is the namesake of Henry David Thoreau's book, Walden, which he wrote while living a solitary, self-sustaining life on this very pond from 1845-1847.

There is a small walking path which follows the pond around for it's full 2 miles. One of the best walks I've ever taken.

The fall foliage was just breathtaking at Walden Pond. I read this place to be one of the best for fall colors.

Alright, so onto the good stuff. The food. And Boston did not disappoint. In fact, it blew our socks off! Here is the best crab cake I've ever had at Legal Sea Food near the harbor. Almost no cake with huge lump crab.

In that same meal at Legal I splurged and ordered the lobstah. Many times, even in So Cal, lobster leaves something to be desired. Here it was cooked to perfection and of course as fresh as they get!

Here's Mike Pastry in the heart of Boston's North End (where we stayed). Without question, this is the most famous pastry shop in Boston, maybe the world! There's always a line out the door. This photo was taken at 9:30 pm on a Wednesday!

And this was our loot. Yes, all this for two people! From left to right: chocolate chip cannoli, chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting, strawberry cup, carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting and a macaroon. The cannoli was really in it's own category. You really have to have a taste for these guys, but even a few bites will do the job. The best item out of the bunch? The carrot cupcake took the cake. It had hints of cinnamon and ginger and was not too sweet.

So the North End is Boston's Italian district. The restaurants all follow suit and there are gelaterias on many corners. You can even hear Italian being spoken as you walk down the street. For my husband and I who adore Italy, this was a real treat. Giacomo's (the G sounds more like a J) is arguably the most hyped restaurant here. With only 7 tables, there's guaranteed to be a line out the door, but it surprisingly goes pretty fast. This place was recommended to us over and over, so it was a must.

This is the view from my seat! What a unique ambiance to experience the sights and smells of the kitchen. Although it was pretty noisy and cramped, it was still somehow romantic and intimate.

And this is what that little kitchen produced! Shrimp and scallop linguini with Fracomo sauce. The sauce is a combination of the house Giacomo sauce and spicy Fra Diavolo, both lobster based. It was heaven sent. The seafood was incredible.

Our last night we decided to venture out of the North End and dive into some hometown Boston grub. Here we have corn bread, clam chowdah, Boston baked beans and a Guinness, all courtesy of Durgin-Park, situated in Faneuil Hall. This place has been around for ages and is renowned for it's classic Boston dishes. Everything just tasted on the next level. This was a fantastic meal to top off our memorable trip.

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