This weekend Keith and I were visited by my mother and her boyfriend David, since it was a long Veteran's Day weekend it worked out pretty good for everyone's schedules for them to drive up and see the town. Luckily for them, they didn't have to crash out on our awful futon-like pullout, but stayed at the Hilton in Back Bay instead.

Our weekend began Thursday night where we had Dan and Mandy over for breakfast-for-dinner and some Gamecube. I was pretty wiped though and as soon as they left, I crashed into bed. Keith and I awoke relatively early Friday to clean up the place as Mom was eager to see our new apartment. Her last trip here was in May, prior to our move to 65 Ashford Street.

Mom and David got a late start driving here, so it wasn't actually until dinner when we saw them. After dropping off Dan's forgotten cell phone to his lab (we walked from our home into BU's campus) we hopped the train to Hynes Convention Center stop, and met them at the hotel. After chatting and talking about my new job, we went to Legal Sea Foods at the Prudential Center for dinner. We were all zonked afterwards, and Keith and I took a taxi (courtesy of Mom) back to our home to sleep. We awoke the next day, did some more cleaning, and then Keith took the car out to fetch our guests.

The apartment was "Mom approved." Then, we headed to our lunch reservations at "Top of the Hub." The food at Top of the Hub is INCREDIBLE. I had clam chowder and one of their gourmet pizzas. The clam chowder was unbelievable as well as the spicy lobster soup I sampled from Keith. The best part was the cookies. I know, you are thinking- "Cookies? There's nothing special about cookies!?" Not these cookies. There's a 10-15 minute wait and they come out warm with cinnamon and brown sugar whipped cream intermixed with raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. In a word....YUMMY.

What was also fantastic was the pictures we took of the Boston area. We knew from being there for Keith's going away party that the view during the day would be spectacular and a fantastic way to point out all the different areas of Boston proper.

Might I also add that the weather could not have been better. It was upper 50s and low 60s all day Saturday, bright and sunny, which really flattered the lingering fall foliage, still bright and still clinging to trees around the city.

After our long lunch, we set off on foot to walk throughout the town. Down to Trinity Church plaza, down Boylston, we stopped to look at shops (for David--he was looking for men's shoes and us, looking at couches at Jennifer Convertibles) to the Boston Garden. There we winded through the paths around the ornamental pond and exited onto Beacon Street. There we saw Cheers (actually the Bull and Finch) where David and Mom wanted to catch a drink, but it was waaay too crowded. So, we went into the gift shop, did a little browsing, and set further on foot. We walked up Beacon Street into Beacon Hill and pausing in front of the State House, headed down into the Shopping District/Downtown Crossing area. We preceeded past graveyards, the final resting places of patriots, governors, and mayors.

Then it was past the South Meeting Hall, Boston's first Town Hall, the Old State House, and then into Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. We browsed the shops, sat on a bench outside and were briefly and oddly accosted by a strange homeless man, who seemed in a rush to be elsewhere, but told us how nice he thought it was to see people huddled cozily side by side admiring the view--holiday decorations going up, bustling shoppers, busy restaurants--all the sites that characterize a Saturday night in Boston. He told us of his wife who was also homeless and HIV positive, and how she had gone missing after a quarrel. He eventually found her (in a hospital) but said that he remembered never to never leave her with harsh words again. He never asked for money, although we all expected him to, but just as quick he was off into the night, walking towards the North End.

We headed across Goverment Center and took the T back to Hynes, since we were planning to go candlepin bowling at a place in the neighborhood near the Hilton. However, it looked there was a whole troupe of young people (about 12-13) in suits with parents and grandparents and such in suits and dressed (it looked like a Bar/Bat Mitzvah).

So we eventually made our way back to our apartment and decided our next plan. The Milky Way in Jamaica Plains was booked until 11:30, so we figured candlepin may have been out. So we retreated to Dave and Mom's hotel room to regroup, catch a taxi to our apartment, and then we headed out to Quincy to our favorite Chinese restaurant. After a nice meal, we dropped off Mom and Dave at their hotel and said goodbye.

But our weekend wasn't over. While milling about the Mall at Prudential waiting for our table at Legal Sea Foods, I noticed one important thing in front of Barnes and Noble book store. A notice stating that Martha Stewart (yes, Martha Stewart) would be in house on November 12th to sign her latest book Martha Stewart's Housekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home.

But this interlude is covered in the next blog entry...

Pictures from the day (our camera is not focusing quite right):

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