Having never been to Boston before, I was highly excited to visit a new city and state. Boston has always been in my purview when planning adventures in the US but this trip was particularly special as I was fulfilling a year-long promise to attend a friend’s (Sophronia or Soph as I’ll refer to her in the post) graduation theatre production. It’s a big occasion for her and thus a plan that was non-negotiable when plotting out my months in the states. Do you having Fridays off, I was able to fly out from Pittsburgh on Thursday night to give myself a full 3 days in Boston. Flying out from Pitt’s airport was an absolute breeze, nothing like a good experience in an airport to kick-start a weekend trip! Boston’s transport system was challenging to a newcomer but after about an hour or so (takes awhile to get out of the airport at reduced cost) I had managed to reach my destination. Being reunited with Soph after a whole year felt both heartwarming and kind of surreal. We do live thousands of miles away from each other! Fresh of this reunion, I was invited to a post-rehearsal party of sorts where I got to meet a bunch of her classmates and people in her field. Having never really had much interaction with actual artists, it was really engaging to meet people that come from such a different field than I do!
As the big day of the play was on Saturday, Friday ended up being packed for Soph as with any production the day before opening day. My first solo day was a slow one due to the specific sights I had chosen. First of the day was the trip to the state capitol of Massachusetts. As a rule of thumb, I take every opportunity to visit a capitol building of a new state I visit. State capitols are generally, able to succinctly capture the history of the state, allow visits to the halls of decision making and usually contain beautiful architecture. Needless to say, the state capitol in Boston had all of the three. Time literally melted away so much so that I was almost late to get to my second and final sightseeing stop for the day. It took a long ride on the metro to get to the JFK presidential library as it was as east of Boston as one could get. To make the trip there worse, the weather had taken sharp drop (it was already cold before so this was bad) and being next to the body of water, the wind was of a much stronger factor. Despite all of this it was actually a gloriously sunny day so I kind of got the best and worst in one day! JFK’s library was smaller than the others I visited but no less magnificent. It painstakingly detailed his journey from birth to assassination. It was strange how many things I did not know about such a celebrated president and about his election cycle. Nonetheless a very fruitful trip to add to my goal of visiting all the presidential libraries. The evening ended with me visiting Soph’s set and seeing her in action (she was directing the play aka THE BOSS) which was quite a sight. A talented one she is indeed. Following her final rehearsal, a small group of us headed out for dim sum (there seems to be a theme where I never turn down dim sum) at 1am. It’s quite something to live where you could walk at 1am to get fresh dim sum!
Day 2 started with a negative 10-degree temperature in the morning so everyone decided to hang back and hide it out in the apartment till 10am. Having set most of Saturday aside, Soph, her mum (there to watch the show as well) and myself headed out to see what Boston had to offer outside of touristy spots. We began with a trip to a store called the Garment District. It was a second hand clothes store where you could buy clothes by the pound. Yes, you read that right – BY THE POUND. There was a section with a literal sea of clothes that we had to wade through to find stuff we wanted. We actually ended up getting 2 pounds of clothes, it had some pretty great stuff provided you could get lucky with the sizing. Next we took a stroll through some lovely neighborhoods which ended at a typical British pub where we were meeting the group from the night before to watch on of their mate’s band perform. Great company, great music, great beer. Eventually everyone had to rush off to prepare for opening night (everyone was involved) and Soph’s mum and I had to get ready. I had an extra appreciation for the invitation when I realized how limited the seating was (THANKS SOPH)! The play itself was so well done from the direction to stage production and to the acting. Everyone was so talented it was a marvel to watch everything come together! What a day!
My last day was a semi solo day that began with a walking tour of the freedom trail done by free-tours-by-foot. The freedom trail is a 2.5 mile walking trail that connects numerous sights that are critical to the history of the US (the city’s history is directly tied to the entire founding of the US – one example was the Boston harbor where the Boston tea party occurred). The two-hour tour was very detailed (as are most done by the company) but only covered around half of the trail so I had to finish the rest on my own. The trail is incredibly helpful and informative so I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to visit the city! The rest of the day was spent walking through the various neighborhoods and trying delicious local foods like clam chowder (IT WAS SO INCREDIBLY GOOD). Of the various sights, I have to single out the Boston Public Library for the fact that it was magnificent. Truly so beautiful that I had to stand there and just soak it in.
As with any trip, the leaving part is always difficult. Especially when the trip includes a close friend and such incredible, novel experiences. But always onward!
Batmar :) 
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