Boston on my own
Friday was supposed to be the busiest day for Marty at the convention. He has the meet and greet all morning, has to run for an election for Regional Director—Southwest Region position. Last night, we stayed up late so he can practice the speech. My good natured boyfriend thought he could just go to sleep and just wing it! No, I kept bothering him with questions and coached him all night! I added few more questions to the list of "expected" questions he had too. So, today, I was on my own all day. To make things a little bit more interesting, it rained. RAIN! It hardly ever rains in Southern California around this time of the year so it was a good change. It reminded me of Korea a lot; the smell of the wet changing leaves on the ground, especially.
Well, I didn't plan on rain on this trip so I stayed in the hotel room until close to noon. Then off I went! All I knew was 1) I wasn't supposed to go to anywhere too interesting because Marty would get jealous, hehe, and 2) I wanted to visit some yarn shops and eat something good.
The first stop was Boston Public Library.
This is where people get food from the café inside the library and eat. It was a bit chilly to do that so you don't see a lot of people there right now.
When I walked in, I was a bit lost. This library is HUGE. It's more like a museum + a gallery + a library. There are so many things to stop and appreciate. Like this random printer, displayed in the gallery area of the library. I was lucky to have been able to take this picture because I went with Marty on Sunday and they blocked the hallway.
On the 3rd floor of the library is a gallery. There were a bunch of interesting artworks in one hall; then there was a limited-time only viewing of "Bound," a collection of book binding arts from an international competition. So many pretty book binding works. I didn't take any pictures but some of them were really gorgeous. Just outside the gallery, the hallway makes you feel like you're in a catholic church. This was a good moment for me because today was the day the bar results come out. And it made me think about my uber-religious sister who would've LOVED Boston.
I spent some time in the library, looking through some knitting books. They had so much more stuff! Norah Gaughan and many others. Mostly older books but still, there were many I had not seen in person.
After spending about an hour looking through things, I left the library and walked through Newbury Street. It's like Santa Barbara's State Street but with South Coast Plaza-feel to it. Some shops are pretty unique, other shops are your regular, high-end stores. Then Newbury ends where Boston Public Garden starts.
If you didn't know better, this looks EXACTLY like this one street in Seoul. Haha. At this point, I didn't go into the garden, being afraid of getting lost! LOL. Hey, it was just my second day and I was on my own. And it was getting really cold already. But so peaceful, isn't it? People jogging by, kids playing in the garden, pretty leaves on all the wintery trees. Ah. Definitely the different scenery from what I'm used to everyday!
So at this point, I was headed toward Windsor Button, one of the yarn shops recommended by yelpers and Ravelry's Boston Yarn Party people. They said that the shop has the most amazing selection, from Red Heart and Wool-Ease (cheap, acrylic yarn) to Malabrigo (yum) and Rowan. After passing this garden, you take a left (Tremont), a right on Temple. There was a construction going on there, and it sort of looks like a back alley, totally doesn't look like a place where a yarn shop could be. I actually almost passed it without noticing it! I saw a girl walking into the store and thought, what kinda store is this? Then I saw it. Aisles and aisles of yarns. Seriously, I mean aisles and aisles, yarns everywhere, neatly organized. I was so busy looking at yarns and forgot to take pictures. I didn't buy anything there though. I wanted to buy something I couldn't get in California. The only thing I considered buying was Cascade Sock Yarn, which I've never seen before but it was a bit pricey and they didn't have any colors I wanted. So, I left without any purchase! I know! Oh shame, oh shame!
After Windsor Button (I spent about an hour in there), it already got dark outside so I decided to head back to the hotel. I walked through Newbury Street once more, almost went into Newbury Yarns but decided to skip since I didn't feel like buying yarns (GASPS!!!). I was so hungry. I didn't have breakfast or lunch, and it was already almost 6pm.
Seriously, iPhone and Blackberry saved our asses on this trip. I decided that I didn't want to spend a lot of money, and that I didn't want to eat at any restaurant by myself. So I looked on yelp for a place I could do a take-out. I found Thai Basil restaurant on yelp with pretty good reviews, so I went in, ordered (around 9 bucks), waited 5 minutes and got my food! The best service ever too. I came back to the hotel and ate my pad thai, then waited for Marty happy and full stomached.
More walking adventure! Marty came back around 8 or 9ish, and he was VERY hungry. We decided to try this place, Giacomo in North End. It was an Italian restaurant featured on Rachel Ray's 40-dollars-a-day show. They did have a location near our hotel but this one seemed more promising, being in the "Little Italy" area and all.
One warning though, for some reason, North End is always colder. COLDER. And EXTREMELY windy. I had the thick jacket I used to wear in Atlanta's snowy winter, and also in Canada. It was STILL cold.
Everything was closing by the time we left Giacomo (by the way, pretty good food!) and like I said, it was super super super cold. Quickly walking back to the hotel, I see this!!!
How random!!!! This building was literally between Trader Joe's and a bar/grill restaurant. Such a random place to have one of the coolest music academies!
So that's how the second day in Boston ended. I literally walked almost 5 miles today. My leg muscles are ON FIRE, and not in a good way, at all. This trip is making me realize more and more how much I don't exercise anymore. And that I never learned how to walk properly. Apparently I drag my feet too much and now my boots are all contorted in really odd directions.
Good night, Boston; see you tomorrow!