As I’m not at all good at posting vacation stories as I always try to put too much detail into them and burn out, I have opted to instead go with an abbreviated format going forward unless it’s a review of a REALLY awesome place.

So two weeks ago Caitlin and I went to Boston. She had been planning on running the marathon, but got injured about a month out. Having already paid for tickets and hotel (Park Plaza… a dump), we went anyway.

We ate like kings with multiple trips to Pizzeria Regina’s and Mike’s Pastry. On our two visits to Regina’s, we sampled five pizzas. It almost seemed as if the fewer toppings, the better. Crazy additional toppings only took away from the incredible cheese, sauce, and dough. If you can only have one pizza from them, make it a cheese or pepperoni. At Mike’s, we had a bunch of cannolis, some cookies, and some tiramisu. The cookies and tiramisu weren’t bad, but the cannolis were to die for… Get them. All flavors I had save for the chocolate mousse were awesome. Their ricotta recipe is the best I’ve ever had. It should also be noted that each cannoli is $2 and enormous. At home, they’d be $10.

Aside from eating ridiculously well, we watched the marathon, did the Freedom Trail, went to a Red Sox game, and toured Sam Adams.

The marathon was a really good experience. It made me want to qualify even more, but my legs haven’t been progressing too much so I’m considering retirement altogether. Anyway, a had a bunch of friends running so that added to the fun. I also bought a Canon T2i and Canon 70-200mm f/4 lens to take great shots of the runners… It was a great combo.

The Freedom Trail was a bit of a bore. Maybe it was because American history doesn’t excite me much? Nah, nobody I was with enjoyed it. I think it’s because it doesn’t feel like Boston has done much with their heritage. Sure, they have a busted up line painted for blocks and blocks along the sidewalk, but the sites themselves are boring brick boxes; no people reenacting stuff, no cool tours… It simply didn’t feel very thought out, and my guide book said this was the top attraction in the city. We didn’t even finish.

The Red Sox game was something I’ve always wanted to do… It’s one of those “life-list” things. Well I did it. We arrived to the stadium pretty early since we were really just walking around the city aimlessly and decided we’d go get a tour of the stadium. We were in time for the last tour of the day, which included batting practice, but then asked around and found we’d likely get tickets to the game! Awesome. I hopped into the “tickets released just before the game” line (was 3rd after arriving two hours before the game), waited a bit, was approached by a scalper, bought some outfield seats at face value (the Sox were in a slump… he just wanted to get rid of them), and then escaped to the Beer Works while waiting for Caitlin to return from a trip to the room. Had a few beers, met a few friendly folks, and she returned… The game itself was a great one, but we were distracted by a gaggle of idiots who eventually got ejected. Overall, a good time.

The Sam Adams tour required a fair bit of research as it’s not downtown, and their site doesn’t mention anything about it. Via a few blogs, we found the necessary info (Stony Brook station, tours 10-3 and hourly, but not necessarily on the hour [I think], and free), and hit it. A decent brewery tour, but I’ve been to better. We got to try a few beers (I hate their Summer Ale), and I met Bob the Brewmaster from the commercials! Awesome. We then headed down to Doyle’s as it was the first place to serve Sam Adams. As one Yelp reviewer put it, it’s Boston at its worst and finest. Absolute dump, but so much character.

So Boston, what do I think of you? Like most cities, you have your pockets of awesome, and you have your pockets of suck. I really liked your North End, but didn’t care much for any of the other areas. Your people are incredibly friendly and following professional sports is a part of life for them, which is awesome. You are the birthplace of our freedom, but you really need to clean up your act and make the history interesting (see Williamsburg). I’m glad I finally got to see you, but aside from the marathon, I have no reason to ever come back. I had five days to visit, but two were rainy. The remaining three days were enough to see everything you had to offer and [arguably] too much. You’re good for a quick weekend, but I recommend a bunch of other cities ahead of your for that.

You can view all ~600 pictures I took in my gallery or just the highlights over on Facebook.