Boston, October 2022

Barb and I drove to Boston to celebrate Allie’s and Barb’s birthdays.

Tuesday, October 4

Hurricane Ian devolved into a stationary front lingering off the east coast which made for a very rainy drive nearly all the way to Boston. It was a bit more obnoxious than usual dealing with the mists and more frequent accidents along the way, but we made it to Boston by 6pm. We greeted Allie and Perri and then settled into our guest apartment at the Kensington, one floor below Allie. We decided on an easy, unhealthy dinner of pizza for Barb, fish and chips for me and a steak and cheese for Allie, all from Boston Kitchen Pizza, a greasy spoon diner one block from Allie’s apartment. We also got Greek and Caesar salads for a semblance of healthy eating. Ha! We hardly touched them but they got consumed over the next day or two. We capped off the evening watching the final three episodes of season two of Only Murders in the Building. 

Wednesday, October 5

On this birthday morning we all had a nice breakfast at Tatte. Allie then went to her apartment to work – preparing slides for a board meeting, a ritual I knew well. Barb and I took a Lyft to the Boston Federal Building adjacent to Boston’s City Hall so she could work there and see some colleagues. I walked back to the Kensington, crossing part of the Freedom Trail. I realized I’d never walked its full length over to the Bunker Hill Memorial so decided that would be my outing for the next day, when the weather was nicer. I also noticed a Japanese-Peruvian fusion restaurant near Allie’s apartment, Ruka Restobar, that appears to have an interesting menu. I checked later with Allie and she’s never been there because it seemed too expensive and hard to get in. Maybe something for us to try sometime, but not this trip. She also mentioned Shojo (I think), an Asian Fusion place nearby that she has tried for takeout but we’ve never been to. Another possible destination sometime.

For the rest of this slightly rainy Wednesday morning, I settled into a nice corner of the 6th floor lounge with a view of Chinatown to write this entry. I went back to the room to eat a little leftover salad for lunch then found myself another little nook near the pool to continue in the afternoon. I quite like it here at the Kensington.

I walked back to the Federal Building to get Barb at 4:30 or so and convinced her to walk back to the apartment via the AT&T store where she could shop for an iPhone cover. Sure enough, she didn’t like the few selections available for her antiquated phone and the salesperson suggested she shop on Amazon, just as Allie had told her. 

We spent some time with Allie and Perri before going to Atlantic Fish Company for dinner. We’d been there exactly two years before for Allie’s birthday dinner and I fondly remembered the seafood tower. This time we had the tower, some clam chowder, and Allie and I shared a grilled branzino entree. The tower was once again terrific with oysters, clams, lobster, shrimp and crab – all our favorites. We took our time plowing through it and frankly that should have been enough for a full meal. There was actually more than enough lobster, crab and shrimp to satisfy each of us. But then the branzino came and Allie and I polished it off as well. The whole fish was beautifully grilled and expertly deboned which made it easy to share. Our sides of asparagus and broccolini were also very good. The only disappointment was the clam chowder which was too thick and pasty, almost a dip. We only had a couple of bites. The waiter, who was excellent, noticed and removed it from our tab even as he wrapped it up to go with a fresh loaf of bread and butter. We didn’t get a birthday dessert even though I’d called to let them know we were celebrating…but it was just as well. We waddled home well stuffed.

We adjourned back to the apartment for the first episode in season 13 of the Great British Baking Show. It occurred to me that there must be podcasts or tours for the Freedom Trail so I searched and downloaded the National Park Service app with its audio tour. 

Thursday, October 6

I dropped Barb at the Federal Building again and then embarked on the Freedom Trail. I picked it up at Stop 5, King’s Chapel, and followed onward past the Old South Meeting House, Boston Massacre site, Fanueil Hall, Paul Revere House and Old North Church. I had done this segment of the walk in years past so I had a fairly good idea of each location’s significance but the audio guide and my recent readings on American Revolutionary history helped put things in better context. For example, I hadn’t realized that King’s Chapel was Boston’s first Anglican church and not welcomed by the Puritans. It closed during the Revolution then became a Unitarian church though it still leaned (and leans) toward the Episcopal liturgy. The adjacent King’s Chapel Burying Ground is actually not affiliated with the church. It was Boston’s original cemetery and was already filled more than 100 years before the church was built.

Likewise, I was confused about the role of the Old South Meeting House even though we often passed it walking to or from Allie’s apartment. Answer: it’s most famous for being the organizing site for the Boston Tea Party. The Puritan Congregationalist Meeting House was the largest structure in Boston at the time. During the war, the British gutted the building and turned it into an indoor horse riding school. It was a church again for nearly 100 years before being nearly destroyed in the 1872 Great Boston Fire. Since then, it’s been a museum.

I felt like I was on firmer ground with the historic roles of the Old State House (site of the Boston Massacre), Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere’s house and the Old North Church. I scooted past them. When I got to Copp’s Hill Cemetery I remembered going through it on one of my earlier walks around Boston’s North End, but that was a far along the Freedom Trail as I’d ever been.

I crossed the Charles River on the Charlestown Bridge and was surprised to see there were locks separating the Charles River from Boston Harbor. I guess that explains why there’s so little commercial traffic on the Charles and the river is calm enough for so many rowers and sailboats. I was hoping for a better view of the modern Zakim Bridge but the police station was in the way. The police have no regard for tourist sightlines.

I followed the trail to the Boston Navy Yard not really knowing what to expect. I vaguely knew that the USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides,” which I thought was sister ship to the USS Constellation in Baltimore harbor, but more about that below) was docked there. I didn’t realize the Navy Yard had other exhibits, a museum and visitor’s center, and a history that began 25 years after the Revolution and was an active Naval facility until 1974. It has been a National Park since then. I ended up spending about two hours going through the whole site. I started in the visitor’s center, watched the film on the Yard’s long history as a shipbuilding and repair center, and walked through historical items on display. The Yard was much larger and more active through World War II, employing thousands and constructing an extensive list of ships.

I boarded the USS Constitution and wandered above decks and below. I didn’t realize she was technically still a commissioned US Navy ship, one of the oldest ships afloat in the world…though she has been restored many times, most recently in 2017. They say some of the timbers below decks date back to the original construction in 1797. The crew, dressed in period costumes, are active-duty Naval personnel. I should have spent more time talking to them. Instead I eavesdropped on several student tour groups and read the available signage. It’s an impressive ship.

I was reminded of the sleepover Allie and I did on the USS Constellation in Baltimore in April 2006. The ship now in Baltimore is the second-generation Constellation, launched in 1854. The original USS Constellation was indeed the Constitution’s sister ship, launched in Baltimore in 1797 but disassembled in 1853. Some parts of the original may have been used in the rebuilt Constellation, but they are considered separate ships.

After a thorough ramble on the Constitution, I crossed over to the WWII-era destroyer, USS Cassin Young. I conjured boyhood fantasies of serving on one of these vessels in the Pacific theater, but mostly I am very thankful I never had to experience an actual voyage, much less a battle.

I spent a good while in the museum dedicated to the USS Constitution, learning more about its history and life on board. The museum is heavily oriented toward student-age visitors but I still learned a bit. I took a few more minutes to admire the Navy Yard’s remaining dry dock and view of Boston Harbor.

It was approaching mid-afternoon and I was getting hungry but found nowhere in the immediate area to stop for a snack — a tourist deficiency that Boston should look into — so I stayed on the Freedom Trail and walked up to Bunker Hill. I dimly remember visiting the monument way back in my youth with Mom and Dad, but I hadn’t been back since.

I went through the informative Bunker Hill museum and learned more about the battle. One of my recently read books, Liberty is Sweet, emphasized the importance of this battle and it was useful to get a better sense of the ground and events of the day. I was struck by one display that spoke of Black soldier Jude Hall, who earned his freedom fighting in multiple Revolutionary battles. He settled after the war as a free farmer in New Hampshire but that didn’t prevent three of his sons being kidnapped and sold into slavery, an awful reminder of how conditions for Blacks deteriorated through the early (and ongoing) life of the American Republic…and a sad parallel to the stories of Harry Washington and James Lafayette.

After the museum I walked the grounds of the Bunker Hill Monument listening to a lengthy self-guided audio tour on the National Park Service app.

Feeling like I’d done the Freedom Trail pretty well, I started walking back to Boston proper to reconnect with Allie and Barb…and find something to eat. I paused first at what turned out to be Paul Revere Park. While admiring the view for a few minutes, I was approached by a lady asking how to get across the river to Boston and North Station. I consulted Google Maps and found there was a footpath over the locks by the police station, an alternative to the not-very-attractive Charlestown Bridge that I’d come over on. Writing this, I learned that I could have gone slightly further to the North Bank Bridge, a pedestrian path that is part of the Hakim Bridge and connects with pathways and parks on the Cambridge side of the Charles River. Something to explore on a future Boston visit.

I decided to go by way of the Charles River locks and was happy I did — it put me closer to TD Garden and North Station, which in turn led me past Hub Hall Market, an upscale food court. I found a hot dog and lime rickey at Sullivan’s (harkening back to my last visit to Boston and their original location at Castle Island) then paused to consider Momosan’s menu, the Boston outpost of Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto’s empire that Allie recommended. It looked very good but was more than I wanted at that point since we had a good dinner planned for the evening. Another thing to try next time.

Fortified by my hot dog and rickey, I went to Dubliner Irish Pub across the street from Barb’s office to nurse a Smithwick’s and wait for Allie. We surprised Barb and then all walked back to the apartment once more. To while away the time before dinner, Allie and I watched several episodes of Welcome to Wrexham.

Dinner that night was at Faccia Brutta, a recently opened and quite trendy Italian seafood restaurant on Newbury Street that Allie was eager to try. I was happy to comply for her birthday even though I doubted Barb would find many dishes she would like. We had to wait a while to be seated for our 8:45pm reservation so Barb lurked by the open kitchen, watching the chefs at work. She was appalled to see that the $22 potato chip appetizer was just a bag of everyday chips topped with a handful of spices and herbs. Once the three of us were seated at a tiny table for two, Allie and I settled on ordering grilled octopus with crunchy black rice, razor clams, orecchiette with sausage, and wagyu beef carpaccio toast. We didn’t get the $22 potato chips. Allie and I enjoyed everything while Barb picked at a few items. The meal was quite nice, but honestly not as good as Atlantico the previous month. For dessert, we shared a nice vanilla sorbet with a scorched meringue topping. That was something we could all agree was good.

Friday, October 7

Allie and Barb both took the day off; Allie requested a day of leaf viewing somewhere outside of Boston since we had the car and she had never really done this basic New England ritual. Allie found a route ahead of time thanks to Yankee Magazine; I decided we would head to the Sugarloaf Mountain Overlook via Route 2, then find some food in Northampton and return via the Mass Pike. We set Barb up in the backseat with lots of books and magazines so Allie could sit in front to be my copilot, navigator and DJ.

The drive along Route 2 was pleasant, not crowded and we saw some leaves turning nice colors though Massachusetts was still at least a few weeks ahead of peak fall foliage. We wandered (got lost) a little bit along the way to Sugarloaf Mountain but we finally made it. There honestly wasn’t too much to see from the overlook and we only stayed for about 10 minutes because it was a little crowded. But we got the requisite photos.

We drove onward to Northampton for lunch at The Deck at Union Station which I’d found through Yelp. Allie had a burger, I got a (very messy) Nashville chicken sandwich, and Barb had mussels. The meal and the outdoor deck were decent but nothing special. We were surprised to actually see an Amtrak train pull into the station; it was the Vermonter and we could have taken it all the way back home to BWI. Who knew? Allie and I (and Barb?) had been to Northampton to visit Smith College when we were college shopping but we felt no compulsion to see the actual town again, so we got back on the highway forthwith.

The drive back to Boston via the Mass Pike (I-90) took a little longer than expected due to several accidents and merges, but we finally got back to the apartment by 6pm or so. It was a long, fairly uneventful drive but Allie seemed to enjoy it. Barb later compared it to one of Leslie’s aimless drives for drivings’ sake. So be it.

We weren’t really hungry for dinner but after a while we decided to get takeout from Penang, just downstairs from Allie’s apartment. We had vegetable fried rice for Barb that was actually pretty good and she enjoyed, nasi malak and roti for Allie and me. We ate most of it as we plowed through several more episodes of the Great British Baking Show.

Saturday, October 8

Our outing for this day was a drive to New Bedford, about an hour south of Boston. I had seen several articles and TV shows (none of which I can identify right now) that highlighted the resurgence of New Bedford in recent years, its historic downtown area and whaling museum, and connections with Portuguese cuisine. It seemed like a nice destination for a day trip.

I scouted online and learned there was a free tour of the Whaling Museum daily at 11am and the historic New Bedford whaling district at 2:30pm so we geared our visit to those tours. I also made a reservation at a highly rated restaurant, the Black Whale, for supper at 4:30pm. A good plan.

My plans were threatened slightly when Barb reminded me that she wanted to do her livestreamed aerobics class at 8:30am. She went to Allie’s gym to do it and I became nervous as the safe time for our departure ticked by. We finally got on the road by 10am and I worried our arrival time the whole drive down. We made it to the museum just at 11; I dropped the girls off and went to find the recommended parking lot, finding the whole downtown area surprisingly deserted on a fine Saturday morning. I made it back to the museum, got my AAA 10% discount off the ticket price, and found Barb and Allie just as the tour was getting underway in the lobby.

Our tour guide was a loquacious young man whom I quite enjoyed. Barb and Allie thought he was actually too detailed over the course of the 90-minute tour and more than once condescended to “the ladies.” I can’t really argue with their perception, but I learned quite a bit, more than I would have from simply wandering through the exhibits. I admit that I’m both fascinated and appalled by whaling. At this point, we’ve visited whaling museums in Maui and Nantucket, as well as gone on whale watching trips in Alaska, Boston (twice) and the Dominican Republic. I feel like I learned more from this New Bedford museum than any previous experience, but maybe it’s just the accumulation of knowledge finally seeping into my thick brain.

The museum is laid out quite well, focusing first on the whales themselves, particularly through five actual skeletons of different types of whales (a blue whale, humpback, sperm whale, and the pregnant mother and fetus North Atlantic right whale).

One then learns more about the mechanics and business of whaling voyages. We got to smell whale oil, ambergris and spermaceti, all of which were pretty awful but help drive home what must have been the stench of the ship, of the sailors once they got home, and life in general in the 18th and 19th centuries. We clambered about the 1/2-scale replica of the whale ship Lagoda; I liked the map of its 1868 voyage, though in retrospect I’d like to learn more about the actual whaling voyages of the ship — how many different voyages were represented by these ports of call between 1841-1886? We learned that voyages often lasted 2-4 years, becoming longer and more dangerous as they had to search farther for whales. While the voyages were typically profitable for the ship owners and captains, they were far less so for the average sailor. Mostly it seemed like a hard, miserable life.

I quite liked the graphic showing the rise of whaling in New Bedford and subsequent transition to mill work. This helped answer my question about the heyday of whaling, peaking in the mid-19th century, and nicely illustrates the population growth from millwork. The museum’s website clarifies that the decline in whaling in New Bedford, while hastened by the Civil War and growth in substitute petroleum products, really came from advanced mechanized whaling technologies introduced by Norwegians. Whaling continued worldwide (for how long and to what level I haven’t been able to easily find), but Yankee whalers were no longer at the forefront of the industry.

The museum includes a gallery of New Bedford mill life and the towns even greater prosperity in the late 19th and early 20th century. The guide directed our attention to the portrait of Hetty Green, whom I didn’t know but was for a time the world’s richest woman and the “Witch of Wall Street” which seems a particularly ungenerous nickname. Someone to learn more about at some point.

There was more to the museum, including exhibits on the China and Japan trade, whaling connections to the Azores, Cape Verde and Pacific Islands, an extensive scrimshaw and art collection, and more. I could easily return and spend hours more. There was even a nice view of the harbor of New Bedford…and we haven’t even mentioned the museum’s annual marathon reading of Moby Dick.

Barb and Allie enjoyed playing the museum’s scavenger hunt game, looking for decals of whales scattered about the museum. Well, Allie enjoyed it while going through the museum, using it for a distraction from the tour guide but she was content to leave with a few whales unspotted. Not Barb, who went back into the museum to find the tough ones, eventually asking docents for clues. She never did find an elusive one allegedly in a second floor window, to her frustration.

I don’t think our tour guide even mentioned it, but the museum is home to the Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World – the longest painting in North America — now happily available online for viewing in detail. Painted in the 1840s and meant for public exhibition as a scrolling “movie” with narration, it’s a remarkable artifact of both whaling and popular entertainment in the 19th century. The museum website also features a nicely narrated 24-minute excerpt from Down to the Sea in Ships, a 1922 melodrama set in the 1850s filmed in New Bedford with scenes from one of the last actual wind powered whaling voyages.

We finished the museum with a few minutes to spare before the 2:30 National Park walking tour. We found Tia Maria’s European Cafe around the corner from the museum which had a counter for coffee and a tempting looking cheese bread we could share. It’s good we didn’t look at their full menu because there were a number of Portuguese sandwiches and entrees I now regret we didn’t have time or appetite to try. Something for next time, perhaps, whenever that may be.

We proceeded to the imposingly named New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park visitor center for a guided tour of the historic district. Unfortunately, we got a very young, inexperienced tour guide who stumbled a bit with her prepared pitch and didn’t offer much depth answering questions. We didn’t learn very much in the rather short 30-minute tour. I’ve picked up more from the Wikipedia entry about the New Bedford Historic District.

Our tour ended a little after 3pm at the waterfront just a block from our dining destination. The 2022 Chowderfest was also underway on the wharf with a DJ blasting out oldies that even Barb recognized. We took a few minutes to walk the wharf, ogling the industrial fishing fleet that actively operates out of New Bedford — easily the largest set of working trawlers I’ve seen anywhere in the U.S. We learned that scallops and flatfish are their biggest catches. One wonders a bit whether they’ve learned lessons in sustainability and long-term survival of their industry. This is a serious-looking fishing fleet.

The hostess at the Black Whale seated us even though we were an hour ahead of our Open Table reservation (I had to later explain to Open Table that we hadn’t skipped out on our reservation — they check). We ordered a spread of seafood specialties to share: grilled octopus appetizer, fried clam bellies, grilled scallops, and a fish and chips sandwich. All of it, other than the french fries, were good and we devoured it all without taking home leftovers, Nothing, other than maybe the octopus, was particularly Portuguese but it was all pretty good.

In all, I enjoyed this introduction to New Bedford and would vote to go back, explore more of the town and area, maybe return to the whale museum, and eat at more of the restaurants…especially with more Portuguese flavors.

We drove back to Boston for one final evening together. We watched more of the Great British Baking Show, including the egregious Mexican Week episode, which we all agreed was cringy even before the online backlash.

Sunday, October 9

For our getaway day, we all went for a light breakfast at Bakey. Allie was offered tickets from one of her vendors to the 1pm New England Patriots game. She had never been to a football game before so she recruited a friend to go with her. As we packed our car and drove home, she boarded a train at South Station to head to Foxboro. She said she rather enjoyed the experience, helped immensely by good weather and plenty of food. She didn’t report anything about the actual game; I guess the nostalgia aspects of the throwback jerseys and logo were lost on her. In any case, she’s now been there, done that, and doesn’t need to go to any more football games.

The drive home was longish but more or less uneventful. I’ve finally sort of figured out how to navigate through New York with the help of Google Maps and my car’s navigation controls, though this time they routed me through some rather questionable New Jersey surface roads just across the GW Bridge. Nevertheless, we made it home around 6pm. Manny was very glad to see us.

It was a nice trip and as always it was good to spend time with Allie and Perri. On some subsequent visit to Boston we can try several more restaurants (Ruka Restobar, Shojo, Momosan, and I’d like to go back to Atlantico), take a walk on the Cambridge side of the Charles using the North Bank Bridge, and at some point head back to New Bedford for more food and exploring.