Friday, June 25, 2010

Boston - Day 2

On Friday morning, we got ready with World Cup on in the background (Germany vs. Serbia - so many cards!), before heading out to a bar to watch the U.S-Slovenia game.

We went to Jacob Wirth's - a German pub in the theater district that I'd never been to before. They had free breakfast for the 10am games, so we thought it would be a good option. It was surprisingly crowded, given that it was 10am on a weekday. Apparently the bar was surprised, too, because we saw and employee come in with grocery bags full of eggs and orange juice to keep the breakfast going. The food was not bad - very tasty potato dish with peppers and onions. It was a great game to watch. At half-time we were down by two, and we figured we should probably get started with our sight-seeing, but while we were paying our bill, the U.S. scored again, so we were sucked back into the action and watched til the end.

After the game, we took the T out to Harvard Square and walked around there a bit. We saw Harvard Yard and the John Harvard Statue. From there we just went on a big loop around Harvard Campus, with a quick stop at Burdicks (best hot chocolate I've ever had... though it was too hot to buy one that day).

For lunch we went to Border Cafe - it is inexpensive Mexican food with huge portions. My vegetarian fajitas were great - they had broccoli and mushrooms and cauliflower and all sorts of other veggies.

After all that food, we were ready to walk it off, so we walked down Mass Ave from Harvard to MIT. It was a nice walk, which continued right into our tour of MIT. We saw the student center and Kresge Oval. We walked down the Infinite Corridor and saw Lobby 10 and Killian Court. We heard the reverberating benches (your voice bounces back at you from all angles). The tour ended at the Muddy Charles (a bar in Walker) where we had a happy hour meet-up with some MIT Space Policy people.

Our numbers slowly dwindled at happy hour (Emma and Kris headed off to catch a nap before dinner, then Brian and Lindsey left to do a bit of shopping at the Coop). Eventually we all met back up at the apartment, got ready, and headed to dinner.

Dinner Friday night was a Sel de la Terre. In addition to just being a great restaurant in general, one of my good friends from Minnesota, Chris, is a Sous Chef there. (We were in the same class in first grade and have been friends ever since.) He wasn't working that night, but he told us that he'd call ahead so they'd take care of us. The definitely did. The service was great, and we ordered a bunch of food that looked very good (lobster gnocci, lamb chops, etc.). However, before our first course came out, the waiter brought out a couple plates of appetizers - goat cheese, olives, and other little things to eat with the bread - courtesy of Chris, which was really nice. After that, they surprised us by bringing out a charcuterie plate. And then they brought a cheese plate. And then eight New England crab cakes! And finally, a bottle of wine. It was unbelievable - everything tasted amazing!

When the food we had ordered came, we didn't have lots of room left, but managed to do a pretty good job on it anyway (the lamb chop was soooo good). And after everything had been so good, it seemed like a good idea to at least look at the dessert plate. And then our waiter said he could make us an extra large version of the 'dessert for two' that includes samples of all their desserts. It was gone within about five minutes. This was definitely my favorite meal of the trip. (Thanks, Chris!!!)


After dinner, we went to the Top of the Hub. Stephanie and Arthur, who had flown in that night and arrived while we were still at dinner, were there waiting for us. We had a couple drinks at the bar, and enjoyed the views and live jazz band.



The Top of the Hub is the tallest building in Boston, so it was a nice place for everyone to get the chance to take in the city.

After drinks, we made a late-night stop at Shaws (the grocery store) to get breakfast foods, and then headed home.

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