Love Me That Dirty Water

The other day while I was exploring Boston, I realized that I haven't been there in quite a bit of time. I believe the last time that I was in the city was when I went to take myself to buy a dress for my sisters rehearsal dinner and that had to be 3 years ago. Boston has always been home to me in a lot of ways, my mom's side of the family is from there, and that's the Boston Irish side. There's a rich history for myself with old family memories appearing everywhere. As a kid, I used to go to the city to get a good pizza cos according to my dad there wasn't any in Maine. Not the old world Italian ones from the North End. Then there's the shopping trips that my family took with family friends and I remember how my parents would take us to Haymarket to get loads of produce, and explore all the restaurants in the North End. Or all the endless times my family would go to Mass on Arch Street to St Anthony's or shopping at Filene's Basement or shopping in Back Bay. Food has always played a large part too. Always looking for a good place to eat. I tend to do that where ever I am in the world. 

I know the city really well to be honest. It has changed from my childhood days. The other day, I just set off to do some exploring before seeing U2 at The Boston Garden. I grabbed a nice cup of tea at Equal Exchange Cafe right next to the Garden and North Station where I took the Amtrak Downeaster in from Maine before headed my way over to Penny's (Primark) in Downtown Crossing. Yeah, I do love exploring the one on Mary's Street in Dublin, but I found the American one to be a wee bit pricey must be due to the exchange rate from Euro's to Dollars. I had lunch at Spyce and felt like I was in a Sex and The City episode waiting in queue for a good amount of time before placing my order. It's a new trendy food spot I realize and it was lunch hour too. But I felt like I was back in Tokyo with self service ordering and robots mixing the salads. Has machines taken over the world? Where is the art of making stuff from raw organic ingredients from scratch and made with Love? I'm wondering.  I sat outside in the Boston Famine Memorial eating my salad and enjoy people watching before making it over to the Harborside Inn to check in for the night. I loved the boutique hotel, and it was in a great location. Very easy to walk to everything. I had sometime before the show and went off to explore Faneuil Hall and found it to be too built up to be honest. The place is rich in history and at one point the harbor used to come up to the place. It sadden me to see corporate America taking over the place. I did enjoy seeing the street performers tho. I made my way over to photograph the New England Holocaust Memorial . I'm always moved walking through it. It's a beautiful piece of art.  I found myself over to the North End for some food. I love going to Neptune Oyster on Salem Street and of course an old favorite Mike's Pastry on Hanover Street.  U2 at the Garden was excellent by the way.

I had quite a bit of time before catching my train back to Maine and found some new places in the city. I found that the Boston Public Market had some yummy gluten free treats and everything under the sun for organic food and produce. The market reminded me of the one at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town actually, but smaller. Loved the concept. I took a ferry out to Georges Island and explored Fort Warren for a bit. I found out that the fort was used during the Civil War as a prison. It was a beautiful day and being out on the open water was great! When I return back to the mainland I went to eat a big lunch at La Famiglia Giorgio's on Salem Street. They even make their own gluten free pasta and it was delicious.

Overall my time in Boston was short but sweet for certain. I just let the moment take me where it was going to take me. I didn't force a thing. I was open to discovering some new thing and found comfort in old things too. The city has changed for sure, but the memories that I hold from my childhood are still there!

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