Black Hand Productions
By Nik Bronder
New England: Boston, MA.
We ended our trip with three days in Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to the Red Sox game we met up with a couple of Julie’s friends for one evening and then basically hit the Freedom Trail parts of the other two days. On Friday we walked about half of the trail starting in Boston Common and ending up at the Old State House and site of the Boston Massacre. The walk is pretty easy to do (probably much easier when it’s not in the upper 90’s). I managed to find 2 minute podcasts for each of the stops on the tour via AudioViator.
On our last day we soldiered on and rather than sitting around in our hotel until our afternoon flight we decided to take a cab out to see the USS Constitution and then hit one last lobster place for lunch. Both were well worth it. USS Constitution is basically the end of the Freedom Trail at the Boston Navy Yard and in addition the USS Cassin Young was also on display.
Neptune Oyster
We hopped a cab from the Boston Navy Yard and headed over to Neptune Oyster for lunch. Neptune Oyster was recommended by one of Julie’s friends and we planned on going for dinner one night but it just didn’t fit. We pretty much gave up on the idea until Sunday morning and figured if we got there when they opened it would leave just enough time to get to the airport. This is one of the better choices I’ve ever been a part of. This was by far the best meal of our trip. The place is really small so it fills up quick but there is bar seating as well as tables. Julie ordered the Little Neck clams which were cooked in a white wine garlic sauce (right up my alley). I actually had about four of these bizarre creatures and I survived. Then we both ordered the warm buttered lobster roll. This was my first lobster roll and it was unreal. I really can’t stress this enough: This was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten anywhere. And it was huge. In the future I will never visit Boston without eating here.
Neptune Oyster is located in Boston’s Little Italy neighborhood. The place gets real busy at night and was packed when we were there at 11:30am on Sunday morning. They don’t do reservations but you can put your name in and they’ll call you when your table is ready. Considering there are many other places in the area I would recommend finding a place for a drink and then waiting for your call.
It’s not often that the highlight of a seven day trip occurs three hours before your flight leaves for home. It happened this time.
Fenway Park: Red Sox – Mariners.
While in Boston we made the effort to see a game at Fenway Park. In a stifling 100 degree heat the Red Sox beat the Mariners 7-2. We took our time to check out the area around the park before settling into our seats for the game. The heat was nearly unbearable and it didn’t really let up when the sun went down. We got to see Suzuki Ichiro steal two bases to start the first inning and get the first run but it was downhill from there for the Mariners.
By far my favorite part about Fenway was the signage. All throughout the park the signs for concessions, sections and restrooms were a really cool font.
* The View From My Seat.
** Structural beams seem to be an issue that people didn’t care about 100 years ago.
*** Year of Baseball Stats:
Game No. 13
Stadium Opened: April 20, 1912
Capacity: 37,493
Attendance: 38,048
Food: 1 Hot Dog
Beer: 1 Green Monsta IPA
Opponent: Seattle Mariners
Pitchers: W: Lackey, L: Hernandez
Miles From Home: 848.9
Ticket Face Value: $60.55
Seat Location: Section Outfield Grandstand 9, Row 15, Seat 11
Boston Hockey Trip.
This weekend was my annual hockey trip which took us to Boston for the Penguins – Bruins game at TD BankNorth Garden. The Pens have been coming off a rough stretch since Crosby has been out but they have recently been able to string together a couple of wins, Saturday being on of those wins. Boston looked sloppy throughout the first two periods and then scored 2 goals within 1 minute in the third period. Eventually Jordan Staal put the game away with a goal in the 3rd marking the first victory for any of these sports trips I’ve taken.
After the game we headed out for the Steelers – Ravens AFC Championship game where we verbally assaulted during the first half of the game. Finally with things not looking good we made a decision to move to the Boston Beer Works near the arena where everything turned around and we were treated with the respect of champions.
We covered a lot of ground throughout the trip. Some of us ended up walking more than 2 miles home because the Boston cab system is in shambles. Seeing the Pats lose while we were in Boston in conjunction with the Pens and Steelers win was considered a sweep of the city. We had several interactions with locals who thought it was their god given obligation to confront us. We also came across several people who for some reason or another wanted to leave their parties and join ours. And in conclusion a large variety of beer was consumed from the following establishments:
- Lord Hobo
- Union Oyster House
- Bell In Hand Tavern
- Bukowski’s
- Cambridge Brewing Company
- Boston Beer Works
*Sidenote:
The rest of my photographs are here on Flickr.