A Long Weekend in Boston

“The point of going somewhere like the Napo River in Ecuador is not to see the most spectacular anything. It is simply to see what is there. We are here on the planet only once, and might as well get a feel for the place.”

Annie Dillard

The preceding was a quote from Annie Dillard that Geoff Dyer included in his book, White Sands. I think every city has something interesting to offer. It’s just a matter of going and exploring and, like Annie Dillard said, seeing what is there. Sometimes the best trips are ones you take over a long weekend. The kind of trips where you plan to see one or two things and then fill in the rest of the time with as much as you can. My mom and I visited Boston a few years ago as a combined Mother’s Day/birthday trip. She wanted to see some of the historical sights, like Old North Church and the Freedom Trail, and I wanted to see some architecture and visit a museum. After three days of walking, I think we both definitely got a feel for the place.

We stayed at an Airbnb in Charlestown, which is north of the peninsula. There were many beautiful homes in Charlestown that were built in the Federal style of architecture. Almost every road was lined with homes that spanned the length of the block. Some were built out of red brick, which seemed to glow when it was raining, and some had colorful board and batten siding. The brick facades were unbroken and the horizontality was strongly expressed.

We visited the Warren Tavern, which is advertised as one of the oldest taverns in North America. The night we went also happened to be one of the coldest nights of the entire trip. I thought San Francisco was cold in the fog but Boston was just as cold (and I completely loved it). We walked into the Warren Tavern and were immediately greeted with a blast of warm air radiating from the baseboard heaters. We got a table near the fireplace and ate some warm, delicious food.  

It had been raining all day and the clouds were hanging low in the sky most of the day. One of the locals told us the clouds would sometimes hang low enough that they would obscure the Bunker Hill Monument. We didn’t see that this trip, but we did see the John Hancock Tower obscured by the clouds as we walked along the Charles River. Imagine working on one of those floors and being completely engulfed by clouds!

The downtown area was interesting because there was a lot of different architecture on display. It was nice walking down the street and seeing late-nineteenth/early-twentieth century skyscrapers mixing with modern skyscrapers. There were even some old churches. We made our way to Boston Common and saw the Massachusetts State House with its iconic gold dome. Luckily, this day was warm and there were barely any clouds in the sky. It was a notable difference from the day before. I think you should see a city in the rain and a city in the sunshine. We were lucky enough to see both during our short trip.

Here are some more pictures from my trip. There were lots of hidden gems to be found. I would recommend visiting Boston and trying to find some hidden gems of your own.