Boston Area

Hurricane Hanna drenched us as we drove from Maine to Boston. We got a late start on Saturday starting with breakfast at the cottage followed by lunch with Zach's grandparents at Morse's Sauerkraut Factory in Woldoboro, then on to Freeport for some outlet shopping (home of L.L. Bean). It was 5 PM before we made it onto the highway outside of Freeport, and by then the rain was coming down in buckets.

My brother Paul from Phoenix was visiting his friend near Worcester, MA. This was (sort of) on the way to Boston and we didn't have any more specific plans to meet up, so I was eager to drop by. He was waiting for friend Fallon's bartending shift to wrap up at Al Fresco Trattoria & Bar in Holden MA, so we joined them at the bar around 9 PM to wait out the crazy hurricane rain. Fallon was great enough to invite us to use her guest room for the night, which was perfect since the van had sprung a leak in the driving rain (add that to the list of repairs!) Hanging out with a bartender after shift meant a LATE night, but we were still grateful for a warm dry place to sleep and free parking for the van.

The route to Boston took us past both the Walter Gropius House and the nearby DeCordova Museum & Sculpture Park. Walter Gropius, founder of the German design school known as the Bauhaus, designed the house as his family home in 1937. If you have an interest in mid-century design it is well worth the stop.

Our time in the city of Boston was far too short. We parked the van in Alewife Station and rode the Tube into the city. Arriving around 3 PM, we inadvertantly started out walking away from the old city and by chance discovered the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA), and managed to get in for the final day and hour of the Anish Kapoor exhibit. Since my interest was the old city, I told Zach I wanted to eat dinner in a building at least 200 years old, so we went on a hunt. The Beantown Pub may not have been quite so old, but they are "the only bar in town where you can drink a Sam Adams beer while looking at his gravestone across the street!" We finished dinner near dusk, and spent the next two hours just walking around looking at some of the older buildings by streetlamp.

Another day in Boston would have been great, but we were on a mission to get to Winsted CT to stay with Zach's Mom and brother Matt for a few days before their departure.

Walter Gropius House

DeCordova Museum & Sculpture Garden
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Boston
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