Weekend with Judy

So my good friend Judy came to visit for a weekend! While we had no gas for the entire weekend due to some massive public works outside the front window, we did have some really spectacular weather.

Saturday we got up and went to the Harpoon Brewery for a tasting. Sadly, our undergraduate days are long long gone and we only had a small glass of hard cider and a small glass of beer before we decided that anymore before lunch would require we visit an AA meeting later in the day.

We headed downtown to see the sights and get some Haymarket Pizza (the BEST pizza in the entire city, bar none!!) On the way we saw the Customs House, it looks so much better when I'm not standing in 2 feet of snow freezing my butt of looking at a wet grey sky background.And we also saw the Old State House, whose odd setting among some of Boston's taller skyscrapers still makes me smile.
Outside of Faneuil Hall there were tons of performers. Some were good, some were ok, some were incredibly boring, but the little boy sitting on the bucket watching his brothers (cousins?, babysitters?) break dance caught my eye.
Following some delicious Haymarket Pizza we headed for the North End (Boston's version of Little Italy) where I introduced Judy to the heaven that is Mike's Pastry. There I found the largest eclair known to man. It was not a one-person size. Though it was delicious!!
From there we headed down to the harbors and over to Columbus Park where we saw some wildlife.
Then on the Freedom Trail where we passed a few of the many fabulous historic sights that Boston has to offer. Here are some old (17th or early 18th century I believe) tombstones in King's Chapel Burying Ground.
Then we strolled through the Boston Common and the Public Gardens, along with 3/4 of Boston it seemed. Of course we stopped at Make Way for Ducklings, where the children were happy to play and the bronze ducklings were as cute as ever.

From there we headed home, slightly sunburnt and exhausted.

The next day (Sunday, the awful day of the St. Patrick's Day parade in South Boston. The one day of the year college students wake up on a Sunday at 9am, still hungover, and take the T down to the parade so they can get more drunk, more rowdy, more annoying, and more infuriating. I think trying to get home from dropping Judy off at the airport is the first time I've ever really really hated Boston. 90% of the drunk people weren't even remotely Irish, so why they felt the need to celebrate this "holiday" with enough beer to get all of Ireland drunk is totally beyond me. Next year I think I'll get the heck out of town for this ridiculous excuse of a day. But I'll get off my soapbox now...) Judy and I headed NORTH (away from the madness) to Cambridge to check out what's on the other side of the Charles River.

Just off Harvard Square Judy spotted this window sign. Say it out loud to yourself. Several times. If you don't get it, call Jared, I had to explain it to him too. (Or just see the end of the post.)
Here's Judy in Harvard Yard!

Then we walked allllll the way down Massachusetts Avenue back to the Charles River and across. It was such a beautiful day again that we didn't care. And we even came across a bus stop named for me!
On the Mass Ave bridget we got a fantastic view of the city... and it's a pretty decent shot of us too!! You can tell just how sunny it was by how over-exposed the background is. Normally I would hate that, but I was so excited to see the sun that I didn't care.
There's a fabulous view of downtown Boston. I still can't believe I live here at all, let alone for the past almost 8 months!!!

On the way out to the airport 2 different people asked me for directions. Judy said I must look like a local now. It's definitely nice to feel like that. The fact that I knew the answers to all of their questions certainly helped.So overall it was a great weekend! A great friend + great weather + a great city = a fantastic time! And now it's back to work and training for that 5 mile race coming up... It's approaching a bit to rapidly for my taste.

Hope everything is good in the rest of the world!

Update: I have been notified that I forgot to explain the sign. The sign says "Dewey, Cheetham & Howe". Say it out loud. If you still don't get it try sounding it out like "Do-we cheet-em and how". Ok, so it sounds like "Do we cheat 'em, and how!" Hee hee. I'm assuming it's "supposed" to be a lawyer's office or something.