but, honestly, while some girls would dig the designer boutiques, the opportunity to stick their freshly pedi'd tootsies through the overpriced straps of the latest misogynistic torture devices manolo blahnik whipped up, and sipping on some high-maintenance tall soy latte with nonfat and a sprinkle of madagascar cinnamon...not so much this girl. however. THIS girl loses most all of her ability to exercise restraint when confronted with life is good, patagonia, and the north face all within one block of each other. i mean, really...what's a girl to do??shop.
and so this girl did!
mostly for myself, naturally. ha! but i did come across a few things for some friends - some human, some canine. i'll tell you what, though...i could have bought up every last thing in all three of those stores. sheesh. oh, and yeah, this girl does not DO starbucks and coffees that require a minor oral dissertation defense to order. yeah, i did my shopping while sipping on that quintessential new england favorite that america runs on: plain old dunkin' donuts. best there is, if you ask me. k.i.s.s. philosophy...my favorite, after all.
granted this shopping trip had to be fueled, after all, since i had slept right through breakfast. so i met ed for lunch at my favorite back bay pizza joint, the upper crust. now, we all know i am a big fan of the thin crust because i am NOT a fan of the carbs. but few places actually get the thin crust right - it's either not thin enough, or it's so thin it's like eating pizza on a saltine. not at the upper crust. there's a reason it has been repeatedly voted the best of boston - they do it right. we had a fantastic white pie with great globs of ricotta and what tasted (and i'm sure smelled later) like zillions of pieces of fresh garlic. delicious! and a bargain for back bay, too - small pie, which is more than enough for two people, and a couple of sodas for less than twenty bucks. you won't find that too many places. fantastic lunch, even in the very crowded confines of their tiny newbury street location.
after the unsupervised shopping trip, ed and i bundled up as best we could - which is not saying much, since i am seriously doubting my appropriate packing for this new england summer - and hopped on the green line over to fenway. first stop, naturally...FENWAY FRANKS!! world's best hot dogs, and we should know, since we have sampled ballpark fare all over the place and consider ourselves somewhat of a couple of conissieurs. after loading up on food, though i'm sure a grain of sand in what would have been j's ballpark feast, we headed up to our seats in right field. yep, that's right - we sat right on the field in right field! wow. how many times can i use the word "right" in one sentence? anyway - it was blowing like mad, and more than a little chilly. in fact, it was so uncomfortably cold, that i had a hard time actually enjoying the fenway frank, since my teeth chattering made chewing somewhat of a challenge!
but like good true fans, we sucked it up. sort of. i'll let the pictures tell the story of our attempts to bundle up further...it gave me an interesting hat/hood look: like a smurfy eskimo! thankfully i remembered that some credit card company was downstairs giving away blankets if you filled out an application, so you know i hit that up, with as little of my true information as possible. whoo-hoo, freebie! and in case you haven't seen sportscenter...let me just tell you, WHAT. A. GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the freezing temps and bitter wind were 110% worth it - it was amazing! lester threw a no-hitter, only the 18th in red sox history in fenway, and the 1st of his career. it was awesome! it had been almost 3 years since i had been to a game, and i am determined not to go that long again - so great to be back in fenway again! especially sharing space with BIG PAPI!!
word to the wise: do not try to take the green line back after a sox game. i'm a walker, so i was not opposed to strolling back to jury's, but ed likes the t and is, uh, how shall i say...not exactly inclined to be active. we skipped the kenmore station, where the lines were out the door and into the street, and instead hiked up to the hynes center station, where i amused myself by watching a homeless dude pick mardi gras beads out of the trash and put them on, whilst simultaneously thanking the stars above that he didn't flash us to get them. we managed to get a sardine can, er, i mean, train, but i barely got through the crowd to get off at arlington to head back to the hotel. ah, always an adventure!
i'll close by mentioning that the beds in a five-star hotel feel best after a freezing cold night at a great baseball game...
thoughts for the day:
"a hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the ritz."
- humphrey bogart
"the other sports are just sports. baseball is a love."
- bryant gumbel
hasta manana...happy travels.
more pics to follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment