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Comments:
BStu - 2003-09-04 13:44:08
You've got me all misty for Boston. *sniff*
I love the Red Line as it crosses the Charles. As far as I'm concerned, its a reason to go to Cambridge. My train, on the other hand, traces the Mass Pike before going underground and only comes up again in the construction zone on the Charlestown side of the Big Dig. But, I do get some lovely views of Power Plants and shopping plazas after we're above ground. I never get enough of seeing Boston from the Red Line, though. Boston's Financial District may be crowded with all the obligatory skyscrapers, but I'll always love the view of Back Bay with its two solitary buildings (well, three now) reaching upwards from the stately townhouses along Comm. Ave. and the lush River edge with the bike trails, sailboats, college Crew teams, and the illustrious Hatch Shell.
And the reflection pool is litterally the back yard of my work place. A co-worker got proposed their by a very bright suitor who knew what a great locale it'd make.
And Tower Records is actually a Virgin Records now and the ice cream parlor is next to the record store (and one of the million Starbucks in the neighborhood). J.P. Licks, by the way, and they make the second best Rasberry Lime Ricky I've ever had.
Nice to wax on about a place you actually are, but I do it all the time, anyway. I do love the Hub. Now, I'll stop before I start singing "For Boston".
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Aimee - 2003-09-04 18:12:10
Wow, I got you misty for a city you live in? Cool! :-) I haven't been on the Red Line since 1996, easily - I hadn't even let myself think about the crossing over the Charles since then. (There's this great restaurant I used to go to with my college roomie in Harvard Square, I can't remember the name of it, but I know they only took cash and we would order sweet potato fries and Creamsicle milkshakes, and the ATMs in Harvard Square would actually dispense $10 bills.) And my god, how could I forget about the Back Bay and the river and the Hatch Shell (I still remember the flood of people all scrambling to get back to Comm Ave after the 4th of July fireworks, and the Citgo sign above Kenmore Square.) And yes, JP Licks, that's the one! I'm actually surprised it's still there, just because it was so long ago, and I thought some chain would have run it out of business. I also remember going, somewhere near there (but not on Newbury), to a steakhouse that had the best honey mustard salad dressing I've ever had. Oh goodness, it's all coming back to me now! Coming back to Boston will be some trip - I won't know where to begin.. :-)
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Shalini - 2003-09-05 15:04:46
Oh great -- now I miss Boston too! I think the place with the sweet potato fries started with a "B." Bartley's maybe? And Harvard Square is where you got your "Aimee no pants" nickname! We should do another gals wknd and descend on Lisa. Hell, if we're realy brave, we can even go back to campus for homecoming! Nothing like a rousing soccer game by the Judges....
=)
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BStu - 2003-09-05 16:20:34
Well, sometimes living in the city, you can forget what makes it special because it becomes so expected. But I always love the Charles River crossing and its been months since I've had the pleasure of it.
Boston has changed, but JP Licks is a pretty solid local institution. The JP actually stands for Jamaica Plain. They've got stores across the area. Fortunetly, there is no big monolothic ice cream chain to put places like that out of business. Boston's actually blessed with a number of very highly regarded ice cream parlors. I always have a soft-spot for the one at the end of the B-Line by Boston College. Something Creamery, I'm not sure. It was a coffee shop/ice cream parlor that did these great pack-ins for the toppings. They also made the best Rasberry Lime Ricky I've ever had. The really don't skimp on the syrup which is key. But, other places have gone. Tower is gone completely, after a brief stay behind Fenway Park. Most of Kenmore Square was torn down 3 years to make way for some awful hotel and basically killing Kenmore Square as a "cool" place. The new bridge by the Fleet Center is up and active and is really quite striking. I don't get out much to the Square, though, so that area might be relatively untouched. (I was a Boston snob in college; hated going into Cambridge or Newton even though that was all people at BC ever did)
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Kell - 2003-09-05 16:36:08
Now I'm getting East Coast misty. (Grew up just south of Lake Ontario.) Misty sigh. Sometimes I really miss crunchy snow.
May I congratulate you on an admirable salvaging of the non-date experience. Been there. Don't like being there, but may have more courage available for risking possibly winding up there in the future after reading your story. (How many times can I say "there" in one sentence?)
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Aimee - 2003-09-05 16:37:25
I still can't call it the Fleet Center -it was the Garden up until perhaps my last few months in Boston, and I despise the trend of corporate naming of buildings. I used to catch the train back to Brandeis from North Station and it was always so dark and gloomy right by the Garden on Sunday nights when I would leave from Brian#2's; I spent many a lonely Sunday late-night getting cookies to eat on the train from the Dunkin Donuts across the street. I can't imagine what it must look like now, to have a striking bridge in the area. I have to admit, I never knew the JP in JP Licks stood for Jamaica Plain! I'm glad they never got swallowed up by a Ben & Jerry's or a Haagen Daaz. And my god, I can't believe Kenmore Square!! I didn't hang out there much (never was cool enough, hee-hee!), but still.. I guess Boston is frozen in memory for me, I'm having a hard time imagining the changes. Never got the chance to be a Boston snob in college, myself - being stuck on the commuter rail with no direct subway access made that tough. Our junior or senior year, Brandeis started running a shuttle bus to Cambridge, which is one reason I think we wound up there so often. Shalini and I would also sometimes take the bus from Waltham to go to the Arsenal Mall in Watertown - you can't say we didn't live it up!! ;-)
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