beantown visitor

tomorrow my first visitor of 2010 will arrive. my cousin, katie, who is on the east coast for work, will be spending the weekend here in boston. katie is in a rare group of visitors: those who have visited me in boston more than once. in fact, i think there are only two visitors in this exclusive group, and the other, the legend, will be making his 5th visit (i believe) next month. katie is a close second and if work keeps sending her to the east coast she could overtake the legend in 2010. 

for a first time visitor to boston i can get away with little to no planning. this is in thanks to living in the city for more than four years now, and having had the privilege of showing many family members and friends around the tourist areas of boston. but for those visitors who have already walked the freedom trail (and those that have proposed taking a shot every time "freedom trail" is exclaimed during the walk), seen quincy market, and walked by or through harvard university, more planning and coordination is necessary to make the trip a success. plus, i'm not a fan of asking the question "what do you want to do now?" and hearing in response "i don't care." 


so in light of katie's visit this friday, i've put together a list (or agenda if you will) of this weekend's plans. this allows those partaking in the activities a chance to veto something they're not interested in, while those in boston looking for plans an opportunity to participate. 

friday, february 5th

• 7:30 pm dinner reservations (for 4) @ figs (gourmet pizza) in beacon hill
• depending on katie's arrival, a pre-dinner drink @ brookline's regal beagal
• after dinner drinks at the sevens in beacon hill

saturday, february 6th

• breakfast is the most important meal, right? but breakfast is too early. and unfortunately, if you're not early @ brookline's zaftigs then enjoy the hour wait. that's why i'm going to suggest 11 am brunch @ johnny d's in somerville's davis square
• since we'll be in a car and i've only done it once, a tour of the sam adam's brewery in jamaica plain in the afternoon is a must
• time to get rid of the car, get ready for the rest of our night, and start using public transportation.
• head down to the copley area and check out the boston public library and  trinity church around 4:30
• have a drink or two around 5:30 pm at the top of the hub in the prudential building
• 8:00 pm dinner reservations (for 3) at the south end's tremont 647
• after dinner drinks at brownstone on dartmouth st

sunday, february 7th

• this is a big sports day. yeah, i'm talking about the capitals @ pens hockey game at noon! i think there's a football game on later that day too?
• with little time before katie has to depart back to the mid-west in the early afternoon, so seems like we'll need some coffee
• a stop by the coolidge corner peet's coffee & tea
• a walk past jfk's birthplace home in brookline
• and a chocolate croissant from clear flour bakery 
• then it's off to logan airport and picking up some beer when i get back

if ya ever visit me in boston, including your upcoming visit mr. legend, you can count on hitting up a place or two from this list. like i previously mentioned, if you're in boston this weekend, whether visiting or living here, and some of these activities interest ya, get in touch with me and i'll let ya know where we are. reservations can be easily adjusted and we'd be glad to have ya. but be prepared to take a picture of katie and i to mark her visit.

on ice. almost.

fenway park will be the sight of this year's winter classic - the new year's day hockey game played outdoors. not only will the bruins play, but boston university is set to take the ice on the 2nd of january. i was hoping to be one of the lucky 3,000 that got to skate on the ice on the 3rd or 10th.

earlier this week the city of boston announced they would be giving away 3,000 tickets on saturday morning at 13 locations. the only catch was that you needed to be a resident of boston (and show proof of such). also you need to bring your own skates if you receive a ticket. unfortunately, living in brookline doesn't qualify me as a boston resident even though boston completely surrounds my town. brookline never got on that boston train. but thankfully, my girlfriend's recent move into the city allowed us the privilege to wait in line this morning.

armed with our starbucks coffee and gloves and hats, we made it to the community center in the south end where they were distributing tickets 20 minutes before 9, which is when this process was to begin. my best guestimate was that we were between 60 or 70th in line, but the fact that each resident was allowed up to 4 tickets should have deterred us from waiting. but with a friendly "line family," as one person in front of us put it, we waited. and waited. and waited some more. and we got cold. then colder. then froze.

over an hour into the wait, w/ the worst part being the boston police not allowing the entire line inside due to space restrictions, murmurs of no more tickets started to rise. still 25 people deep, the police announced tickets were gone, but we could sign a waiting list. we had already invested so much time and hope that it would have been foolish leave so we waited a while longer to sign the waiting list. This now seems ironic.

the city of boston, the redsox, the bruins, and sun life financial corporation have put so much into this winter classic. it'll be a treat to watch the games on tv (i didn't even attempt to purchase tickets for the games) and a once in a lifetime opportunity for those who did get tickets today to skate inside historic fenway. hopefully those that made this happen see the interest in the public from today and announce another day or evening skate is available. i'd be happy to wait again for a chance at those tickets.