Next up...Boston.

It's time to really get this trip moving. Fly out of Chicago and head to a new city for me. Boston! I didn't really know what to expect and I've never really checked out the city to see where the hotspots and cheap spots are. One of the things I discovered...there are hotspots everywhere. It seems that every 5 blocks there is a new neighborhood with another new vibe. I also discovered there are no cheap spots! Here's a little preview of my first day and night in Beantown!

We better have a drink on the flight to relax...

Well, we finally decided to book a room at the Park Plaza in the Back Bay area of Boston. We now know it's not the cheapest area of Boston to eat or drink, but the room was nice for $82. We had a couple hours to kill while we waited for the reservation to show up so we decided to hit the pub down the street. We ended up meeting these two. I know the picture is dark, but it was in a dark bar. This is Brian and Melinda(I think...). He's from Ireland and she is from Scotland.  They got engaged that day in the Boston Commons. What a great Valentine's Day for them! We had a blast talking to them. I think we scared Brian a little...weddings are not for the timid! :) I think it'd be awesome if they actually sent me an invite to the wedding. It'd give me another reason to see Scotland.

We finally left the pub and decided to check into the hotel. Hannah at the front desk was nice enough to give us a few local spots she likes. She was good to us, the prices at alot of the bars were not.  $8 beers and mixed drinks got old fast, but that's just the way it is in Boston. We had a good time and that's what it's all about.

 Guess who we ran into on the way out of the hotel...the Boston fire department. That's usually not a good sign, but it was just an elevator issue. No biggie!

One of the stops for the night...we were hoping to find a snack...

$.99 Pizza! That works for me...it didn't last long. I didn't think I'd get alot for under $1, but it actually tasted good!

After getting a little food in our systems we decided it was time to keep moving. We had a couple dive bars that we wanted to check out. Unfortunately, I decided to stop taking pictures. It'd been a long day, and maybe a few too many drinks before our big meal. TC's Lounge was a great hole in the wall, but I always feel weird when a dive bar actually wins an award for being a dive bar. It seems to me that takes away some of the essence of being a dive bar...but who cares really. It was a good, gritty place with your standard mix of dive bar patrons...the cranky guy in the corner, the guy that might stab you, the grunge kids playing pool and the normal idiots like me!

Well, it was 1am and it'd been a long day. Time to sleep for bit and get ready to hit the freedom trail the next morning!

I'm a little late getting this day posted, but the second day in Boston was rough. And to add to it, we decided that it was useless to get a room for second night since we'd be out til 2am and we had to be at the airport at 4am. I think we're too old for things like that! So...we'll get day two up later and I'll see if Dave will actually leave the room so we can see a little bit of Charleston!