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Trip To Boston, MA ~ July
9th through 13th
This
page features our Summer 2001 trip to Boston, MA. We spent a week from July 9th
through the 13th. Joey and Cara stayed home with Grandpa and Grandma Calamari.
We traveled Delta Air from Savannah with a decent airfare of $185.00 per
person. Most of our stay was at the Marriott Long Wharf Hotel. It was a great
place to stay as it was in close proximity to everything. The last night we
rented a car and drove about 1-hour north to Gloucester and stayed at a
B&B.
Monday:
Travel day. We woke up early at 6:30, kissed
Cara good bye and left home about 7:15AM. Arrived at the Savannah airport on
time at about 8:AM Flight left on time with minor warning light problems, but
arrived in Atlanta, GA on time. After transferring concourses we left Delta
flight to Boston at 10:00 AM. During flight caught up on sleep and upon waking
up noticed larger land mass and soon realized that it was Manhattan. Arrived in
Boston on-time at about 1:00PM
Faneuil Hall |
Arrived at the Marriott Long Wharf about 1:30 or so. Upon gathering
all of the tourist brochures we ventured out into the city and happened upon
Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market, which is a large touristy inner city shopping and
eating Mecca. Our ultimate goal was to get to the city's North End district,
which is the Old Italian Boston neighborhood. With map in hand we eventually
found our way to the old neighborhood. Walked around and saw many great and
numerous Italian restaurants and bars. We understand that there are over 100
restaurants in this small neighborhood. We took our notes on many restaurants
to make sure we would stop back for supper.
Losing Lottery Ticket |
Mary Frasca on
Hanover St. |
We
strolled the streets when and decided to go into a kind of old style family
corner store. We ran into an old-timer and native Bostonian Leo. He was an
un-kept elderly fellow who looked very much the part of a native North End
Italian character. We of course struck up a conversation and decided to see if
it was possible to pay for dinner by winning a couple hundred bucks and play
the Boston Keno lottery. He predicted that we might have beginners luck and
would win. We could tell we were making his day (or at the very least his
afternoon) with this small wager. We both picked 4 numbers and after 20 minuets
and 5 games later we did walk away with a "good time" with Leo, and several
local restaurants recommendations…but an out of pocket loss of only
$3.00.
Leo also gave us an inside tip to visit a Revolutionary War
burial ground and see some of the old headstones. We saw one that looked
interesting and read something to this effect. That he had fought in brave
valor for his country and upon a calmer life he ran into Felicity and died. I
called daddy on the spot in hopes of an answer to the meaning of that
headstone…but where was he when we needed him? Playing bingo, what an
irony! Unlike us moments earlier with Keno, we hope he won big.
Leo told
us "hands down" to try Massimino's Italian restaurant on Endicott Street. We
then strolled a few blocks to Massimino's Cucina, you can visit their website
at www.massiminosboston.com If you go, ask for Gail and tell her
that you ran into Leo at the smoke shop and that he sent you. This should get
you great service. It's easy to find and really very reasonable with great old
world dining. We might recommend that you get the Bruschetta, it is absolutely
worldly!
Massimino's Cucina Italiana |
After dinner we strolled back out into the streets to meet the
true essence of Boston's North End. We walked the streets and ran across Maria
a 78-year-old Boston Italian native. We spent about a half an hour and listened
to stories about how much the neighborhood has changed through the years. Maria
remembered the days when rent was $80.00 per month; she (actually her son) now
pays almost $1,800. per month. She said that since the "yuppies" moved in real
estate prices have escalated to unheard of sales prices. She mentioned a few
condominiums nearby that had million dollar sales prices. She is wonderful
asset to this community, she reminded me a bit of my dad in her mannerisms, and
we thoroughly enjoyed talking with her. As we strolled further I saw an older
man sitting in front of another Italian restaurant, we struck up another
interesting conversation, and he invited us to "sit with him" a while. He
introduced himself as Mr. Gubalrdi; he was an older Italian looking fellow with
a few-day old beard and about an extra 50lbs of good Italian cooking within. As
with Maria, he recalled a younger era of Boston. When you could buy a good
dinner for about $3.00 and wages of $80.00 per week. Mr. Gubalrdi was also a
native Bostonian and knew Maria on Hanover St.
Our Good Friend Mr. G. |
After our talks with the natives we searched for highly
recommended Mikes Bakery for dessert. It was an older bakery that has probably
been there since the mid 40's or so. Pastries were wonderful and this seemed to
be our nightly stop for after dinner desert.
In summation, the North
End of Boston is an easy walk from the downtown (10-mins. or so) and contains
the highest concentration of Italian restaurants, bakeries, and residents
anywhere we have ever been. Certainly more than NY's Little Italy and Chicago.
It's about 20 or so square block of narrow streets and old Bostonian
architecture. It's wonderful if you love Italian food and a great clean old
world environment. Spend two or so nights here seeing the sites and visiting
the restaurants and above all talk to the people. You'll never regret the
experience.
Tuesday:
At USS
Constitution |
Another beautiful day, sunny and 78 or so. We ate breakfast at hotel
and then proceeded out to take a Trolley/Tour ride, which would show us Boston
and provide insight into the history. Our first stop was to the US
Constitution. The first battleship of the US Navy. We were certainly impressed
and suggest that you take the guided tour instead of the "fast" lane. This will
give you this inside scoop of how life was in those early military days. I was
absolutely in awe of this ship (I love this stuff) and the way life was back
then. We learned about the "stiff upper lip" quote. When soldiers would pretend
to become sick and die, they would tie them up to his hammock and throw them
overboard. The faking soldiers would then untie themselves and swim to shore to
become free of the horrible conditions. When they learned of this trick, a new
rule would be to stitch the dead soldiers lip to the hammock and then throw him
overboard. This would usually solve the problem of faking death, and scar the
soldier for life with a "stiff upper lip". An absolute must see!
I
climbed to the top! |
After the USS Constitution tour we headed up hill to the Bunker Hill
monument, again a lifelong goal of mine to visit here. We spent sometime inside
the museum and then decided to take the trek up the monument. As usual, put a
hill or large boulder in front of me and I feel challenged and have an inner
need to accomplish the task. I ran, walked and hobbled up that monument to the
top, some 250 stairs! It was a great challenge, however let me give you some
advice; I paid for it the next two days with sore calf mussels. Going up and
down stairs the next few days was a chore. But put it in front of me tomorrow,
and I'll do it again! Interesting stop and worth it!
Our next stop on
the trolley was to Boston Commons, which was one of the first public parks. We
strolled through and Carla had lunch "on the go" fried dough from one of the
park vendors. Let me tell you she would come back to Boston just to have that
lunch again! The park is nice if you have a sunny day.
Our next stop
was to fulfill another dream of seeing the Harvard campus. Initially we were
not too sure if we made the right decision, or even the right stop. When we
were walking up the stairs to exit the "T" we heard this lady screaming and
cursing at the top of her very healthy lungs. She was having an argument over
the public pay phone. Wow she threw us for a loop, but we did proceed on.
Harvard was interesting to see, but not a must see.
Our trolley tour then took us through the midtown, China Town, theater
district, financial district and back to our hotel on the wharf. We do highly
recommend the trolley tour as it provides you insight into the many historical
facts of the city. We took the "Orange Trolley Tours" would highly recommend
them.
After a refresher nap we ventured out again into the North End to
eat at one of Leo's recommendations, Pizzeria Regina. Being from Chicago we
have premium standards in regards to quality pizza. The atmosphere in Regina's
is very old and the waitresses are authentic North End Boston Italian gals,
they are fast and direct. Pizza Regina's was a bit different, more of an
authentic Italian pizza being thin and crispy. Don't expect any frills no
salads, no bread, no anything other than great pizza. We did enjoy and would
recommend if you were in the mood for pizza. After dinner we went again to
Mikes Pastries café for the usual.
Wednesday:
This day
started out bad and went downhill from there. It was cloudy and a bit rainy and
put off plans to take a boat ride to the Cape and Provincetown. So we decided
to take it easy and shop and see the
New England
Aquarium.
New England Aquarium |
We
had a quick trip to Dunkin Doughnuts and then came back to the hotel to gather
our stuff. While in the hotel we had a fire drill! We had to rush out and take
the stairs outside; fortunately it was a false alarm. After that we fulfilled
one of Carla's dreams and walked into town and visited Filene's Basement. She
was in awe with the amount of people bargain shopping and the selection of
goods. But being the bargain shopper she is, she said that better buys can be
had a TJ's!
After leaving Filene's as we were walking down the street
Carla inadvertently tripped on a street grill and started to fall forward. She
was going down and I could only try to catch up but simply could not catch her
fall. She tried to break her fall first with her wrists, then arm and finally
with her shoulder and hip. She was lying on the downtown street and I was over
her trying to determine if she had broken any bones. She seemed OK, and got up
to her feet. She was fine, although I was sure she had broken a wrist trying to
catch herself. She was just a bit bruised but fine. Wow, we looked at each
other and agreed that this just was just part of a bad day.
For dinner
we again ventured out to our favorite neighborhood and tried to walk the
streets to pick out a nice restaurant. We were "button holed" by a fat Italian
guy named Franco, who owned a restaurant called
Dolce Vita on Hanover Street. We had looked at the menu a few
evenings before and liked it, so we went with the flow and stepped inside. It
was a great move, the food was very good and the service and atmosphere was
great. Franco sings and lets you know he is always in control of his
restaurant. I had the cheese ravioli and Carla had Ceasar salad and fried
Calamari… both were absolutely wonderful. We would highly recommend this
restaurant. It's also on Hanover Street. As usual we found our old friend Mr.
Gubalrdi; he again invited us to sit down with him and talk. He had a friend
(woman) and Carla had a great time talking with her. I discovered that Mr.
Gubalrdi worked many years in the US Naval yard nearby. We kibitz a bit then
strolled onward to Mike's. As you can tell we felt very "at home" in this North
End neighborhood.
Thursday:
In Gloucester, MA |
Say good-by to Boston! We rented a car and drove up to
Gloucester MA. A wonderful quaint harbor town, which features the oldest
working seaport in the states. We had lunch at McT's, which had a nice view of
the harbor, but the food was OK. Our best time here was going to the Visitors
Center just south of the harbor and going out back to the Gloucester monument.
This is a humungous boulder, which is the exact spot where they founded the
town in around 1623 or so. Its enormous about 30 ft. high and 100 ft. wide. I
started to climb it but Carla held me off. Just behind the monument they have a
nice inlet beach, which is fun to visit or stay for a while. Make sure to go to
the waters edge by the monument and get an opportunity to view the water, its
beautiful and a great photo opportunity.
Gloucester,
MA |
After lunch we visited the Hammond castle. A real castle! This is the
castle of Dr. John Hammond Jr. He was the son of a prominent English family. He
built the castle on the early 1900's and used it for entertaining prominent
dignitaries. He is also a famous inventor with hundreds of US patents. He was
the inventor of the radio remote control for TV's and various military
applications such as torpedo guidance systems. A real must stop; we spent
almost 2-hours talking and visiting the castle.
Breakfast at the Diamond Dist. |
Friday:
The next day we drove back into Logan
airport and headed home. All went well and we were happy to be back home.
Boston is a wonderful city to visit for 4-5 days. Great history, clean safe
downtown and above all great food!
Make sure to see these
stops:
· Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market, downtown near the Long Wharf
· North End neighborhood - just north of the downtown
·
Take a Trolley Tour that stops a most all of the Freedom Trail points
· Go to Gloucester and see the Hammond Castle.
Upon
reflection this was with out doubt our favorite time in Boston. The old people
have many great stories that interest us, and we love hearing them. I have
always said that given the opportunity to go into the future or the past for a
day…I would prefer the past!
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