Wednesday July 25 Southborough to Boston Day 12

We left the hotel about 8:30 thinking we would miss a lot of traffic. We may have but it was hard to tell. We got into downtown Boston and went to look for a lace to park. I leaned over to Shirleen’s side and asked a cabbie next to us where a certain street was and he smiled and said next light left. We turned into an underground lot, it was 36$, the attendant said there was another lot for 22$ two blocks down. That was awful nice of him to direct us to a competitor’s lot! We arrived there and it was after 9 so the deal didn’t count, but it was only 32$. It was the International Building. We arrived on street level and we were meet with a floor to ceiling marble look. Just downright beautiful.

We wandered down to the trolley ticket sales. I asked the gal if she had the orange and green trolley tickets, I said we had discount tickets for it and she said go across the street, they are there. Third nice person. Our intention is to ride the route and figure out hat we will do the next day. On stop 15 we ate at Legal Seafood – Park Square, we wanted to judge it against the one Steve and Mary Ann took us to in West Palm Beach. Shirleen ordered a glass of Jekel cabernet with a Lobster roll, freshly shucked native lobster, a light celery mayo on a stuffed brioche bun, a side of fries and orzo for me. It was laced with red pepper and black olives - yummy. Jim had Legal’s Signature Crab Cake. It was piled high with Maryland lump crab, mustard sauce, greens tossed with tomatoes, pine nuts and vinaigrette, lightly breaded. I pursued the fish and chips, three succulent pieces of cod, done to a super moist inside and light breading with a side of cole slaw with a glass of Conundrum – a chardonnay and pinot grigio – sweeter than chardonnay but a pleasant surprise.

We took a walk through the Boston Commons area, people sunbathing, running through sprinklers, eating and some homeless staking out this evenings rest spot. Next door to the Commons is a garden, they were sprinkling the plantings during the mid day sun, but what beautiful flower arrangements. At one of the gates was a bronze statue of George Washington on his horse. We walked up the block and at its end was the opening shot of Cheers, the canopy leading down the stairs, the bar was never in the building but the quaintness of the outside of the building brought Boston’s uniqueness to the sitcom.

We went back on board the trolley and came to the beginning spot. Shirleen mentioned we should have a beer and her, a soda. We obliged her with the request. We sat for a half hour cooling down from the temperature and high humidity. As we walked toward the parking lot we looked at the 5 o’clock traffic and said let’s sit down for awhile, wait it out and maybe eat something. Here was The Times Irish Pub and Restaurant, we sat outside and Jim and I had a bowl of there prestigious clam chowder, as they had won a couple of citywide chowder awards. The traffic was light for the first two miles then tightened up again and became downright difficult to figure out what was going on and where to go.

We went to our cars and headed south. The directions looked straight forward but turned out to be complicated. After driving up and down and back and forth we arrived, Jim 15 minutes later.

It will take some writing to talk about the many sights we saw today and will see tomorrow. Hope to do that tomorrow. jerr