And the best way to learn a city is to be forced to and/or volunteer to show people around it. (Or spend a lonely weekend walking it, but that's a different post). Luckily, I've had about 500% more visitors in the last two months in Boston than I had in five years in Dallas. This past weekend was no exception with two of my best friends from Dallas visiting, so now not only am I qualified to give a historical Freedom Trail tour, I'm qualified to give a tour of Boston dive bars. Yeah, you know you want to come visit me now.
Also, based on a nickname given to them by one of their fathers bc of how much time they spent together, my friends refer to themselves as Nancys. They're not. But it's funny. This was their Nancys Boston trip. Not that you care.
Here's a recap of our days/nights. If you would like more information on any of the places you see below, please don't hesitate to ask a question in the comments section. Someone will answer it eventually.
Thursday
Nancys’ Flight arrives in Boston at 12:45pm. Nancys explored Newbury Street until I called them to come drink at my office. They met me at my office, and we enjoyed the Lone Starts that coincidentally arrived at the office right when the girls from Texas did. This was not planned but totally awesome. Thanks, client based in Texas that I don't even work on. We left work through the mall, walked to my house, and then walked to Fenway for a Red Sox game.
PS, I don't recommend getting standing room only tickets unless you get to the game early enough to get standing room in the front. Or you can just not care about the Red Sox and enjoy the Fenway Franks instead.
Friday
A handyman showed up first thing in the morning to install my A/C unit. It’s been cool outside ever since. Of course.
Friday
A handyman showed up first thing in the morning to install my A/C unit. It’s been cool outside ever since. Of course.
We went on a Boston historical tour – from Faneuil Hall up to Old State House and the King’s Cemetery. Our guide was from New York. See, anyone can do this shit.
Towards the end of the historical tour, we cut out and went to Harpoon Brewery in South Boston for a tasting. I highly recommend this. It was fun. We drank samples of a lot of Harpoon beers for free. Pretty good time. Also, the Harpoon IPA is my go-to beer now in Boston.
Dinner and drinks in the South End. We put on makeup and stuff. Looked real girly.
Saturday
This was the longest day. And the funnest day. We walked to brunch at The Other Side and had mimosas. Next, we walked over the bridge to Cambridge, past MIT, and went up to Harvard. At this point, it was humid and sticky so we quickly left Harvard to find a bar that I'd heard good things about.
This bar that everyone liked online was playing music like Chumbawumba and the Cranberries. It made me angry. The 26 year old bartender who clearly has no friends in his life is a prick and is also wearing a pukka shell necklace. It made me ever angrier. We left the bar for another place and met up w/ Nancy #1’s friends from Rhode Island.
We headed to the Waterfront / North End for more adventures, and found ourselves at a bar where apparently Nancy #1 and her R.I. friends had been like, ten years ago on New Years Eve. That was a fun flashback. We took a detour through the North End as they were wrapping up one of their saints festivals (drinking, feasting, praying, dancing, etc). It’s like North Beach on drugs - double the tourists, smaller streets, and more Italians. As you can imagine, we quickly got the fuck out of the North End.
We then went on to find what could be the best bar I have been to in Boston. Don’t let the name fool you: Durty Nelly’s Pub. Now before you judge, read on. Mixed crowd of totally normal people, of all ages, coming from who knows where. It's a smaller place (wait - actually, there was an upstairs. We didn't go up there). Random music was playing, like Aerosmith and DMB and Peter Gabriel, but then with some Mumford and Sons thrown in. At this point in the day (night), anything was better than 90s bar. The two bartenders were fun. One even recommended another dive bar, which we ended up meeting him at on Monday. That’s right. We had a date. Not like that, shut up.
The best part was, at some point in the night, the two bartenders and some other dude who sort-of worked there started telling people who came in the door that they were closed, and no more people were allowed it. I realized it was only 11:30. We asked them what was up and they said they made enough money for the night and now they liked the people currently in the bar, and didn’t want anyone else in. Literally, from 11:30 until close, the same crowd stayed in the bar. We were fans of this. Even if this was an asshole move. Or because they were planning on holding us hostage later.
Sunday
Sunday it rained until mid-afternoon, so we went to the ICA to check out the exhibits. This is actually one of the cooler museums I’ve been to (been twice now, if you’d like more info on the ICA or to arrange a tour, please use the comments section, thanks). I think it’s just the exhibits that are really good right now, like The Record, and Catherine Opie’s photos of Americans. (This is the first time I’ve ever talked about how much I like a museum, I feel pretty smart and artsy.)
We left the museum to eat crab and calamari nearby on the water. Eating crab legs is such a brutal act. And the butter is delicious.
Monday
I went to work, Nancys went out to the Boston Harbor Islands. In the rain. On a ferry. They explored a fort on St. Georges Island. They even had that really hot park ranger that’s only in the movies. He does exist! He works on the island only during the summer. Just so you know and want to plan a visit.
Monday night we went to The Tam to meet up w/ the bartender from the other bar. I was underwhelmed, but based on the fun Yelp reviews, I also had really high hopes. I mean, it was fine, I’d go back, I was just hoping for real dive bar atmosphere. Whatever that means.
Tuesday
I went to work again. Nancys went to tour Fenway before they went to the airport. Apparently they liked it. I HAVE NOT done this, so don’t ask me questions about that or I’ll have to make something up.
Good times. Nobody got too out of control or arrested or injured and we're all still friends. All this can be yours if you come visit...Hurry, winter's coming fast.
Towards the end of the historical tour, we cut out and went to Harpoon Brewery in South Boston for a tasting. I highly recommend this. It was fun. We drank samples of a lot of Harpoon beers for free. Pretty good time. Also, the Harpoon IPA is my go-to beer now in Boston.
Dinner and drinks in the South End. We put on makeup and stuff. Looked real girly.
Saturday
This was the longest day. And the funnest day. We walked to brunch at The Other Side and had mimosas. Next, we walked over the bridge to Cambridge, past MIT, and went up to Harvard. At this point, it was humid and sticky so we quickly left Harvard to find a bar that I'd heard good things about.
This bar that everyone liked online was playing music like Chumbawumba and the Cranberries. It made me angry. The 26 year old bartender who clearly has no friends in his life is a prick and is also wearing a pukka shell necklace. It made me ever angrier. We left the bar for another place and met up w/ Nancy #1’s friends from Rhode Island.
We headed to the Waterfront / North End for more adventures, and found ourselves at a bar where apparently Nancy #1 and her R.I. friends had been like, ten years ago on New Years Eve. That was a fun flashback. We took a detour through the North End as they were wrapping up one of their saints festivals (drinking, feasting, praying, dancing, etc). It’s like North Beach on drugs - double the tourists, smaller streets, and more Italians. As you can imagine, we quickly got the fuck out of the North End.
We then went on to find what could be the best bar I have been to in Boston. Don’t let the name fool you: Durty Nelly’s Pub. Now before you judge, read on. Mixed crowd of totally normal people, of all ages, coming from who knows where. It's a smaller place (wait - actually, there was an upstairs. We didn't go up there). Random music was playing, like Aerosmith and DMB and Peter Gabriel, but then with some Mumford and Sons thrown in. At this point in the day (night), anything was better than 90s bar. The two bartenders were fun. One even recommended another dive bar, which we ended up meeting him at on Monday. That’s right. We had a date. Not like that, shut up.
The best part was, at some point in the night, the two bartenders and some other dude who sort-of worked there started telling people who came in the door that they were closed, and no more people were allowed it. I realized it was only 11:30. We asked them what was up and they said they made enough money for the night and now they liked the people currently in the bar, and didn’t want anyone else in. Literally, from 11:30 until close, the same crowd stayed in the bar. We were fans of this. Even if this was an asshole move. Or because they were planning on holding us hostage later.
Sunday
Sunday it rained until mid-afternoon, so we went to the ICA to check out the exhibits. This is actually one of the cooler museums I’ve been to (been twice now, if you’d like more info on the ICA or to arrange a tour, please use the comments section, thanks). I think it’s just the exhibits that are really good right now, like The Record, and Catherine Opie’s photos of Americans. (This is the first time I’ve ever talked about how much I like a museum, I feel pretty smart and artsy.)
We left the museum to eat crab and calamari nearby on the water. Eating crab legs is such a brutal act. And the butter is delicious.
She's originally from Maryland. Girl can eat some crabs.
I went to work, Nancys went out to the Boston Harbor Islands. In the rain. On a ferry. They explored a fort on St. Georges Island. They even had that really hot park ranger that’s only in the movies. He does exist! He works on the island only during the summer. Just so you know and want to plan a visit.
Monday night we went to The Tam to meet up w/ the bartender from the other bar. I was underwhelmed, but based on the fun Yelp reviews, I also had really high hopes. I mean, it was fine, I’d go back, I was just hoping for real dive bar atmosphere. Whatever that means.
Tuesday
I went to work again. Nancys went to tour Fenway before they went to the airport. Apparently they liked it. I HAVE NOT done this, so don’t ask me questions about that or I’ll have to make something up.
Good times. Nobody got too out of control or arrested or injured and we're all still friends. All this can be yours if you come visit...Hurry, winter's coming fast.
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