Gil’s Wedding / Boston weekend
I spent this past weekend up in Boston, visiting my friends and attending Gil’s wedding. It was, um, eventful.
Sure, things started off fairly smoothly - up the FDR, over the Willis Ave bridge, eventually making our way to the Bruckner and I-95. We got out a little later than we planned, though we managed to stop first and pick up Dori’s marathon shoes up at Super Runner’s on 92nd street. We drove for a while up I-95, and eventually stopped at a rest stop to use the bathroom and eat something small.
I was a little uncomfortable at the rest stop because a guy outside McDonald’s was going around asking people for money for gas, but I wasn’t too put off considering I’m from NYC and generally walk past a ton of panhandlers every day (well not a ton, the 3 or 4 regulars on my route to the subway I’ve come to know and ignore completely by now). I didn’t expect this guy to have a partner working down at the parking lot.
So we were getting in the car and I hear someone saying “Sir, excuse me sir!” … I’m not halfway in the car, door open, and this guy comes up with his heartbreak story about how he needs $19.08 for a tow of his girlfriend’s car 2 miles down the road and why would he be out there in the rain in his shitty t-shirt and shorts.
I was a bit uncomfortable since I felt I was in a disadvantaged position. If I was standing outside the car, I’d have had a height difference over the guy (though not weight, he was fat). If I had the door closed I’d be protected by the door and could talk to him through the window. Unfortunately it was neither, and I was a bit unnerved, so I didn’t think to ask the simple question “Can you please take 2 steps back”.
Either way, I gave him the $20, recorded as Charity:Go Away in Quicken. Live and learn. The rest of the ride up continued without incident.
We eventually arrived at our somewhat ramshackle hotel around 4:30, a solid 5 hours after starting (30 minutes for food / accosting, 30 minutes for traffic). The place didn’t look too bad to me honestly, though Dori and my friends were disappointed. There was one major perk - a 24-hour bowling alley across the street!
After getting acclimated, laying down for 15 minutes, and finally getting dressed. The 6 of us (Neil, Rachel, Dan, Katie, Dori, and I) piled into a cab bound for downtown. 15 or so minutes later we pull up to a nice tall building in the downtown area, and are welcomed into a large open ball room on the 33rd floor. Despite the rain and clouds, the floor-to-ceiling windows in the State Room yielded wonderful views of Boston and the Charles. Several folks pointed out noteworthy buildings, though none that I remember anymore.
I had also never tried a bacon-wrapped scallop before. I should issue some sort of formal warning to scallops and pigs worldwide as a result of this discovery; I believe I may end up creating jobs in the thousands to help satisfy this new craving. Thankfully I still have several days to repent before Yom Kippur…
The food at this wedding was fantastic - I was not only impressed by the hors d’ouverse , but also by the entres. I had the prime rib which was a proper steak as I would expect in any reasonable restaurant (though larger, actually). High marks there! Dori got the mushroom dish, naturally, and she also enjoyed it very much.
After the wedding a few of us made a brief attempt to get into an overcrowded bar off of Quincy market, though the weather detered the 6 of us staying together at the Ramada. Instead, we returned to the hotel, got changed, and went bowling! Katie turned in early, and Dan joined us for about half a game, but it was Neil, Rachel, Dori, and me who put in the time for the two games we played. Oddly enough, at this bowling alley they gave you new socks (which said ‘Boston Bowl’ on them) in case you didn’t have any. A nice touch, later we found out that you had the option of keeping them or dropping them in a bin to be donated to the homeless. Having only brought one pair of socks myself (packing was slightly disorganized), I kept mine, and now have a nice souvenier.
Sunday morning we met the rest of the crew for a caravan up to Cambridge for brunch at Christopher’s, a place that reminded me of Fetch (c. 92nd and 3rd IIRC). As Dori and I entered the car, an error in my judgement became immediately apparent. See, on the way up, the lack of A/C in the car made us generally very uncomfortable. So I had opened the windows ever so slightly to vent the car out … and opened the sunroof ever so slightly for this same purpose. I didn’t exactly consider how badly the car would get soaked as a result.
Now that we’re comfortable sitting in a car with wet seats, we take off following Neil to find I-93N, to Cambridge. Either by lack of quality directions or just being unfamiliar with the area, we get reasonably lost, turn around, miss the turn back onto the original road we were on, and continue off into the unknown. We stop, Neil gets incomprehensible directions from a latino guy. We drive some more, head in what feels like the right general direction, make 2 rights - a U-turn. Dori and I stop the car briefly, since we want to go back the other way (which *was* the right direction), call again, they ask some guy who was not only unsure but had probably the thickest New England accent I’d heard in a long time. Shortly thereafter, we bailed, and found the highway just fine on our own, and eventually make it to Cambridge about 15 minutes ahead of the other car. Next time I know who’s taking point!
The brunch was nice, and we sat with David and Diego and discussed events of the previous night (omitted here to avoid fanning flames). Afterwards, Dori and I made our way back to the highway, and stopped enroute at the Boston Marathon Shop where we found the sneakers she had been looking for! We also spent a little time around Harvard Square, searching for towels for the wet car and we successful after locating the Crate & Barrel there.
And that was about all. The ride back was fairly uneventful (no stops this time).