In March, Cassie, Ashely and I wanted to go away for the Easter long weekend. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any good deals for April. But, we found a cheap thanksgiving deal to fly from Buffalo to Boston for $140, round trip, tax and fees included. We jumped on it and after waiting half a year, we checked Boston off our travel map.

Boston is a very quaint city. The people are friendly and the environment is very relaxed. It had a different vibe from the other American cities… A east coast feel I guess.

Day 1 – Harvard and Cambridge

We quickly got used to their transit system and checked in at the Revere Hotel. Jenny, from New York met us there and we started our Boston adventures together.

We explored Newbury street since I needed to buy a T-mobile sim card for data. We stopped by a homemade chocolate shop, L.A. Burdick for a macaron. Chewy but delicious!

We made way to Harvard Square for lunch and decided on Border Cafe, a affordable Cajun and Mexican place. I had blackend chicken dish with jambalaya. It was good but not spectacular… Too salty and strong in my opinion.

We walk around Harvard Square browsing the Campus Store, Curious George store, Black Ink and Newbury Comics. It was a lively fun area with many fun shops to see. We had more fun than we should have… Fooling around with store merchandise.

We got tired and went to crema cafe,  which is suppose to have great coffee. I should have order the coffee but when I saw thai iced tea latte, I couldn’t resist! Sadly, it was a fake… it was just a chai tea latte.

We finally visited the campus grounds and instantly felt more intelligent. There was something about the campus, it was beautiful and fresh. We couldn’t enter the buildings since they check ur student ID but we took a photo with John Harvard’s statue. The story is if you rub his left foot before an exam, you will ace it. Lots of tourist have tried… Look how shiny it is!

We decided to go to Davis Square to find a froyo cafe recommended by our server at lunch. It was the most trendy self serve yogurt place I’ve been to, exposed brick walls and all. The yogurt was very good too -comparable to PinkBerry.

It was about 8pm, when we met up with Michelle and Rich at Island Oyster Creek for dinner. They were coincidently in Boston this weekend too. This place was packed and said there would be a two hour wait… We looked for other options but ended up waiting… At another bar and grill with appetizers. Finally, exhausted at 10:30pm, we got seated and had our dinner. I enjoyed the lobster roll, clam chowder and lobster pasta. It was very good and fresh. The lobster roll was chilled and juicy. The clam chowder was thick but still delicious. The winning dish of the night was the lobster pasta… But I was to tired to remember the flavours…

We called it a night and got some well deserved sleep.

Day 2 – Duck Tour, Food trucks and Quincy Market

We started our morning with some pastries from Au Bon du Pain and then made way to the Museum of Science for a Duck Tour of the city. The ducks is a very popular bus and boat tour company in Boston.

We got to hear a bit of history and see some popular sights. The best part was on the Charles River and we got to see the skyline paired with many sailboats.

After the tour, we went to get lunch at the SOWA food truck market. The  SOWA market happens every sunday and is made up of vintage, artisan, farmers and food truck vendors.

We ate at Bon Me Truck and I had the Chinese BBQ pork banh mi. It was good but not omfg good. The Thai iced tea was very disappointing… Just another chai tea in disguise.

We walk to the outdoor local food festival after for more food and snacks. It was raining so there wasn’t much to see… Or eat. The Quincy Market was next for some shopping. Quincy Market is historic commercial area near Faneuil Hall and a now popular tourist spot on the freedom trail.

The shops started to close around six so we roamed around the italian neighborhood, North End for a dinner spot. While looking, we stopped by Mike’s Pastry for some famous cannoli. It was good but too rich and heavy for my taste.

Our dinner at Terramia was hearty and delicious! I had the gnocchi and meatballs in a tomato sauce.

We ended our night with a four course dessert at Finale Dessert Bar. Wonderful presentation and big portions! The first course was chocolate dipped strawberries, the second was a Boston creme mini cake, the third was strawberry sorbet and the last was a choice from the menu. I had the peanut butter mousse pie. It was good but very filling.

Day 3 – Beacon Hill, Boston Public Garden and Food

We started our last day with a trip to Flour Bakery. Cassie and I were looking forward to this place ever since we saw it on the Food Network.

They were known for their sticky buns and boy was it delicious! It was very sweet and rich but that’s how sticky buns should be. Cassie also said their sandwiches were amazing because of the fresh bread. I will be back here for sure!

We went to the Contemporary  Institude of Art nearby to check out the gift store. Nothing like the MOMA gift store but some nice stuff. We went back to the Quincy Market so Cassie could buy a lobster stuffed animal. This also gave us the chance to eat at Neptune Oyster, a highly raved seafood restaurant near the market. The restaurant had about an hour wait so I made a stop at Modern Pastry, another famous place for cannoli pastries.

This time I got the traditional ricotta cheese filling which tasted like a cream cheese filling but more light and fluffy. The shell was more crunchy and I found the proportions of cream and shell more suiting to my taste buds. I definitely enjoyed this cannoli over the one from Mike’s Pastry.

Our table was ready at Neptune Oyster and I was ready too. The place was small but the servers were friendly and welcoming. I had the clam chowder to start and Wow! The “chowdah” was creamy and smooth. It was delicious. Next, we had the fried calms which was really good but I didn’t expect it to be deep fried… I was expecting stir-fried.

Finally, the main course was the hot lobster buttered roll. The meat was so juicy and plump… It was large chunks of pure lobster meat. The bun was warm and soft but I would have liked it more toasted. Regardless, Neptune Oyster was the the most memorable meal of the trip.

Stuffed with food, we walked around Beacon Hill. We saw a glimpse of the area during our Duck tour and wanted to explore it on our free time because it looked so nice. This area was a high class neighborhood with million dollar homes. What made it special was the cobblestone roads, gas lamps and very historic styled homes. One of my favorite sights of the trip!

We asked a random man to take a group photo for us and we were impressed at the variation of shots he did; landscape, portrait and zoomed in. Then he went into one of the homes… We were like “No wonder he was so pro… He’s rich!”

We walked towards and through the Boston Public Garden next. The Garden was small but lovely and it hosted famous Duck statues from a popular storybook, Make Way for the Ducklings.

We still had about 1-2 hours before our flight so we decided to go shopping around Newbury Street and Marshall’s. I also picked up some souvenirs from L.A Burdick.

We picked up our luggage from the hotel and said our goodbye to Jenny since she was leaving to NYC. It was a wonderful long weekend spent with good friends. Boston has a lot of history but even if you’re not into that, like me you’ll still enjoy it. I’ll be back and next time, I want to go to Cape Cod.