A Lost and Found Post from April - Our Trip to Boston!

Hello everyone! I logged on to my blog today and found that I had started but not finished this post back at the end of April! I was writing about my trip to Boston, so while the post is not finished, I thought you might enjoy some of the pictures from Boston and I will update you on the past 4 months of my life in the coming posts! Enjoy! 

Hello, everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts this semester, but I have finally emerged from my study cave and can officially say I have finished my undergraduate degree! It took a lot of hard work, especially during these past 8 weeks, but I did it! It's incredible that 4 years ago today, I had just accepted my offer to go to Bishop's and was still two months away from graduating high school. Yet, here we are today, after the 4 fastest, but most memorable years of my life and I am a university graduate!

The last 8 weeks of my undergraduate degree were absolutely phenomenal! To back up to where I left off, Gavin and I went down to Boston for Reading Week to visit my cousin Katharine, who is on exchange for the year at University of Massachusetts. We were in Boston from the Wednesday to Saturday of our Reading Week and stayed in the cutest B&B in Savin Hill (30 min. outside of the city) that we found on AirBnB. To recap the trip:

Wednesday: We arrived at our B&B and were in absolute awe! It was an old New England home right on the waterfront, within walking distance to the beach. It was too cold to swim but we loved the patio that looked out to the water. It was also not too far from my cousin's university. After settling in, we went to the Museum of Fine Arts (free admission on Wednesdays), upon our school Principal's request. After the museum, we met up with my cousin and my uncle and aunt who were visiting Katharine from Scotland for dinner in the North End, also known as the Italian part of the city. We had a delicious Italian meal, followed by cannolis for dessert from one of Boston's most well-known bakeries, Modern Pastry. Our trip timing overlapped perfectly with my uncle and aunt's last night in Boston, and it was great to spend time with them our first night there. Many thanks to Chris, Alison and Katharine for a great evening, and for bringing me midget gems from across the pond!

Thursday: On Thursday, we were up bright and early to begin exploring the city. We began our day in Boston Commons, the park in the middle of downtown, which was also the start of the Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail is an actual red brick trail through the city that passes by 16 locations significant to the history of the USA, such as the Old State House, Paul Revere's House, and Faneuil Hall. It took us nearly all day to walk the trail, though we did venture off track to visit the City Hall, the Boston Public Market and the Omni Parker House, birthplace of the Boston Cream Pie. We were exhausted after our trek through the city, so we took a rest at the waterfront Marriott before we went up to Cambridge for the evening. Harvard was definitely a must-see for me on our trip and we got there just in time for an early evening stroll around the main campus. Then, with all credit to Gavin's superior navigation skills, we ventured to the education campus and snuck into the education library, which was breathtaking! A whole library for education students!! It was incredible. Following that, we went for dinner to a place I had found by following #Bostonfoodies on Instagram, the Boston Burger Company. It had been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dive and Rachel Ray. We went to the Cambridge location and the food was amazing! I'll include pictures below! It was also Trivia Night when we were there, and though we were no match for the Harvard and MIT students, we put up a fighting effort and had a fantastic night!

Harvard School of Education Library!

Friday: In the morning, we met Vicki, who was home for Reading Week, at the New England Aquarium. The Boston Libraries have a great program for library card holders to get discounted tickets for tourist attractions, so Vicki was able to get us a great deal at the aquarium. It was so much fun! There were petting tanks, penguins, animal feedings, giant turtles, and a seal. After the aquarium, we went to lunch at a place called Saus, a little restaurant I read about on Pinterest that makes house made fries and all different kinds of dipping sauces. You order a large cone of fries and as many sauces as your heart desires. It was amazing! After lunch, Vicki headed home to go to a hockey game with her dad and Gavin and I went for a walk in Beacon Hill, a popular historic tourist destination due to its preserved architecture and historic feel. Of course, we had to have a picture taken on Acorn Street, the most photographed street in Boston. We actually had our picture taken by a lady walking past with her newborn baby who told us that she had actually lived in Beacon Hill with her boyfriend at the time. One night, he took her for a walk to Acorn Street and he had paid a photographer to act like a tourist to take photos while he proposed to her! The two are now happily married and have a little baby! Such a cute story. After our walk, we met up with Katharine and her boyfriend Olger for coffee and a stroll down Newbury Street. Gavin and I then continued walking through Back Bay all the way to Fenway Park. We could not go inside but were able to admire the baseball field from the street. It then got too cold to continue our walk, so we took public transit to Boston University where we watched the Boston Terriers hockey team take on the University of Massachusetts.

Morning run on the Boston Harbour Waterfront!

Acorn Street - My favourite photo from the trip! 

Saturday: Saturday was our last day in Boston, so we started to day with a trip to the Boston Public Library. A tour was beginning just as we arrived so we started following it but decided to go our own way after the first bit. The library was breathtakingly beautiful. Talk about consideration of the small details. Following the library, we went for one final stroll through Boston Commons and the Boston Public Gardens and then stopped at BoLoCo for lunch, the Boston version of Chipotle. Following lunch, we left town and stopped at the Mall at Rockingham Park in no-tax New Hampshire. We got home late that night, exhausted from an amazing getaway!

This is as far as I got to with this post, so I will continue a summary of my adventures in the next posts!