stevenpiziks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stevenpiziks) wrote2018-07-30 10:55 pm
stevenpiziks) wrote2018-07-30 10:55 pm
Boston 1
Today, we packed up the flat, bid our landlady good-bye, and drove through horrible, awful, rotten traffic to Boston.
We didn't arrive at Beacon Hill until late afternoon. The flat is situated in a 150-year-old brownstone, and the entrance is down a little alley lit by its own gaslight. I later learned the area used to be occupied by servants who waited on the wealthy in their bigger houses, which is why the flats in the area are all so small. Eventually, however, the state installed a freeway that cut the servant neighborhood off from their employers. Over time, the wealthy area declined, and the servant area became gentrified. Such is city life!
We unloaded the car, dumped everything into the apartment, and drove the car to a garage for long-term parking. That was extremely difficult and involved a number of wrong directions and hair-raising U-turns, but we finally found the place. Darwin and I got our bikes off the rack to ride back to the flat, and suddenly Darwin's bike chain jumped the sprockets and tangled itself into a snarl. I had a look at it. The chain guard had somehow come almost off and got itself enmeshed with the chain. Darwin doesn't know for bikes and didn't know what to do. I decided that the guard, which was only plastic, needed to come the rest of the way off and the bike would be fine. But I had no tools. I finally wrenched the stupid thing back and forth a dozen times, greasing up my fingers marvelously, until it finally snapped off. At last we were able to get where we needed to be.
At the flat, I washed the grease off and we decided to look for supper. I asked Siri about nearby restaurants and discovered Cheers was only a little ways away. Well, why not?
Cheers was originally called the Bull and Finch, but when the TV show went on the air, using shots of their exterior, they changed the name to Cheers and even remodeled part of the place to mimic the set on the show. When you arrive at Cheers, you go downstairs just like on the show, and a greeter talks to you. If you want food, he sends you upstairs. You wind your way past a gift shop and a thousand photos from the show and up a spiral staircase, where another greeter brings you into the section which is done up like the bar in the show. An adorable waiter with an adorable Boston accent wearing an adorable gay pride bracelet took our order. Darwin had clam chowder (which the waiter adorably pronounced "chowdah") and I had nachos. It was fun.
The Boston Commons is right across the street from Cheers, so we wandered over to have a look. It's a big park with only a few trees and a no wading, no dogs, we're not kidding! duck pond in the middle. It made for a nice stroll, but it was getting dark, so we headed back to the flat to make plans for tomorrow.
We didn't arrive at Beacon Hill until late afternoon. The flat is situated in a 150-year-old brownstone, and the entrance is down a little alley lit by its own gaslight. I later learned the area used to be occupied by servants who waited on the wealthy in their bigger houses, which is why the flats in the area are all so small. Eventually, however, the state installed a freeway that cut the servant neighborhood off from their employers. Over time, the wealthy area declined, and the servant area became gentrified. Such is city life!
We unloaded the car, dumped everything into the apartment, and drove the car to a garage for long-term parking. That was extremely difficult and involved a number of wrong directions and hair-raising U-turns, but we finally found the place. Darwin and I got our bikes off the rack to ride back to the flat, and suddenly Darwin's bike chain jumped the sprockets and tangled itself into a snarl. I had a look at it. The chain guard had somehow come almost off and got itself enmeshed with the chain. Darwin doesn't know for bikes and didn't know what to do. I decided that the guard, which was only plastic, needed to come the rest of the way off and the bike would be fine. But I had no tools. I finally wrenched the stupid thing back and forth a dozen times, greasing up my fingers marvelously, until it finally snapped off. At last we were able to get where we needed to be.
At the flat, I washed the grease off and we decided to look for supper. I asked Siri about nearby restaurants and discovered Cheers was only a little ways away. Well, why not?
Cheers was originally called the Bull and Finch, but when the TV show went on the air, using shots of their exterior, they changed the name to Cheers and even remodeled part of the place to mimic the set on the show. When you arrive at Cheers, you go downstairs just like on the show, and a greeter talks to you. If you want food, he sends you upstairs. You wind your way past a gift shop and a thousand photos from the show and up a spiral staircase, where another greeter brings you into the section which is done up like the bar in the show. An adorable waiter with an adorable Boston accent wearing an adorable gay pride bracelet took our order. Darwin had clam chowder (which the waiter adorably pronounced "chowdah") and I had nachos. It was fun.
The Boston Commons is right across the street from Cheers, so we wandered over to have a look. It's a big park with only a few trees and a no wading, no dogs, we're not kidding! duck pond in the middle. It made for a nice stroll, but it was getting dark, so we headed back to the flat to make plans for tomorrow.