Two years! I’ve been married two years now! I can’t believe it’s been this long already (relatively speaking).
When we got married, Joshua and I talked about honeymooning in Boston, because we didn’t think it would be possible to go to Europe, like we had dreamed. Thanks to my so-generous in-laws, Paris came true, and we put Boston on the shelf. This year’s anniversary trip really felt like a second honeymoon, as we spent six days together in the gorgeous city of Boston. This was the longest trip we’ve taken since our honeymoon – it was such. a. treat.
You know I travel for the food, so a quick paragraph on the amazing things we ate. We started off – our very first meal in Boston – at the Omni Parker Hotel restaurant, which features the best Boston Cream Pie in Boston. Word to the wise: it really is. I’m not a huge fan of hotel restaurants, and I wouldn’t say the rest of their menu is anything to write home to mom about, but that cream pie…wow. We ate pastries all over town and had some incredible desserts at Finale Desserterie. Two things that really took the cake were Joshua’s fish’n’chips at Neptune Oyster (a special only on Wednesdays – now you know) and our enormous order of Guinness onion rings at The Friendly Toast. My one disappointment was Alden & Harlow, a cool place in Cambridge that boasts a specialty burger every evening, but they were sold out by the time we arrived. Their small plates were really cool, though, and we enjoyed them immensely. A hint as to what kind of place we’re talking about? The kind where you’re sitting at your table waiting for your order and the waitress comes over and says, “Here are some pickled green beans to start.” Pickled. Green Beans.
And one more thing: I loved Drink, a hip bar where the bartenders ask you what you like and questions like what’s your favorite color and then pick a classic cocktail that they know you’ll love. Quite excellent – and very exclusive. We had to wait in line at the door to even get in, and that was at 10:30pm on a THURSDAY! Craziness.
So for me, we ate (and ate and ate). For Joshua, we went on a tour of the Old North Church, we went to Harvard Yard, and we went to the Institute of Contemporary Art. And for the both of us, we went row boating (on Jamaica Pond) and we went biking (up the Esplanade along Charles River). I highly, highly recommend both the boats and the bikes. We happened to have perfect weather (a blessing after the tempestuous wind and rain of the first two to three days), and the fall colors were truly gorgeous.
One of the most beautiful days was Saturday, which we spent relaxing at our hotel, picnicking at Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park, walking around Boston Harbor, coming home through Boston Common. The skies were that perfect blue, and the view was incredible. Joshua and I like to plan our trips so that we have some downtime – it’s not just go-go-go the whole time, because that wears us out and we don’t have enough energy or desire to do everything by the end of the trip. I really liked our Wednesday to Monday schedule this year. We had three days of non-stop activity, including late nights and lots of walking, and then we got to relax and do mostly nothing on Shabbat, which came at the perfect recovery moment. Then we were ready to get going again for Sunday and Monday. We also chose to come home on Monday afternoon, arriving early Monday evening, instead of stretching out our time in Boston and coming home on the 7:00 or 8:00 evening flight, and arriving late. This allowed us to get to bed at a pretty decent hour Monday night, to get back to the grind Tuesday morning. Scheduling and planning are so important to a great trip.
And that’s it! We did have the opportunity to go to the beautiful Mayyim Hayyim mikveh located near Boston proper, but it would take another post to tell you about it. Suffice it to say that the experience was meaningful and memorable and I want to go back.
I want to close this post with a quick recap of all that this second year of marriage has held for us. So much. So much. We were honored to be chosen as the kvater and kvaterin at the very first brit milah (circumcision ceremony) in our community. It meant so much to us. My second book, Footprints & Falafel, hit iTunes and Amazon – what a milestone (and if you haven’t bought it yet…what are you waiting for?)! Joshua got a BRAND NEW JOB working at Wells Fargo, and we could not be more grateful!! My little, tiny, baby brother turned 21, courted a girl, got engaged, and is GETTING MARRIED this December – whoa. Probably the most important deal in our life this past year was getting pregnant and then losing that precious life, but as I said in a previous post, those were some of the happiest weeks of our lives.
And then we went to Boston. So we are looking forward to this year being a year of growth, of unbounded happiness, and of greater love. It just keeps getting better. :-)
P.S. – for more pictures (but really, not many more) of our Boston trip, check out #2notomorrow on Instagram.