St. Patty's in Boston - 3/17/11

Library - Click here for pics

Thursday was St. Patty’s Day, and the sun was shining and it was much warmer out than it had been. We were both wearing too many sweaters, jackets, scarves, hats, and gloves for the sunny day, and most of it ended up tied around our waists or stuffed into our bags. But we enjoyed the nice day for once. We didn't have much in the way of green, so we dug through our Mardi Gras loot and found some green beads and a flashing green dragon to wear in deference to the holiday.  We started out by taking the T to the Boston Library, where we tried to get free tickets to the aquarium. FYI - if you have a Boston Library Card, you can get free tickets to various things at the library, but show up at least a month in advance.

The librarian pointed us in the direction of the Freedom Trail. On the way we stopped at a street vendor to pick up some honey roasted almonds. The trail wound around the city, and we went through parks and gardens and by the historical buildings. We saw the cemetery where Paul Revere and Benjamin Franklin’s parents are buried (although they no longer know where exactly, since all the tombstones were rearranged into rows with the invention of lawn mowers). We also saw the church where Revere hung the lantern and the statehouse on Beacon Hill (where the dome is expensively covered with gold leaf - $300,000 to have it redone in 1997). Finally there was the Old City Hall - it has been lovingly restored and has been transformed into a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

Plums

Before heading back for the St. Patty’s Day festivities (there were already lines outside the Irish bars at 2:00, and bouncers were taking $20 covers to get in), we walked through Quincy Street Market to see the food vendors. On the street we bought plums and then found a McDonalds and had dollar burgers and shakes. Our no fast food or tv on the road thing is sort of disintegrating in these last few days. Then we went off in search of a T stop, but since we were using a Freedom Trail map with only a couple stops listed, we walked nearly all the way back to the house before finding one. We couldn’t get across the river on foot, so we needed to take the T for the last stop anyway.

Stalking

The four of us took off early for an Irish bar called Goody Glover’s. We drank Irish cider while stalking the diners until one of the groups vacated their table. Some of Lauren and Mike’s friends joined us, and we pulled the tables together and drank green beer and ate semi-Irish food like corned beef and cabbage egg rolls.

I ordered a “Celtic” and the waitress brought me a Celtic beer. Now, normally when I make a mistake like this I just shut up and drink, but I really, really dislike beer, and I really wanted the Celtic Martini (btw - there was no Celtic beer on the menu). But because the waitress didn’t put the new order in officially, it never got made. Every 10 minutes she would come by, realize I still didn’t have the martini, apologize, and promise it was coming. I assured her it was fine. After a very long time, I finally got the martini, and she gave it to me for free. (She still charged me for the beer, but se la vi, right?) It was really good, creamy and green with Crème de Menthe, Creme de Cacao, and Irish Cream. Then Tricia and I tried some fruity martinis, which she liked but that I found disgusting (I’m a picky drinker), so we ordered chips so I would have a snack to disguise the taste.  I also had a Preacher's Collar, which is Vodka, Kahlua, Coke, and Guiness.  Yeah, that seemed like a good idea at the time.  :) 

We left the bar at the late hour of 9:00 and bought Cannolis at Mike's Bakery to eat at home.  In the T station Lauren and I danced around to our own theme music, doing our best impression of crazy people.  Back at the house we enjoyed our sugary and fattening treats and watched tv on the couch. And again didn’t blog. J