The Long Version (My Vacation in 5,638 Words, According to Word...)

[unforth]

Be warned, the long version is, well, pretty darned long.


I feel driven to complain just a bit, so I thought I'd get it out of the way in one simple paragraph that could be easily skipped by anyone who doesn't want to listen to me whine a little bit. I know, it's amazing to me, too, who wouldn't want to hear me whine? But there it is. Anyway, on to the whining. My legs hurt. A lot. I walked far, far too much, and then when you toss in the driving, my right leg in particular hates my fricken guts. And speaking of the driving? Spending more hours driving than sleeping in four days really fucking blows. So does getting used to waking up so early that setting an alarm for 8:30 counts as sleeping in, and waking up an hour before that alarm goes off doesn't seem unreasonable. 7:30 should ALWAYS seem unreasonable. Oh, and losing an hour of much-needed sleep because of daylight savings time also blows chunks. Showers that don't warm up? Yeah, that too. And ironing. I HATE ironing. I'm always afraid I'll burn myself. But when people see a wrinkled shirt, well...oh, and other drivers. They suck most, I'd say. The number of times I was almost killed by some merging jackass who wouldn't use a blinker...okay, I did my fair share of almost killing other people, I'll admit, but still. Oh, and lastly, having no one to talk to for three days and unload all these complaints onto is also kind of annoying. Poor buzzermccain got the brunt of it on Sunday night, when I asked for her advice on ironing...sorry about that...
Now that that is out of the way, on to the trip itself. The drive to NYC was largely uneventful. schenker28 and I set out bright and early at 8 AM. Schenker was going to Princeton, or thereabouts, and after dropping him off I was on to NYC to crash at the apartment. The drive was, by and large, uneventful. There was a lot of talking and listening to music, a small amount of almost getting killed/killing other drivers, and that sort of thing. I was pretty tired - I only got about 5 hours of sleep - and so kept having trouble concentrating; I surely wasn't driving as well as I should have been, but it couldn't really be helped I suppose. I got in to NYC at almost 10 pm, informed the garage folks of my intention to pick up my car at 7 the following morning - having decided that, really, the earlier I left New York the earlier I'd arrive in Boston and therefore the more I would have time to do - and dropped my stuff off. I then proceed to get myself some rather yummy Indian food and closed off the evening in Lalo's eating "black and white" Parisian chocolate cake, which was fairly tasty. :)
6:55 the next morning (fuck you, daylight savings time!) saw me pulling out of the garage and heading for Boston. My hypothesis on saving money was quite accurate; parking only ended up costing me $26; tossing in the tolls it still cost less than $40 to stay in NYC for the night. As opposed to the $133 it cost to stay in Boston. Despite being relatively restrained on Saturday in relation to speed limits (read: despite not speeding all THAT much on Saturday) I found that I couldn't fricken take it any more, and spent most of the drive on Sunday doing 80 on 95. I don't know if 95 was the best way to get to Boston and didn't really care; it was easy and fast and I didn't need to think of it. I'd say the worst speeding offense was certainly was I was heading out of NYC; there's a spot where the signage says the speed limit is 35; I went 65 and was getting easily passed by the majority of the traffic. I don't really blame myself for this one, I was just trying to keep up. I pulled into the parking lot at the Holiday Inn I was staying at at 10:20 or so; dropped my stuff of, grabbed my map and the two pages of advice so obligingly provided to me by kniedzw, and headed out. Disregarding one of those pieces of advice, I headed out from my hotel on foot, heading towards the tastiest sounding of the advice: Mike's Pastry, a shop which, as it turns out, is approximately a block and a half from NBSS.

My plan for the day - hashed out while I was driving and therefore had nothing better to do - was simple. Sunday I would wander south of the river, getting to know Boston, and hit a number of attractions along the way; Monday, after my interview, I'd head west from my hotel and loop around, get a look at Harvard and MIT, and then head back to my car. ETD 7 PM on Monday night, thus hopefully avoiding all manner of rush hour traffic that I might possible meet along the drive back.

I plopped myself down at Mike's Pastry shop at about 11 AM for breakfast - I hadn't had anything to eat yet - and had one of the best pieces of cake I've ever eaten (oreo cake, it was soooo yummy) and a canoli comparable to what I can get in NYC. Resolving to come again for breakfast the next day - and as many other times as I could manage before leaving - I walked over to NBSS to make sure that I'd be able to find it the next morning. This proved to be no challenge at all. From there, I struck out on foot, wandering the North End of Boston a little bit, pausing from time to time to stare at something historical (there are a lot of random little historical things scattered about), mostly graveyards in the area that I was in, though also churches and buildings of other sorts. I did a quick walkthrough of Faneuil Hall and the surrounding shopping areas, though I was vaguely horrified to see how much the touristy schlock cost. I bought myself a small plant which didn't seem particularly over priced, and succumbed to the temptation to buy my dad a shirt from Cheers - Cheers is one of his all-time favorite TV shows, and the shirt said something along the lines of "even I don't remember my name," which was just too perfect. From there, I headed over to the Holocaust memorial, but managed to get turned around and thus completely fail to find it. Deciding I could see it on my way back, I headed towards the Boston Commons.

I wish it had been spring - though the weather was absolutely lovely, no complaints there, parks are just so much prettier when they are, you know, green. Still, there were so many people about, it was rather nice. I debated going ice skating, but decided my legs were already going to hate me enough for all the walking and such, and stopped to listen to a busker. I didn't want to take too long at any one stop, though, because I had a goal: I was determined to make it to the Museum of Fine Arts with enough time to actually enjoy the darned place. It was a ways away, yet, so I kept walking. Heading west, then, I walked along Newbury Street, though much to my irritation, the first 3 or 4 things I saw that I was interested in (there was this awesome looking needlepoint store...) were all closed on Sunday's. Down a side street, I spotted the Boston Public Library, and decided to stop there and admire the two exhibits they had up; one of books from John Adams' personal library, and the other on 18th century popular literature in London. I preferred the second, it had lots of neat old books on all sorts of topics like piracy and prostitution, as well as lovely first editions of Robinson Crusoe and Capt. Cook's travelogue.

Newbury street spit me out near another lovely park. The fens fared much better despite the lack of green, for the reeds were still quite nice blowing in the breeze. I gave my feet a respite by stopping to play on an obligingly empty swing, and then pressed on, driven to reach the museum before 3 PM, on the assumption that it probably closed at 5 or 6 on a Sunday. Finally, I walked in at 2:45, to discover I had exactly two hours to wander about.

The museum over all was fairly nice. A lot of exhibits were closed because they were rebuilding one entire wing of it, which was a little disappointing, but I was able to go and enjoy their European collection, including a few very nice dutch portraits and a pleasant Titian (one of my three favorite artists). They had some very nice impressionists, too, including one of my favorite Renoir's (second of my three favorite artists). I was disappointed by the lack of Ingre (third of my favorite artists) but not terribly surprised really. The collection was fairly small in this area, and, discovering I had a fair amount more time and ticket I spent money for, I wandered through most of the other exhibits they had to offer, spending the majority of my time on the Japanese and Asian stuff. Here was what I thought was by far the most awesome thing that MFA had to offer: a wall case full of katana-related accoutrements, such as hand grips and such. Oh, they were so awesome!! They sold a book that went with the collection, too, and I resolved to try to buy the book when I went to the store. Unfortunately, when I got there I discovered, much to my disappointment, that said book was $50. Who can turn down a book entitled Lethal Elegance? Full of information on swords and the art related to them? Upset, I wrote down the ISBN and resolved to see if I couldn't find the book cheaper from amazon or elsewhere. (speaking of which...yep, it's $35 on Amazon...sweet!). I picked up a few gifts for people, and then paused to figure out what the heck I was going to next.

I hadn't eaten since breakfast, and so I thought on what I'd like to eat, and finally decided I wanted Italian. Thus, it was back to the North End, where I had noticed a wonderful array of Italian restaurants. All my efforts had failed to come up with some sort of evening entertainment, and I was too tired to do something I could do back in Bloomington (I had been considering going out to see 300...) so I tromped back by a different root to get to see more of the city. Passing the Prudential Center, I decided to stop in and take a look; it was much like any other mall I've been too though a cut above in terms of appearance. I bought myself my second present - hand cream of my favorite scent (White Musk) from the Body Shop. Yes, I know this is a silly thing and not really unique to Boston, but oh well. :) Discovering that there weren't really any shops there that I couldn't go to elsewhere (though I did pop my head into Teavana, an awesome tea shop with beautiful tea pots and great-smelling tea) I pressed on, stopping only one more time at a shop which had an awesome array of papers. I really wanted to get some to do binding with, but by that time was tired enough that my brain wasn't really handling the decision making process well, and so I just wrote down their webpage and decided I'd get some paper and cloth and binder's string at a later point via the interweb.

I successfully navigated the streets back to the North End, but not before stopping at the Holocaust memorial, which I successfully located this time. I'm glad I did; it was a very nice memorial, in that it was very effective and effecting - I almost cried! I paid my respects, but then pressed on, for hunger was beginning to be a serious factor. All that walking and nothing to eat, toss in not having sat down in any number of hours, well, I reprimanded myself for not having stopped earlier.

It took me about 20 minutes to decide what restaurant to eat at (remember what I said about decision making? :) ) then I settled down to dinner, enjoyed home made Gnocchi and some veal. Then I wandered back to Mike's Pastry, unable to deny the allure of absolutely scrumptious pastries; my second selection was the chocolate cheese cake, which was also delightfully yummy. Then, slightly nervously for it was now approaching 9 PM, I walked back to the hotel. This proved to be no problem, though, for some sort of event was just letting out of the Fleet Center (which was along my walk) and so there were tons of people, cars, and police around - perfectly safe.

Back at the hotel, I ironed my interview clothes (with a frantic call to buzzermccain to discover how the heck I was supposed to iron sleeves without putting big creases in them), made sure my portfolio was in order, and plopped into bed at 10:00 to finish the trashy romance novel I had been reading all day at meals and break times.

Among the random things I saw of interest that day were a Revolutionary War soldier leading a tour group, a fellow standing outside of city hall training pigeons to land on his hand, and a flute busker who wasn't very good but was rather enthusiastic.
I woke up almost an hour before my alarm went off the next morning and hurriedly got ready to go. I had vastly regretted not wearing my leather coat the day before, because, well, it would have looked really cool so I tossed it on, gathered my belongs, and once more walked to the North End. The plan for the day was fairly simple, but none of it could go forward until after my interview at 10. I plopped down for a delightful breakfast of Oreo Cheese Cake at Mike's, realizing as I did so that I was going to get disturbingly fat if I went to school so close to a place with so many completely delicious pastries, and ate it quickly. Then, trying not to feel nervous, I walked over to the school.

The North Bennet Street school is a small, attractive, four story building on the corner of North Bennet street and Salem (I think that was the cross street). I walked in and the receptionist rooted my up the third floor, where I waited patiently for Mr. Delaney, head of admissions. My interview started exceptionally punctually. We spoke for about an hour, I think, though I didn't keep careful track, about everything from my own experience, what I thought NBSS was, why I wanted to go there, why I didn't apply other places, my assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of my portfolio, that sort of thing. Then he spoke about the admissions process - they sometimes get as many as 5 times the number of applicants as there are spaces, though they don't think there will be that many this year (that'd be 30 applicants, by the by); preference is given heavily to those who have applied before. Acceptances are sent out in the first week of May, so I'll hear back one way or the other in the second week of May. We spoke about how much it cost, the support they give students for finding housing and that sort of thing, and all manner of the sorts of things that won't actually matter one bit unless I'm accepted. I think it went pretty well over all, though it didn't change my impression of my chances, at least not much. Now I think that it is probably possible for me to get in on my first try, but that it is exceptionally unlikely. Ah well. Life goes on. After I spoke to Mr. Delaney, we headed to the actual work space so that I could meet Mark, the teacher for the bookbinding program, and the students who were there that day. I chatted with Mark amiably for about 15 minutes; he seemed to really like my portfolio, which made me happy, particularly the portfolio in my portfolio (a portfolio is a type of box; overall, my portfolio had 6 items - a "Quarter Joint" (a soft cover book which I'd ripped the cover off of, reglued, bound in a hard cover, and pasted the covers back on); a cross stitch binding (a completed bound book with the stitching done in a particular pattern); a clam shell (a hard cardboard, cloth covered box; this one was made for the cross stitch binding); a coptic binding (a paste-less binding with an attractive stitch); a portfolio (a box with a cardboard inner enclosure and thick board covers, this one made for the coptic binding); and a spine repair (I replaced the spine on my childhood copy of Sherlock Holmes, which was falling apart, and also repaired the cover joints)) - indeed, that little box was given good reviews by both him and Mr. Delaney, which pleased me, I'm glad I made it and that it turned out well, I'd never actually made one before the one that I put in my portfolio. Mark seemed very nice, as did all of the students I met, who amiably introduced themselves and showed me what they were doing, explaining what I didn't understand as necessary. I was surprised by how much I DID understand, though, and somewhat pleased. One of the girls had even toured the Lab I work at; her sister goes to IU and she had lived here for a while. I liked all of the students I met, though some were certainly more shy than others; and more than that OMG I want to do the things they were learning to do!!

Over all, I LOVED the school; I can't wait until I get to apply again, since I really don't think I'll get in the first time. I've never hoped that time would speed up quite as much as I do right now. One girl showed me the inlaid leather she'd done, which was awesome; another had marble paper that she'd made herself, and a third loved doing text block edge decorations and had done a number of lovely ones...ooooh, so much of what I want to know how to do! It looked like so much fun! So yeah - very excited.

I left the school at 11:45, stopped by Mike's one last time to buy some treats for other people, a whipped cream puff for my own desert that night, and a canoli for god-knows-when (probably tonight...), and then headed back towards the hotel. I wanted to drop off the pastries and my portfolio items, which were heavy, but first I stopped in to the Museum of Science, which was along the way. I really wanted to see a planetarium show, but they didn't have one running that interested me, which was disappointing. Instead, I spent a lot of time in an exhibit they had up about Charles Darwin (which was very obviously written to try to convince Intelligent Design folk that they were crazy, but was interesting none the less) which had a lot of neat things in it, including some of Darwin's journals, his compass, some of the specimen's he'd gathered, and some live animals, including two of the saddest looking turtles I'd ever seen. I don't think they were ACTUALLY sad, but they looked sad. Then I wandered over to the small collection of dinosaurs, and gawked at a really awesome room that they had which was dedicated to mathematics. Heading over to the store to see if they had anything interesting, I noticed that a membership was good at other places. Curious, I talked to them about it, and it turns out they have reciprocal admissions agreements with 250 institutions - membership at one is good for membership at all. The list included the Field in Chicago (where I intend to go with mom in May) and, much to my amazement, Wonderlab in our very own Bloomington! Having already paid a fortune to get in to the museum once, I decided what the hey, and got my ticket refunded and signed up for membership. It'll pay for itself if I go to the Field with mom and Wonderlab even just once. So I'm a member of the Boston Museum of Science. Yeah, I feel a little silly about it.

North to the hotel, dropped off everything I didn't need, and then struck out on Cambridge Street going towards Harvard. My destination? The Houghton, of course - what self-respecting rare books enthusiast could claim the title "rare books enthusiast" and NOT go to the Houghton when given the opportunity? Hungry along the way, I was just thinking I aughta eat something before dinner when I looked up and there was "Christina's Homemade Ice Cream," which provided me with ginger molasses ice cream topped with more (homemade, I think) whip cream than there was ice cream. Yum!

It took me longer than I thought to reach the Houghton; it was nearly three when I got there. The receptionist was rather rude to me, seeming shocked that I couldn't find the exhibit that was in no way labeled or pointed to. I guess they aren't used to getting visitors who haven't been there before. I spent a long while gazing at the exhibit (a retrospective on Longfellow) even though it wasn't a topic that particularly interested me. I didn't want to have to sign in or deal with any of that sort of thing - even if I did, I wasn't sure what book I'd want to look at in their collection anyway - but I wasn't about to leave without getting a bit more of a look around, so I started to admire the books in the shelves in the room with the exhibit. I'd looked at about three bookcases worth sort of passingly before I started to notice the dates - 1497, 1482, etc., etc., and it dawned on my that every single one was pre-1500. Shocked, I went back and started looking again, I was amazed to assess that I was in fact standing in a room in which every single book was an incunable (a book printed between the 1450's and 1500.) I then devoted myself assiduously to admiring old bindings and seeing if there was anything I'd heard of in there. Before I left, I double checked my assessment with the receptionist (a much nicer fellow than the one who was there earlier) who laughed at my gawking amazement and bantered with me a bit about other books in the collection.

Having spent less time than anticipated at the Houghton, I wandered over to the Fogg Museum of Art which was right across the street. I hadn't planned to go there, but it was so close, and I had a couple of hours to spare. I'm so glad I did! They had a much better collection of European art than the MFA did, including no less than 6 Ingre paintings. That's the most I've seen in one place since I saw an exhibit of only Ingre paintings. It included this image, which blew my mind it was so nice (and it's just a study!! I can't even begin to imagine having that much talent!!) (and I'm shocked and pleased to discover that Harvard appears to have most of their collection available online, including image scans, which is truly impressive and amazing). I spent more time staring at art here than I had the day before, and it was well worth the stop. Also, amusingly, the lady at the desk told me there were two other IU students wandering the halls; guess I wasn't the only one to use spring break to go to Boston! :)

I was getting ready to figure out what I was going to do next, when the first and pretty much only thing to go wrong happened. After the museums, the plan had been to hit a few stores suggested to me by kniedzw and to find the mug being sought by arcana_mundi, and then go for a burger at the recommended burger joint. I reached in to my bag to grab my map and the advice and directions to places...and discovered the second of these items was gone! Without directions, there was no way I could find the vast majority of the remaining things (which I had only vague memories of the names of and such); only by approaching one of the employee's at the museum and saying "a friend told me there's this amazing burger place, does that ring a bell?" was I able to find my way to Bartley's. So I'm very, very sorry, arcana_mundi, I wasn't able to find the mug for you. :(

Lacking my directions, 5 PM approaching and my legs starting to really hurt, I decided to spare myself fruitless wandering around looking for places I was unlikely to find; instead, I wandered over to the Civil War memorial, walked back down to Harvard Square, and went to Bartley's. The burger was as good as advertised, so I'm glad I was able to find it. After that there wasn't much more to do; I walked down Massachusett's Street, planning to make a big loop of the area, walking by MIT, before heading back to my car. Along the way, I poked my head into a little Asian store where, shockingly, I got into a discussion with a woman there only to discover that not only was she from Indiana, she was an Earlham graduate!! Why do I meet Earlham graduates every bloody place I go?? It's not like there are that many of them! Not only that, but her husband was too, and so were all four of THEIR parents. I mean, dear god!! Anyway, I had a nice conversation with the lady, bought myself a bamboo plant and a very pretty sake set, and, finally, continued my walk down Mass., to Vassar, and finally back to my car.

Settling in to place, I set off for NYC at about 7 PM. (my profuse apologies to ultimabaka that the schedule I set meant we couldn't meet up...as expected, I didn't arrive in NYC until late.) I successfully bypassed traffic, which was nice, and made it back to the city at about 10:30, informed the garage of my intention to pick up my car the next morning at 8 AM, grabbed myself for NYC pizza, and went home to eat pizza and a cream puff before collapsing into bed.
I got underway bright and early on Tuesday morning, heading over to H&H to grab the 6 dozen bagels I had somehow found myself purchasing. ;) I then carried these back to my car, arriving punctually at exactly 8, and headed out of the city munching on one of my bagels. I'd made it about 3 hours before I was forced to admit the obvious: I was far too tired to be piloting a vehicle. Annoyed but accepting that it couldn't be helped, I spent about 30 minutes trying to find a good place to stop, and finally pulled in to a gas station at about 11:30 and took a nap for an hour. When I woke up, I felt infinitely better, but it cause it's own problems - calculation indicated that now I'd be hitting Columbus at the height of rush hour. Rather than deal with that, I stopped at my favorite gas station (it always has the cheapest gas in Ohio) at the Ashland exit, got myself some pizza hut and ruffles (last gasp of my diet-breaking ways) and hung out leisurely for about 40 minutes. The end result of the two breaks was that instead of it taking less than twelve hours to get home, it took nearly 14. This, my friends, is why I don't normally stop on this trip. I pulled into the parking lot at 9:45, with the promise of another early morning today when I went go pick up Jonie dog from the kennel at 9 AM. (she's fine by the by - much better, in truth, than I ever thought she'd be. And she's clean, they gave her a bath! Her first bath!)
Well, that's the play-by-play version. If you don't want to bother (I wouldn't read it if I were in your position, it's really long. ;) ) here's a more general, sweeping appraisal. Generally speaking, I had a really good trip. I got to eat a lot of delicious food (my poor diet! We shall behave this week, I promise!) and visit far more places than I'd ever have thought (er...5 museums in two days? - BPL, MFA, MoS, the Houghton, Fogg Art Museum, plus about a dozen different monuments, two parks, a few graveyards, walk bys on multiple lovely churches, two shopping type places, five restaurants, and of course the interview itself!).

Over all, I liked Boston fairly well. The people seemed rather friendly, the city was pretty lively, I saw a lot of advertisements of events and such and things to do, the streets were busy without being overly crowded. The restaurant looked way interesting - I saw a lot of places I would like to eat in the future. That said, a lot of the housing looked a bit run down, and I found myself cringing to think how much money it was going to cost to live in such relatively meager apartments. I think it's been too long since I've lived in a city - everything seemed expensive. Also, it both was and wasn't easy to find my way around. Streets were incredibly poorly labeled - it seemed that unless there was a chance of confusion, they just didn't even bother labeling streets, which is maddening when you arrive at a street and just aren't sure what it is, and, wonder of wonders, there is no sign! Even when there were signs, they often stuck out in arcane directions that bore no relationship to the actual directions of the roads. Maybe the whole thing is a magical spell? Driver's seemed to cope with this fairly well, but I can honestly say that I would do everything in my power to NOT drive in Boston - what a mess! Another part of the magic spell seemed to relate to right of way - lights changed at random, and just because, say, one direction on a north-south street got to go, it didn't mean the other did, EVEN IF THERE WAS NO TURN SIGNAL OPTION. This defied my explanation, and made crossing rather chancy cause I could never figure out who would get to go next. Grr. I also couldn't figure out where the heck the residents bought groceries. I only passed like two grocery stores the whole time, and saw evidence of a third (a lot of people had bags from Whole Foods). Still, all and all, I'd say I liked it pretty well. I plan to sit down over the next few days and crunch the numbers on what I could actually afford if I lived there. :)

I loved the school. Hands down, no contest. Before I'd visited I'd wanted to go, certainly, but now I'm ready to sacrifice to do it, and I feel much better about waiting. Before, waiting a year was something I was comfortable with and resigned to; now, waiting a year is something I'm eager for; I find myself hoping the year passes quickly so that I can get on with it. It's a rather nice feeling, though I can't say I really like the idea that I want time to pass more quickly; it passes more than quickly enough as it is, really. ;) But yeah, way excited about this.

The trip over all was pretty good. I really did save a ton of money by driving, though the damage it did to me physically (in terms of stiffness and my leg hurting) and mentally (in terms of feeling utterly exhausted and wanting to not do anything at all this week even though I have a bunch of things I'm committed to, including 20 hours at work and not one but TWO dance things, one of which is this evening) suggests that perhaps the money savings wasn't worth it. The drive from here to Boston is over 1000 miles according to my car's trip counter; I've driven about 2200 since last Friday when you factor in the detour to Princeton and the drives to Ellettsville to pick up the pup. My car, poor thing, is now a scant 900 miles from 100k, which means I've put nearly 45k on it since I bought it in 2004. I've promised it a check up as a reward for making it through the trip; I need to schedule that - probably next week. I wonder where the nearest Toyota dealership is? :)
Anyway, I think that sums everything up. Sorry it's so long, but I had a lot I wanted to remember about this trip. I need to go to work, and I've spent over an hour writing this, so I'd better go. Hope everyone is having a nice week, whether it is your spring break or not.

Comments

[kniedzw.livejournal.com]

First off, I'm glad you liked Bartley's and Mike's. I figured you'd probably like both, and they're both sort of staples for Boston / Cambridge natives. I'm sorry that I forgot to mention that the Museum of Science has the largest Van de Graaff generator in the world and have an indoor lightning show generally every hour or two. I definitely should have mentioned that.

Likewise, I should have pointed you at some of the better bookstores in town. Honestly, the big stop that I'd have had you make was to swing by Pandemonium Books and Games in Central Square, but you can always swing by there next time you're in town. Major things that I'd recommend on your next visit: Harvard's Museum of Natural History and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which is adjacent to the MFA.

As to where to buy groceries, that's a question that would require some pondering. I, for one, bought the bulk of my groceries at Whole Foods Market just south of Central Square and the Star Market up in Porter. There are other places, particularly smaller, specialty shops, scattered about, but the grocery stores tend to be on the outskirts because real estate is so darned expensive.

As to Toyota dealerships, you want Royal Toyota on South Walnut.

I highly recommend not driving most places in Boston and owning a car only if you absolutely need one. Given parking costs and such, it's generally better to do some sort of car-sharing thing like Zipcar and walk or take the T most everywhere else. Monthly mass transit passes can be had for reasonable money, and they have multiple grades (buses only, subway only, subway + buses, extended subway going out to the ends of all lines, subway + some light rail, etc.). You have to be sure to get yours on the beginning of the month, however, since they only sell them for about three days in select stations, though you can often get them through work or school.

Overall, I'm glad that my recommendations helped, even if I'm contributing to weight gain with Mike's. :)

[unforth.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't worry too much about things that didn't get mentioned or that I missed - I really want to go to this school, now - much more than before, even - so I think it's a fairly safe bet that I'll be back in Boston. I didn't really end up having time for shows and the like anyway; now that I'm a member of the MoS I have free passes, too, so it all works out in the end. You'd mentioned Pandemonium to me; I really wanted to go there and fully intended to do so, but then I lost my directions so it wasn't an option. I also passed a game store that looked really interesting (sadly, I've managed to forget both it's name and location, grrr) with a bunch of board games and puzzles; sadly, they were closed when I went by. Likewise, you mentioned the Gardner Museum, but it was already closed by the time that I could have gone. Next time! :)

The grocery store thing is just strange to me - in Manhattan there are grocery stores and drug stores every few blocks, but I didn't notice that being the case in Boston, and it confounded me slightly. I guess people in Boston are more willing to walk and carry their groceries around than Manhattanites are. ;)

I have zero intention of driving around Boston in the future. :) That said, I do intend to keep my car for various reasons; I spoke to the folks at NBSS about it and they strongly advised that I find a way to register and park it outside of the city; since I want to have it primarily so that I can get to my grandfathers if necessary, I may register it in New Hampshire, though I can't say that it doesn't seem like a pain in the butt. Given the ease of getting insurance quotes, I intend to run a quote and see how much it'd be to get it insured in Boston, and investigate parking options on the fringes of the area (the limit of what I could commute to...)

As for the recommendations, I can't thank you enough. They really were very helpful in my figuring out what was worth doing and what wasn't. :) If you'd like, I have a couple of Mike's goodies that I brought back that are yours if you want um - a selection of rugullah (which I can't spell) and two cream puffs...

(wow, Royal will let me schedule service online. awesome! :) )

[kniedzw.livejournal.com]

I also passed a game store that looked really interesting (sadly, I've managed to forget both it's name and location, grrr) with a bunch of board games and puzzles

I'd wager it was Games People Play, down on the east side of Harvard Square, near the intersection of Arrow Street and Mass Ave. It might have also been The Compleat Strategist, which is in downtown Boston, just west of the Christian Science Mother Church (and the Pru). If you went way far afield, it might have been Your Move Games in Davis Square, though that is on the second floor and doesn't have much of a window presence.

As to grocery stores, your best bet is to ask people who live near your ultimate apartment location where they go for their day-to-day shopping. Then, head down to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, or some specialty store (Asian market) for the "good" eats. Generally, it's not too heinously far to a grocery store, but it is, often, more than a couple blocks.

Realize that few of the nationwide insurers will insure in Massachusetts, since the state legislature has put down a stupid number of regulations concerning what you need to insure a car there. I can probably put you in touch with an agent over there, but by and large, one insurance policy is going to be nearly identical to another in that neck of the woods.

Thanks for the offer re: the Mike's pastries, but you should keep 'em. I'm trying hard to watch what I eat, else my trainer will break me during my next session. As it stands, he's already made good attempts with interval training on the treadmill. As to suggestions on what to see around Boston, you're welcome. I'll be happy to go over a more detailed list if / when you end up moving in that direction, so you can have a leg up on finding places to go, things to see, and people to meet. I'll warn you, however, that some of my knowledge may be a bit dated, since it's been about 3.5 years since I've lived there....

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Games People Play, yeah, that was it. :) I'm impressed. ;) If it had been a Compleat Strat I'd have noticed, I've been going to the Compleat Strat in NYC for years.

I didn't realize that the insurance was such a messy situation...New Hampshire is sounding more appealing, I'll just have to list my grandfather's as my address I guess...I suppose that means I'd have to get a driver's license there...oh dear, this could get complicated. Sigh. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, I guess. Truth be told, it might be worth it for me to just rent a car when I need one, but that wouldn't give me the freedom to drop everything and go to my grandfather's, which I might need. He's going to be 89 next month, and it'd be good if someone from the family could get there.

I'm sure I'll end up taking you up on the offer of more advice; I REALLY want to go to this school, which means I WILL be living in Boston within the next couple of years, and 3 1/2 year old knowledge is still better than my complete and total lack of knowledge.

If you change your mind about the pastries, I've got a cream puff with your name on it. ;) Good luck with the trainer and such, though.

[kniedzw.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, the Compleat Strategist isn't so hot in Boston. Kind of a square footage problem, mostly. It's decent, for a board gaming store, at least.

The insurance isn't really a messy situation, per se. It's just a very, very level playing field. It's probably not worth your while to say that the car is garaged in New Hampshire, honestly. The hassle would be fairly significant.

Thanks re: the pastries, but I'll pass. Enjoy. :)

[d-c-m.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you are back dear!! I know that this is silly but I really like having you in town even though I don't see you often. Silly but there we are. :)

Ooooo your trip sounds wonderful ! And hectic. You have every right to gripe and whine. Driving on the East Coast is harrowing to say the least and ironing, well it is against my personal religion so I understand your despising of it.

Much love!!

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the sympathies, and I'm glad to be back. :) Are you sure you dont't want a bagel?

[d-c-m.livejournal.com]

Hee hee!!! Positive!! But I hope whoever eats it enjoys it thoroughly!!!!

[sapphohestia.livejournal.com]

Why do I meet Earlham graduates every bloody place I go?? It's not like there are that many of them! Not only that, but her husband was too, and so were all four of THEIR parents.

We've reached consensus: we're stalking you. :)

Are you sure that, with pain and suffering, gas, and wear and tear on your car it's not cheaper to just spend $250 to fly out there?

[unforth.livejournal.com]

well, numerically speaking, it is definitely cheaper to drive. When you factor in pain and suffering (a very expensive commodity, if most civil litigation is any indication)...well, it probably doesn't balance out so well. However, I had company on the ride out there, and it really did save a lot of money on the numerical angle.

Anyway, I contacted the Toyota place, so I guess I'll find out how much it costs in terms of wear and tear on my car.

...

So if you Earlhamites are stalking me...my god, you freaks could be anywhere! It's probably one of you weirdo's who snuck in and unplugged my monitors, too, that's why saracariad pleaded ignorance, because she knew it was an Earlham graduate who did it, she's part of it...

...anyone I know could secretly be an Earlham graduate, waiting to strike...

oh noes!!

(thanks for the offer of crash space, by the by...D.C. is really way out of the way on that trip, though...)

[sarcastibich.livejournal.com]

I noticed that a membership was good at other places. Curious, I talked to them about it, and it turns out they have reciprocal admissions agreements with 250 institutions - membership at one is good for membership at all

It is probably good at the Indianapolis Children's Museum, as well. Which you really should visit if you never have. I have been told before it has been rated the best children's museum in the world, and I believe it. Even for "grown-ups" the place is wonderful to visit.

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Sadly, it wasn't. I specifically checked cause it's a place I really want to go. :( But there were places all over the country, so it will come in handy, and I'll just have to pay to go to the one in Indy, cause I've heard a lot of nice things about it. Anyway, how can I turn down a museum that has an brontosaurus sticking out of the side of it? :) Thanks for the rec. ;)

[closetgnome.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you had a good time, and that the school was so great!! Almost everyone I've ever talked to who has been there has had nice things to say about Boston. It was great that you actually got to talk to people and see the school, too!

Sorry to hear about the driving insanity. :( We got some of the same in Maryland. Although J (who was driving) was one of those people who don't like to use their blinker. When I force him to, he turns it on for like 2 blinks and then turns it off again. Very irritating.

And you were mentioning your book boxes, and if you have time sometime in the next few weeks, (in addition to the before-I-leave hang time, which must must MUST happen!!!) would it be possible for me to commission a small simple book box from you for my little Grimm's Fairy Tales book?

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Damn people who don't use their blinkers! Grrr...then again, I'm a little guilty, I'm one of those people who turns on the blinker but then moves immediately, which isn't a good habit either. Ah well.

Thanks for reminding me about the box for you! I keep thinking of it at weird times and then forgetting to do it when I'm at work. I will most certainly get it together for you; I know where the measurements are and everything. ;)