Day One and Two of the Fall Trip - Off to Boston!

Since we live about a two hour airporter bus away from the SF airport, our journey started in the dark at about 4:30 am when a good friend...and it's a really good friend who will get up that early and is cheerful, too...took us to the airporter bus stop. We each managed to have a carry on that fits under the seat, plus a hard case roller bag that fit in the overhead. Lots of mix and match clothing, plus no fancy dinners to attend helped, plus it wasn't yet cold enough to need heavy clothing. The sun rose as we headed through San Francisco on 19th Avenue.

We flew on our favorite airline, Virgin America, so the terminal is high tech and pretty comfortable for an airport terminal. One of the things we like is that they let you order from your seat, so the beverage cart that blocks the aisle is only out for a short while. They also have the back of the seat personal screen for TV, movies, games, etc. The seats are relatively comfortable and roomy, so for a cross country flight it's a good choice.

Yes, cross country, because our destination is Boston. Turns out that Boston is one of the east coast terminus for Aer Lingus, which is the airline we flew many of our flights on. About 30 years ago we visited Next Sister Down in Newton, near Boston, but the visit to an art museum in Boston that was part of that trip is my only experience with the city of Boston prior to this trip. I liked Boston's energy and style. We were only there for a little less than 24 hours, but I did manage to do some walking around in the waterfront area and into the historic area. There are lots of new buildings going up, lots of people walking, a couple of parks just within the area I was able to cover, and plenty of water views.

It was Saturday when we were out and about since we made it to the hotel at sundown on our first travel day and had dinner at the hotel, then settled in to do some reading and relaxing. Saturday was semi-cloudy, but the sky was bright blue and the breeze was brisk...the perfect fall day.

Saturdays (and Sundays) in September and October turn out to be prime wedding days. On our walk by the old fish pier near our hotel we discovered that the building that used to house the fish exchange has been converted to an event space. The event planner for that afternoon's wedding kindly invited us in and we enjoyed touring the old building and admiring the beautiful woodwork everywhere, plus the light that came in through multiple windows.

 Nice to see such a nice building recycled. There were photos from when it was a fish exchange, too.

Outside we chatted with a fishing boat crew at the dock.

Wholesale fish processing still happens during the week at the fish pier, but not on weekends.

They were there fixing their engine. One of the fishermen was from Co. Cork in Ireland and another from Galway. The Galway man agreed to having his photo taken:

After lunch I headed off towards the historic district. I passed a park where there was a piano sitting out. A woman was playing for her children and they danced around with glee.

As you can see there is a crane and American flag in the distance and a couple of recently build buildings nearby...lots happening on the waterfront in Boston!

Further along on the walk I crossed a bridge that took me closer to the historic district. I saw two bridal groups getting photos taken during the walk, plus another venue being set up for a wedding. Looking for a destination for a wedding in the fall? Boston looks like it does it up right.

There was a fascinating sculpture in a park near the historic area. It used steam as part of the experience.

Here are some other buildings and park areas nearby.

The mix of old and new buildings is dynamic.

After the walk back we had some tea and headed back to Logan airport for the next leg of our journey...soon we will be off to Ireland.