We travel quite a bit. When we are heading somewhere I do my research on the must-see places. Often, I think how we never do that in our own backyard. This year we decided to take a day and bop around Boston to some seasonal attractions that I looked into. Steve and Deb are our willing participants in anything fun and since we are all retired, we opted to have our adventure midweek when it would be less crowded.
View Boston
We started by heading to the Prudential Center as none of us has been up to the new observation deck or restaurants. Parking turned out to be a huge challenge. We thought parking would be better midweek, but we forgot that all the garages are pretty full with workers. After paying twice to drive around garages that had no spots (automated, so nobody to argue with to get our money back), we found a garage with spots across the street from the Prudential.
I pre-purchased our tickets to The View Boston on-line, the new observation area, but there is a desk in the mall across from the entrance to purchase as well. The elevators didn’t even feel like they moved before the doors opened to the 52nd floor to gorgeous 360° view over Boston. We made sure that it was going to be clear while we were up there, and it was perfect. There are viewing aids and monitor screens that help explain what you’re seeing. Overall, it is breathtaking!
Stratus Bar
One floor down is the amazing Stratus Bar. This little bar was decked out in pastel and silver holiday cheer. White and light pink Christmas trees greet you at the door and is a wonderful spot for a photo opp. Then, there is the bar with its shiny silver garland and glass balls hanging from the ceiling and white branch garland and icicles lining the shelves. It felt like a Christmas oasis.
Our bartender, Bryan, was so friendly as he precisely created our special winter concoctions like a scientist. Jim and Steve got “Papa Noels”, a smokey old-fashioned that Bryan created in front of them, finishing them off by torching the wooden cover for that smoky essence. I ordered the “Blanco Bear” which is a blood orange margarita served over ice that a contraption behind the bar shaves in front of you. This is served in a bear shaped glass with a gummy bear garnish. So fun!!! During warmer weather, Stratus has patio seating with an amazing view, however not in December.
The Beacon
Stratus does serve small appetizers, but we decided to have a full lunch at The Beacon, the restaurant on the 50th floor. Again, the views were outstanding, but we found the restaurant set-up and décor was underwhelming. Our waiter was not as friendly as Bryan had been and we found this experience the least favorite part of our experience. The food was decent but I didn’t take any pictures as it was fairly basic. We had a flatbread, a burger and soup. Jim ordered a coconut whisky drink that tasted fine, but the coconut garnish honestly looked like maggots on the glass. Very unappealing.
Snowport
Our next stop was Snowport in the Seaport area. Due to our difficulty finding parking, we opted to Uber. Anytime we have attempted to visit Snowport, a festive holiday marketplace, the line to enter has been around the entire block. This is one of the reasons we opted to come in on a weekday. During the week the market opens at 3pm. We arrived shortly after opening and there was no line, no crowds. We were able to enjoy our leisure stroll through the various shops.
We spotted Zac Will from Kona Brand who is a Marshfield, MA native (our hometown). Zac is a great guy who started his unique clothing line as a youngster in his parent’s home. He started by wondering why New Englanders have to give up wearing Hawaiian shirts in the cold weather, so he creating a Hawaiian print on flannel shirts. Genius. We were some of his original customers a few years ago after seeing his ad on a local Facebook forum. I ordered one for Jim, my son and son-in-law. Back in those days, our package was driven to our door by Zac and his dad. He has since expanded his creations to other prints, T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, etc… We chatted for a while and purchased a sweatshirt this time. Zac donates 10% of purchases to help find homes for rescue dogs.
There was a variety of other shops, many featuring Christmas must haves – ornaments, scarves, hats, etc… We stopped at a cheese stand and ended up purchasing a block of gouda cheese – Veerrrryy expensive. Our fault for not asking the price before having it cut. We are embarrassed to report how much we spent on a block of cheese, but let’s just say we could have had a nice dinner! Lesson learned – always get the price quoted first!!
There were many food trucks and an area to stand to have a nibble or a cocktail. We opted for warm drink, Irish Coffees, at the Blizzard Bar truck and churros from the Churros truck – delicious. The prices of the food trucks are a bit high, but most are novelty trucks and are charging Boston prices – to be expected I guess.
Fort Point Area
We left Snowport and headed toward the Fort Point area. We noticed some new buildings, steps and courtyards along the way. We passed the new Museum of Ice Cream that wasn’t open yet, however I did hear they are open now. This looked like a lot of fun. We ventured into The Smoke Shop, a barbecue place that looked and smelled amazing. We had some BBQ peanuts and beers, and we decided that this is a place worth visiting for dinner sometime.
Liberty Hotel
We took an Uber back to our car and decided to check out the festive lobby at the Liberty Hotel. The Liberty Hotel is iconic as the building used to be the Charles Street Jail. Some cells still remain and are memorialized in both Clink and Alibi restaurants and bars. Scampo is their more upscale restaurant also on the first floor.
The Liberty is a favorite for Jim and I, but Steve and Deb hadn’t been in a very long time. We parked in front of the hotel and went up the grand escalator to the lobby bar, Liberty Bar. The lobby is built on second floor square area that is surrounded by catwalks where the cells used to be. The lobby is beautifully decorated with upside down lighted Christmas trees hanging from the high ceilings. The décor is warm and classic holiday. We were lucky enough to find some seats at the bar, but there are also seating areas scattered all around the lobby with coffee tables, high back chairs and comfy sofas. We took in the festive atmosphere for a bit before calling an end to our Boston day.
We highly recommend taking the time to visit the sites close to home, just as you do when traveling. It is amazing how many cool spots there are close to home that you may have never experienced. Give it a go!!
Until next time,
Patti and Jim (and Steve and Debbie)
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