Boston Trip

Every year Nate has a weekend with his guy friends when a couple of them go to Lollapalooza.  This year Nate really encouraged me to have a girls weekend as well.

It didn't take much convincing for me to say YES.  I knew I wanted to go somewhere fun, that I had never been, and I thought the 4 Carpenter sister girls could do it.  It was kind of bad planning on my part and just a mix of schedules not mixing up that we weren't all able to go.  

So Amanda and I decided to go this year, and we are hoping to do a sisters trip next year!  

Somehow Boston popped up in my head and I asked Amanda if she would want to go.  She had never been and so we both thought Boston in the fall sounded like a perfect weekend getaway.

Here's a little recap on our trip...

I left Wednesday night and drove to Chicago to stay with Eric & Amanda since we had to leave at 4am for our early morning flight.  Although it was an early flight, it was perfect because we got into Boston around 8:30.  

We went to our Air Bnb, dropped off our bags, and then headed to The Paramount for breakfast. 

The Paramount is a super cool, tiny little breakfast place with everything from egg sandwiches, to omelettes, to nutella stuffed french toast :) It's also located in one of my favorite areas of Boston, Beacon Hill.

After breakfast, we walked around a lot of Beacon Hill.  There's lots of little shops, bakeries, etc.  We just kept stopping and taking pictures because everything is SO beautiful.  Brick buildings are my weakness, my dream is to have a brick house, so allllll the beautiful red brick buildings and houses just had me all googley eyed!

We decided to try to hit up as many places/areas that we wanted to see as we could that day.  So after Beacon Hill, we went to Boston Commons and Boston Public Garden which are both really big, beautiful parks.   

I loved this sign ;) 

From Boston Common, we went to Fenway Park...even though we aren't Red Sox fans, we had to check it out!  Naturally, as we were walking...NBC Boston stopped us on the corner and interviewed us about our thoughts on the Vegas shooter and all the things that are coming out about the situation/other targeted areas.  I was completely caught off guard, my hair was a mess and I blabbered to the news lady about complete nonsense.  So yeah...when you wonder why people on the news sound so dumb...they just catch you off guard!!! 

After a quick bite to eat by Fenway Park, we headed out to Harvard.  A beautiful campus, and we got some coffee/chai from Tatte (the best coffee shop in Boston) while walking around.

After Harvard, we headed back to our place to get ready for dinner. 

We ate at Giacomos, which was recommended to us by local Bostonians that Nate & I met in Greece.  It is a tiny Italian restaurant, and you just wait outside in line until they have a table for you.  I got pasta and it was SO GOOD.  It hit the spot after a long day of traveling and walking all over Boston!

I got lots of recommendations for Mike's Pastry and after dinner, there was one right down the street, so we stopped in and waited in line (which, according to people walking by...was SHORT compared to what it usually is).  We both got sweet treats for the evening and something for breakfast too!

We were in bed by 11:00pm -- basically because we were running on 3 hrs of sleep!.  The next morning, we ate our breakfast from Mike's Pastry and then headed out to the North End part of Boston.  We spent most of our day here.  

We planned it for the first day to be all over, and then the 2nd day was mainly all of the things we wanted to see/do in the North End.  It worked out really well for our quick trip.

After getting chai, we went to Old North Church...

then Faneuil Hall + Quincy Market

and of course The Bell in Hand Tavern (oldest tavern in the US). 

We ate pizza for lunch at Quattro and then did some more exploring of the North End.

 After we were done exploring, we headed to Louisburg Square (one of the oldest and richest neighborhoods in the US).  Amanda and I were all like "yea...I'd live here" hahah. Seriously though, BEAUTIFUL homes in the coolest location.

Then we headed to go shopping on Newbury Street, and I got the boys as many clothes as I could fit into my carry on ;) We had a late night dinner reservation for 10pm, so we had lots of time during the day/evening before we had to head back.

Lots of people recommended Island Creek for dinner, so that's where we went.  I hate seafood, but decided that while I was out on the east coast where it would be "the best", I should at least TRY oysters. 

It wasn't terrible.  It's not something I'll order again, but it wasn't unbearable.  Although it did almost come back up when I tried it hahaha.  Oh and please excuse my ridiculous facial expressions...hahaha!

We went to bed after dinner, woke up in the morning and went to Beacon Hill for a quick breakfast before we got to the airport.  We ate lunch a little early and then got on our flight, and we were back in Chicago by 4.  I drove home in pouring rain, but just in time to squeeze my babies and help with bedtime.

It was a quick trip but SO needed for me to get some time away.  It always makes coming home and being with my kids that much better.  A happy and refreshed mommy is best for everyone :) 

Amanda, thanks for much for being up for the quick and fun weekend getaway.  So much love for you! Can't wait to do it again :)

xox,

Naomi