September 22, 2007

Today we celebrated a year of marriage. We slept in a tiny bit later - but still managed to make it to breakfast around 8.30. We exchanged gifts before breakfast. Aidan gave me earrings from Tiffanys that matched the necklace that he gave me at the rehearsal dinner. I gave him the beginnings of his US Dollar Coin collection. After breakfast (again with classical music) we headed to Fanueil Hall. Everything opened at 10am so we went to the Rose Kennedy Rose Garden and walked around the aquarium area. At 10 we weent to the Bostix booth to get half price tickets to see 'The 39 Steps'. We then explored the stores in and around Quincy Market. After that we walked to Downtown Crossing. It has changed so much. It was upsetting to see Filene's closed. Thankfully there are still a few places there that I remembered.We picked up lunch from McDonalds (including the fruit and walnut pack) and walked across to Boston Commons to eat. We were serenaded by a guy playing the flute and he was pretty good. We also watched all of the squirrels - there were so many and they come right up to you. We then walked through the Frog Pond (it was empty - ice skating starts Nov 15) and through to the Public Gardens. I got a few pictures of the swans from the dock were the Swan Boats used to depart. I was so impressed by the roses in the Public Gardens. So beautiful! We then walked down Newbury Street and visited a few stores, including Filene's Basement. When we got back to the guest house it was already time to leave for the Hatch Shell.We walked down BEacon Street to Arlington and then across the Arthur Fiedler Footbridge. There was a Blues Festival going on so there were many people on blankets and chairs. We boarded our gondola and learned about the mechanics of the boat. The 2 gondolas that they have are handmade from venice and were in service on the Grand Canal for many years. It was so comfortable. We had champagne, cheese and crackers and chocolates. I took so many pictures of the Charles River, Cambridge, Boston and the sailboats/kayaks/etc. We also had Andrea Botcelli playing in the background. We had to kiss under every bridge as well - fun!!!!! 50 minutes seemed to fly by and before we knew it we were disembarking. It was superb and I highly recommend it because it was so romantic.We caught the T back to the guest house, showered and changed for dinner and the theatre. We ate at Brasserie on Huntington Avenue. It was lovely. The service was superb and there was way too much food. It tasted devine though. We then walked to the Boston University Theatre (Hntington Theatre) to see 'The 39 Steps'. I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were only 4 cast members and they were amazing. Only the male lead played one part. The female lead played 3 and the other 2 males played too many characters to count. It was a comedy that also included references to many other Hitchcock movies. It was just so clever! It will be moving to Broadway in January so I'm glad we got to see it. After the show we headed back to the guest house where we intend to crash shortly. A long weekend is not enough time to enjoy all Boston and Massachusetts has to offer.