Chowder Hat-trick

Thursday 6/9/11

This was a play day for the convention folks, so on our way out to play we rode the down the elevator with the couple we had gone to dinner with Tuesday night. They told us about the places they had eaten lunch and dinner yesterday with friends. She proudly told me she whipped out her pocket camera and told everyone not to touch their food until she had taken a picture like Martha would have done. Snort! We also ran into a landman in the lobby who knew Jeff's dad back in the day. It always warms Jeff's heart to hear other landmen who knew his dad talk about their relationship with him.

We took a cab to the Waterfront District and walked across the bridge to eat lunch at the Barking Crab. It reminded me of a Boston/seafood version of Hula Hut in Austin. The weather was perfect for sitting in the open-air restaurant with a fantastic view of the city's Financial District. Jeff got a bowl of clam chowder (bowl #1) which was pretty stinkin' amazing. I got an order of steamed mussels which were better than the ones I had in Nice, France. And that's saying a lot! 

We walked around the wharfs a bit, then walked over to another area where we enjoyed watching kids play in a splash park. There's just something about kids and squirting water that makes you smile. Then on to more parks with lush landscaping, more gorgeous skyscrapers, more hustle and bustle of an energetic city. 

Then we hit Union Oyster House. This appears to be somewhat of a Boston tourist tradition and is touted to be the oldest restaurant in the country. It is next to the Green Dragon Tavern, supposedly Paul Revere's hangout, which we visited along the Freedom Trail on a previous visit. I don't know if locals even go there now, but I know the tourists do. We sat around the ancient wooden oyster bar and watched them shuck our oysters while we shared a bowl of chowder (bowl #2) which was a bit different from the previous bowl and just about as good. We slurped expensive oysters and enjoyed the cornbread that was served along with it. We have never had cornbread with chowder and we have never had cornbread as good as this. In fact, we bought a cornbread mix in the adjacent gift shop and just hope ours at home turns out as good. The elderly lady who owns the place was kind enough to give us a copy of a the chowder and cornbread recipes and we bought a trivet with the chowder recipe on it...such tourists, I swear. 

We soon found ourselves at Quincy Market and it was such a festive scene. The main building houses all kinds of food booths which are surrounded on the outside by kiosks of all kinds. We recalled buying Beanie Babies from these kiosks on a previous trip as we strolled the shops. Then all of that is surrounded by regular stores and restaurants. It's pretty much a tourist spot, but hey, we're the couple in tennis shoes with cameras and maps, so we enjoyed being there. By the way, cobblestones and bunions are a painful combination. 

Then we hobbled walked back through the Government District and the Downtown District and ended up in the Boston Common. By then it was late in the afternoon and it was full of people and the lighting was as perfect as the weather. 

I still prefer the adjacent Public Garden,

 so that is where Jeff left me to hang out with my Nikon friend while he rested up. 

Had to take more strange purple flower photos...

And random people photos...

Then a nasty cloud blew in and in a matter of minutes, the sky got all ugly and dramatic and I forgot about how bad my foot hurt and hustled back to the hotel minutes before it began to storm. 

One of Boston's yummy restaurants has a location near our hotel which is convenient during bad weather, so we had dinner at Legal Sea Foods. Yes, that's chowder bowl #3. And, for the record, crab cakes at Legal's are amazing.

And since Boston is currently in the Stanley Cup playoffs with Vancouver, this city is on fire about ice hockey. The statue in the park is sporting a Bruins jersey. Thus, the Chowder Hat-trick. 

By the way, we decided the Barking Crab chowder was #1.