Boston was surreal. It was like meeting up again with my best friend...from a previous life. As I roamed the shop before the Orchard House tour, I was browsing the titles of the books by Louisa May Alcott and realizing, "Hey! I've read every single one of these books!" Multiple times. I think there was a time in my life when I rediscovered them every two or three years and sprinted through them all over again as though it was the first time.
That sums up my entire trip. Everything was so familiar, but as though I had experienced it all as a different person. At nights before I went to sleep, I would calculate what time it was in various places around the world just to ground myself in reality.
My trip was incredibly international. We made (and ate) Spritz cookies and spaghetti eis from Germany, and rice porridge from Norway. I met people people from Japan, Armenia, Norway, China, and Puerto Rico. I ate Thai lunch one day, Italian sausage another day and Moroccan Christmas eve dinner. It was a lot of fun but definitely kept me hopping, trying to keep everything straight in my head.
My sister and I did some cultured things like go to Orchard House, attend a candlelight Christmas Eve service at a local church, and visit Faneuil Hall. We also did some really random things such as walking to the North End in cold rain just to see the marker for the Molasses Tsunami and stop by the Massachusetts State House halfway there so we could get warm. We walked a different way to Tufts so we could stop by Grandmother's house and stopped by a friend's house to sing Christmas carols and give her warm gingerbread. We watched a lot of bad Christmas movies including a modern retelling of Little Women and a few really good ones like Silent Night and It's a Wonderful Life.
In any case, meeting up with a best friend from a previous life or not, it was a lot of fun. Thanks for the great trip, Meli.
Orchard House
My sister and I outside Orchard House.
Us at the Boston Temple.
"Well, I guess we do owe one offering to the cookie gods."
"Yep, our own burnt offering."
Make way for ducklings!
Me in the Massachusetts State House.
Okay, so breaking the mold after you create a staircase so it can be one of a kind is cool. Being excited about said mold breaking might make me nerdy.
"We were just walking by and we saw that there were tours here."
"Yes, Second floor on the left."
"You could have just said, 'Hi, we're here to get warm.'"
A pretty door
I begged my sister for spaghetti eis and she was quite obliging
Hugging Jumbo the Elephant, the official mascot of Tufts University
Awesome clock that also serves as art
Beautiful ceiling in the State House
After walking through cold rain, we found the little plaque and took a picture as proof. Feel the love, Isa!
An awesome charcoal drawing of Abraham Lincoln. I kind of like the reflection of the lights and myself, too.
Kon'nichiwa snowman. At least that's what I called him before I bowed 'hello' in return.
Jedi lights?
"Erin, quick, grab us our Christmas dinner!"
"Grandmother's House...is the pudding done?"
Yay, shadow peace signs!
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