Travelogue #9: Charmed.

Of the four American cities we visited, Boston was my favourite, and unexpectedly so, because unlike New York, LA or even San Fran, Boston wasn’t spectacular. It didn’t have an Empire State Building or a Hollywood Sign. Its bridges were practical, functional, but not iconic. 

And yet, Boston was the only city in the US where people routinely offered us help with our luggage or with directions without us asking. It was the city where we spent the most amount of time dining outdoors, strolling the clean and pedestrian friendly streets, popping into second hand bookstores and vintage clothes stores.

It was the city where we saw the most number of people studying in cafes, the most number of people watching sport in pubs. In Boston, people spoke about their city’s history with pride and a surprising depth of knowledge. And above all, it was a place where people young and old seemed genuinely concerned with the art of living well. 

We stayed in Somerville, a little outside Boston proper. It was a green, artsy residential neighbourhood, filled with families and young people. We went to the cheap, vaudeville-eque Somerville Theatre; we sat outside in the evening sun, eating ice cream, watching students fill up nearby cafes and families chill out under the twinkling lights of Davis Square… 

During the day, we walked the Freedom Trail with a guide in corny period costume. We wore away the soles of our shoes walking the narrow, brick filled streets of Beacon Hill. We visited to universities in Cambridge and wondered if we would ever do our postgrads there. We went to the JFK Presidential Library, and thought about the stories it didn’t tell. 

On our last night in Boston, we dined in a swanky restaurant on Newbury Street and watched the shoppers walk by, winding in and out of shops in renovated brownstone houses. The atmosphere was both bustling with life and strangely relaxed. 

Yes. Boston may not have a spectacular skyline or an iconic bridge, but on that warm, sunny, autumn evening, surrounded by its courteous and proud residents, Boston was endlessly charming. 

xx doots