If life in the South moves slow as molasses, then the pace in Boston can be likened to a bottle of ketchup. It can take a strenuous amount of shaking, pounding, tapping, and swirling to extract any amount of excitement from the unofficial capital of New England. Blame it on the Puritan origins.
Cade and I spent Memorial Day weekend there for two reasons: 1) We anticipated blaring reggaeton at neighbors’ parties and thus, wanted to get out of NYC and 2) Maybe Boston would be cooler when it wasn’t so damn cold.
Turns out, Boston is pretty dull, even when people aren’t ice skating on the sidewalks. I appreciate the history, but where’s the future? Cade has declared the city the official set of 28 Months Later. Those will be some very preppy zombies trolling about.
We kept busy playing Spot The Dunkin’ Donuts, turning our noses up at Boston’s tourist attractions (”Why pay $14 to see a museum in Boston? We live in NYC and can go for a quarter.”), and arguing over where to eat. For Cade, vacations are about experiencing local cuisine. For me, vacations are about shopping, exploring places I read about in “not for tourists” literature, and eating reliable fooods that offer no surprises. I was dismayed when we stopped at a Burger King on the ride to Boston. I’d never eaten there, and couldn’t bring myself to order more than the Hamlette, which should have the slogan “more fatter with less fart.” It made me want to go the way of Ophelia - pork products that taste like candy are quite discomfiting, methinks. It was even harder for me to sit at a seafood place and watch locals bash lobsters with rocks, and then savagely tear their crustaceous bodies apart, all the while normalizing it in those non-rhotic accents.
Somehow, 99.8% of the pictures taken over the weekend were snapped upon arrival. As dull as Boston can be, Cade and I did get to relax and breathe cleaner air and watch boats float by. We saw an indie film in Brookline and went to a Trader Joe’s that didn’t have a line winding around the entire store. We looked at John Winthrop’s grave and got slightly sunburnt.
And then we got back to New York, and the smell of the baking garbage on the sidewalk made me really miss Bawston…for a few minutes.
Cade took these pictures, give or take a few.
Why are you judging your experience with Boston on a trip to Burger King?
It sounds like you maybe walked around Downtown Boston to the exclusion of *the rest of the city*. Well, to put that in terms that your enlightened NYC mind might understand, that’s like basing your entire opinion of New York on Midtown.
Next time, be a little more adventurous.
You’re complaining about Boston food and you went to a Burger King? Next time try Monica’s in the North End for Italian, or Figs for gourmet pizza, or L’Espalier for snooty expensive French food, or Number 9 Park for snooty expensive New American food, or The Hungry I for ambiance, or, Christ, I could go on and on. I lived in New York for three years, and I’ve had equally good meals in Boston and been to equally fun places. You just have to know where to look, or at least try to look beyond the Dunkin Donuts and the lobster-y tourist traps. And by the way, where on earth did you go to see the lobster-bashing spectacle you describe? Most Bostonians with “non-rhotic accents” can’t afford lobster.
I’ve always lived by the credo that Boston may be a nice place to live, but I wouldn’t want to visit there.
You nailed the place, don’t let the Beantowners get you down for calling a spade a spade.
Which Gawker editor is your BFF?
This is pretty transparent baiting to draw attention to your boring blog.
Dude, what the fuck ever. You came to my town and your hillbilly ass visited a Dunkin Donuts and a Burger King. What does that say about you?
You weren’t even in the city, you were in the fucking suburbs. That’s like going to NYC to hang out in Long Island.
everyone was at the cape this weekend.
also, all the best times to be had in boston are, like NY, during midweek.
Le sigh. This certainly doesn’t help the rest of the country love your fellow Texans (like myself, and I also live in NYC).
Brookline’s sweet–my best friend (also from Texas) lived there while at Boston College–but definitely explore the rest of the city. Boston and I have a long-distance relationship with each other–the city’s fantastic if you look past the Dunkin’ Donuts.
P.S. Bostonians might disagree with me (though most of my Mass. friends haven’t so far), but go to Legal Seafood for their clam chowdah. AMAZING.
I stopped at a Burger King in Connecticut actually. Alas, I didn’t visit a Dunkin’ Donuts in Boston, but there’s one on every freakin’ corner. And I’ve visited different areas of Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline. And they’re all pretty dull.
Wow, this innocuous post got all the beantowners wicked upset. Who Knew so many read your blog in the first place?
OH MY GOD STFU BOSTON IS SO MUCH BETTER THEN FUCKING LAME ASS NEW YORK THERE IS NT EVEN ANY COMPARISON NEW YORK IS BIGGER BUTT BOSTON HAS CLASS AND PRIDE HEOLL YEAH
none of us bostonians (or ex bostonians) read the blog, but some of us read gawker, i betcha
boston is quieter. but you could have tried this party!!
http://www.mashit.com/beatresearch/
which was pretty frickin stellah on memorial day Monday
but otherwise, yeah new yorkers get over yourselves, not every city leaps up and smacks you in the face with fun, garbage, crazy people and all-night subways. Some cities make you work for it. Those of us that grew up working for it might laugh when people complain about a city not handing them everything on a platter!
yer blog fuckin blows.
She’s not trying to continue some Boston-NY rivalry. Boston isnt as exciting as NY, hands down.
“New York is bigger butt”?
Go back to Texas - the Northeast doesn’t want you here anymore.
How could you judge a city on a holiday weekend, when the locals are all off to the beach?
Must be your country-tourist roots.
People are so quick to say something negative about where Amanda’s from, because they disagree with her opinion (which they think is negative).
But she even said she liked some things about Boston, and she formed her opinion of the city after two trips.
Amanda craves attention so please don’t give her anymore. Just like at the zoo, “PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS!”
Wow. That (above) comment was dumb.
Here’s one more equally unnecessary comment. Yeah, this has about as much of a point as the other comments.
Love the pics and your style. Writing and dress.
Ha! You got some good mean anonynoters. Welcome to the club!
amandapants - these kids are crazy. boston must be pretty boring if the city’s people have to look for a fight on the internet to gain some excitement in their lives. opinions are opinions, so they need to chill out.
have a lovely week!
A couple of years ago, my husband and I decided to vacation in Boston. We planned to stay a week there. We spent all of 1 day in Boston and the rest of the time in Salem. Boston was BORING and a complete letdown.
Don’t listen to these chumps.
Stacey
amanda,
you are a fucking hipster snob.
Why, thank you!
I am so far from a hipster that I find your label delightfully off.