Hotel: Courtyard by Marriott -- South Boston
I should preface this entry by saying that Boston is a perfectly lovely city.... for someone else. To me, Boston felt like another big city. There are things about it that are absolutely beautiful and amazing, but it's definitely not one of my favourite places I've ever been. Great city, but not my favourite. That's all. The more I travel, the more I try to figure out what my cities are.
So. To the meat of it all.
This morning, I went to the doctor, and they were able to get me in really early, so I was out of there by 10:00 and headed straight for the airport. I went standby on the 11:35 flight, since the 12:50 flight was already delayed an hour. I made the flight, but no upgrade. I was in the window seat though. It was a LONG flight. I had to store my bag in the front of the plane, so I couldn't even get up to get my trusty laptop. Luckily, I had my iPod. I landed and headed straight for the hotel shuttle.
I was a little hesitant, because it was "out of the action", but there was nothing disappointing about this Courtyard. The location was great -- the Andrew T-stop was a 5 minute walk away, making it easy to get into the city and transfer to the various lines. The hotel grounds were very well maintained and the rooms were decently sized.
We had one problem with the air conditioner the first night (it wasn't working), but I asked the front desk to send an engineer up to look into it the next morning, and by the time we returned Friday night, the room was completely cool and we didn't have any problems for the rest of the stay.
ALL the staff was very friendly. The front desk staff even remembered my name when I would come down to the lobby. That's near impossible to find these days. They were helpful with maps, finding late night delivery dining, small inconveniences, etc. You name it, they can handle it, and with a smile!
The hotel offers a free shuttle to the airport every half hour on the hour. This was a great ammenity and had a lot to do with my decision to stay at this property.
When I called Elena, they were already at Cheers, so I dropped my bags off, slipped into a hot little black dress and my stilettos, grabbed my raincoat and umbrella and headed to the T. (No cabs necessary for this city girl!) Yeah. Well. I'm walking to the T, and a car drives by and totally splashes me, head to toe. Poor Italian shoes.
I make it to the T, grab a pass, and connect with no problem. When I emerge from the Arlington station, it is POURING. Like torrential rains. I had to cross Boston Common in stilettos IN THE RAIN. My plans of arriving at the bar and looking effortlessly stunning and beautiful (even if I smelled like airplane) were dashed. I looked like a drowned rat.
We had a couple drinks at Cheers, which is a lot smaller than it looks on the old television show. It wasn't as busy as I thought it would be. The drinks were reasonably prices for a tourist joint, too.
Around 7:00, we decided it was time to grab some dinner. It was STILL pouring, so we decide to grab a cab. I step out and hail one immediately. We decided to go to Quincy Market and let everyone fend for themselves. After dinner, it was *still* raining... so we found a pub close by, Sissy K's. It was pretty slow when we first arrived, but things picked up rapidly. There was a lot of awkward standing around until Shakira's Hips Don't Lie came on and Elena and I headed to the dance floor. From there, we were able to drag the guys out onto the dance floor... which was fabulous. After dancing for awhile, we finally decided to settle down into a booth downstairs for a little while and watch fratastic boys do karaoke, which was at least entertaining....
We decided to head home around 1:00, and the rain had finally stopped.
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