As someone who loves travel (wanderlust is my favorite word in the dictionary, after all), being fortunate enough to visit a new city was a treat during this otherwise dull month. Boston was a blast! It reminded me a lot of Chicago, with the addition of historical landmarks smack dab in the middle of the city. I thought it was hilarious that two feet from the Boston Massacre site was a Staples, and that Sir Speedy now resides in the spot where Benjamin Franklin was born. Oh, America…

I’ll recap my visit in a few parts, starting with my first day!  Zain and I arrived Thursday night around midnight so we passed out immediately. First thing on my mind when I woke up Friday morning was COFFEE. After a quick yelp search, I found out that we were five minutes from beloved Boston coffee shop, Render.

I planned on just getting a quick cup of coffee, but after entering the quaint café I noticed that all the patrons had mugs full of beautiful latte art! Passing up latte art is never an option

Isn’t it beautiful? I was a barista for three years but I never came close to this kind of display.

Alongside my soy latte I had the yummiest goat cheese, carmelized onion and spinach quiche.

After breakfast Zain and I took the metro into the city, using our week-long unlimited tickets that we bought for only $18.  For the amount of times we used Boston’s public transportation, this was a steal.

We picked up our “Go-Boston” passes at the downtown Macy’s (purchased via Costco’s website for around $60) and were on our way to explore the city.

First stop was Boston Common, which we walked around before lunch. (I didn’t snap pics of the park, dumb, but here’s what it looks like):

After walking around for a bit we decided it was time for lunch. I did a TON of food research before we left so I was prepared with a list of must-try places. First up? JM Curley’s for burgers and sandwiches.

This was my favorite lunch of the trip. Aside from the incredible food, the bartender was friendly and helped us with suggestions of things to do for the weekend. Zain was even enthusiastic about his burger, and this in and of itself is a miracle because he usually doesn’t get passionate about delicious food the way I do.

For my lunch I picked their pulled pork sandwich. It was hands down the BEST sandwich I’ve ever had.

I didn’t touch the fries because I didn’t want their unoriginality to tarnish the immaculate flavors of this sandwich—it was THAT good.

After a pleasant conversation with the bartender, we enjoyed some shots on the house. I’m not sure what it was exactly but I’m guessing either an anise-flavored liqueur or Jagermeister, since it tasted like licorice. Whatever it was, it settled our stomachs very pleasantly and we left head over heels in love with JM Curley’s. They had an amazing special list for that night’s dinner, so if I ever return to Boston I’ll definitely be checking those out. I highly, highly recommend stopping by this friendly joint if you’re in the area.

After lunch we took a trolley around the city that was included in our Go-Boston passes. It was a great way to see the city and how all the different neighborhoods connected. We passed the original Cheers bar, Cambridge and Harvard’s campus, MIT, Boylston Street, Little Italy, and Boston Harbor.

With the trolley you have the option to hop off whenever you please, so when we saw Flour out of the corner of our eyes we immediately disembarked for some sweets.

This is where the indulgence began. I’m not proud of the snacks I consumed within these walls (just kidding of course I am).

We split four treats: a dark chocolate brownie, a homemade oreo, a vanilla cupcake and a coconut macaroon.

The brownie stole the spotlight—I don’t remember the last time I had a really good brownie. We left absolutely stuffed and on a sugar high.

On our walk we passed the site of the Boston Tea Party as the sun was starting to set. Pretty right?

Next stop was the sight of the Boston Massacre, right in front of the Old State House. Like I said it’s really cool how this building that’s been around for centuries is just sitting in the middle of the city. It’s been there since the early 1700s and has played many roles for the city.

We took a self-guided tour all throughout the building and learned a lot about Boston, as well as got a history refresher on the American Revolution. American history, especially the American Revolution, was always my favorite subject in school, so it was really amazing to get to re-learn all the events and facts that I once found so enthralling.

Once our tour ended we headed over to the Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall area. This was definitely my favorite area of Boston! It was such a quaint little place full of shops and restaurants.  I was tempted to buy a lobster hat but I resisted.

Soon we were hungry and decided to go with a restaurant in the area that came highly recommend by one of my favorite bloggers, Tina, over at Carrots n Cake.  Anthem is right next to Quincy Market so with the cold temps and our hungry stomachs, it was the perfect pick.

I started out with a lychee martini, which despite my best efforts wasn’t my favorite. I don’t love the taste of alcohol and even though this was really sweet, I had about half and put it aside so I could have more room for food 🙂

The menu looked incredible, with choices such as lobster mac and cheese, fondue, crab cakes and a fried chicken sandwich. At the server’s suggestion I went with the lobster cob salad and a bowl of clam chowder.

(Sorry about the terrible picture quality–the room was so dark)

This lobster was the best I had all weekend. I thought for sure I’d love hot, buttery lobster more, but this was out of this world. The clam chowder was great too! I loved my food.  All in all Anthem was a great experience and we ended up just hanging out there for close to three hours talking. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, our waitress was sweet, and the food kicked butt. I’m so happy I did research about restaurants before the trip because I never would have known about this place!

After a long day we decided to skip any more activities (we were thinking about going to this cool ice bar near Quincy Market) in favor of sleep. Call me old but I was exhausted from the day and excited for the rest of the weekend so I was totally on board.

I’ll be back tomorrow for another Boston recap!

Question:

• When you go on vacation, do you research restaurants beforehand?