Ended up booking an Air BNB in the Beacon Hill neighborhood. Just a block from a train station. Couldn't believe how much the hotels and places to stay are, it is incredible how much the prices go up in the summer.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Think I'm going on a college tour in late March. I'm pissed that I have to get a car as I'm traveling to Providence and Wooster as well.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

not to bag on u again, but why bother? Why not stay 15 miles north of the city where u can get a nice hotel with a free-ass breakfast for like $100? I dont get why u just GOTTA stay in the city. You can easily just drive there and find a place to park. Enjoy yourself. Stop killin' yourself with high prices and smelly-ass AirBnB's.

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nevermind, i forgot u wanted to use the subway to go everywhere.

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The whole point of taking a trip there is to experience the city. I guess I could have stayed in the suburbs and trucked into town everyday but staying in the city gives us a little more flexibility to do whatever we want and head back to the home base pretty easily. Why would I drive out there and then have to worry about parking when they have a credible mass transit system or I can walk around? Besides that, I waste 2 full days on the road. The Air BNB is quite nice so I really have no concerns there. Thanks for your take on how you would do the trip. You obviously don't like Boston, got it. I've never been so I guess I will figure it out when I am there.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Went to Boston twice, and my buddy’s psycho ex is the reason I didn’t get to see Fenway both times. I liked the city otherwise. Southie was shady as hell, though.

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-- source

Red Sox are in town that week so it is high on my list to get over there. Not sure the best way to get tickets and haven't started looking yet. We are there from Monday afternoon thru Friday morning so might even just play it by ear and see how the weather works out. Definitely would like to check it out.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

The place is miniature and the area around the stadium does not open until like 3 hours prior to the start of the game. It's otherwise a ghost town. And if you are over 5'6" and 150 lbs, you will not fit in the seats.

I agree regarding the area immediately surrounding Fenway. But there are plenty of cool places with good food and nice tap selections not too far away. For instance, I like the Salty Pig on Dartmouth and the Tip Tap Room on Cambridge St., both within one to two miles of the park. Salty Pig has great food and typically has Trillium and other nice local/regional beers on tap. Food is also really good at the TTR--not quite as good as at SP--but the tap list will be better.

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I went to Boston this Saturday-Thursday looking at colleges. First day we walked the trail and so stopped at Union Oyster House for some chowder. It was great but pricey even for a bowl of soup. I would have tried others in the area but it was the day before St. Patrick's Day and the young drunks were lined up literally around the block at several bars waiting to get in. We continued on the trail all the way up to Bunker Hill. Obviously, the walk there and back produced a big hunger and we stopped in the North End. We didn't want a restaurant as it was sunset and we had a drive to Providence ahead of us. We stopped in an awesome eye tie bakery named Bova's. We bought sandwiches for the road, which were excellent. I also bought several pastries as I knew we would be doing lots of walking over the time and would be burning calories. I hate cannoli. This place had possibly the best cannoli I have ever eaten in my life. Everything else was great as well. I'll be interested to see where TM ranks Bova as people seem to rave about Michael's around the block. My son liked Bova's and didn't want to try anything else so we went back a couple of times.

Sunday I went to a place called Dirk's BBQ in Providence. Pretty good but small portions and bearded hipster service. We ate at Regina's pizza. It was packed at the original north end location so we went to an off shoot. I really enjoy their pizza. I'm not going to say it is some amazing pizza experience but I do think it is very good and worth the visit.

We were in Worchester on Monday and I had to get to a place I had seen on the food network called Miss Wooster. It didn't disappoint. Great diner. They had highlighted the various forms of French toast on the show so I ordered the crunchy French toast. Fantastic. There was no way I could eat a full order and I didn't eat anything else. My boy that he thought was as good as any he has had anywhere. Lots of fat people were there which I take as a good sign for a restaurant. That night I had an unremarkable bowl of chowder in Boston at a place called Surf Shack but I was exhausted and it was close.

Yesterday morning we ate the remainder of the French toast. My boy had found a wing place in his last visit to Boston that he considered among the best he has eaten. It is a place called Wing It. We decided to stop on our way to the airport. I'm not a wing guy so I ordered boneless. Great stuff in a little storefront space. I'd definitely recommend.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

My thoughts on colleges for you people out there in the market:

BC and Holy Cross- I view these as extensions of the Jesuit prep experience. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if you are looking for faith based education. They are both very good schools regardless of the catholic education. Beautiful campuses. I think they would be a great place to spend four years. However, they are homogenous not just in terms of racial demographics. I get the vibe that the big diversity debate focuses around pre and post Vatican II Catholicism.

BU- big, urban campus that does not particularly distinguish itself architecturally. I know it has a great reputation and its size offers opportunities others cannot provide. It is also in the city and all that has to offer. I felt it was a sterile campus but at the same time there was a lot of student vitality. It almost felt to me like a commuter school, which it is not. My older brother went there and transferred out decades ago, which may taint my opinion of the place. I'm not a big fan but my boy loved it.

Tufts- this is the school for him, in my opinion. It is strong in his desired major. It is an intellectually exciting atmosphere, without being stuffy. It is a campus that is manageable in size both in its population and physical acerage. It is a stone's throw from Boston with its own public transportation stop. He floored me when he said he liked BU better.

Providence- its a nice school. I'd probably group it more closely with Holy Cross but probably less academically rigorous. It is similar to Tufts in having a manageable campus but still provides the cache of having big time athletics as entertainment. I wouldn't have a problem sending a kid there but more of a backup place. Providence seems boring.

Brown- we didn't spend much time there as they didn't provide tours. Beautiful, hilly campus. Smelly, hippy population. I wasn't getting a vibe he was interested and so I wasn't going to waste my time.

Northeastern- BU little brother. Nothing wrong with the school and they have a very interesting offering of paid internships. We probably didn't give it sufficient time but its a big world.

Finally, paying for school is going to suck very, very hard even in state. The best buys I have seen are going international at Mc Gill in Montreal and UCD in Dublin.

Can I also add my ethnically insensitive comment of the day? When did US universities become so dedicated to educating Chinese nationals? We are creating our own demise.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

On the other hand I’m guessing the Poles are underrepresented.

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

When they started paying far more to go there.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

fuck!

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Don't worry about it. That's his problem.




I'm surprised to hear this. I thought Chinese were mainly on west coast and Chicago. How the hell did they make it all the way to the east coast? Geezuz.

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Yes college is expensive. Yes there are many Chinese as well as East Indians. Enjoy your search. In the end your kid has a great opportunity with you as dad and will probably make the most out of his 5 years.

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Elections have consequences.

bump...

pick a different city....Boston overrated

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went like 25 years ago. was not impressed. for a city where the revolution started there was hardly any independent thinking amongst the populace. Must be having 'we know better than you' universities like Harvard and MIT killing any original thought in that city.

maybe it's better now.

New England provincialism is real.

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It's a city of 685K people that calls itself The Hub.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

wrong again dumbshit.

Chicago is the provincial town.

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hey TM, will I see you at Solid Sound this weekend ?

I was actually there a couple years ago for the amazing Being There performance. It was one of my favorite Wilco shows along with one from Summerfest in like '07 and the Ghost Is Born comeback show at the Vic.

Oddly enough, I'll be in Chicago this weekend. Would have liked to connect with you.

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how ironic

well, next time hopefully

Great city. Whistler is nuts.

I thought mikes Boston cream was better than Bova’s but Bova’s was really good and seemed to be the local fav. Not sure who had my favorite chowda. All are different, little sad I didn’t bother with union oyster house...next time. I could eat lobster rolls forever. I’d like to move here for at least a year or retire in NE.

Had trouble with the tsa. Still in the airport. Wicked pissah!

sounds like nothing has changed. Boston Airport I always had problems at. Still the biggest dipshits working there I guess.

You clearly need more time with the locals...that'll cure your retirement plans.

Now...I'm biased, cause my ex-FIL is from New England...made a few trips out there. The food is very very good....there's plenty of history to be seen....and yes, the ocean / beach is cool.

Here's what it goes wrong for me:
1) Boston sports fans are worse than NY...just...awful.
2) Old Money. Don't bother trying to fit in...you never will.
3) Cape Cod. I don't get it. there are beaches all up and down the coast. They're cool. Cape Cod is it's own income bracket and the big thing. "Oh...well I have a house on the Cape". Spent a week out on the cape at a rental and I can assure you....it's no different than any other NE beach town all the way up to NH and Maine.

Like I said...I enjoyed it there, but....I'm fine if I never go back again.

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