I awoke at 4:30, roused myself from bed, showered, made sure all was packed, left before 5:30 or there about, and took the 1 south toward Canal Street, at which point I got off and walked east on Canal until I reached the Fung Wah Bus company and purchased a $15 ticket for the 6:30 bus.
There was the usual rogues gallery of passengers as well as a European couple — hot blonde and short-haired guy — of indeterminate northern-European origin … I couldn’t make out enough of what they were saying to determine the language they were speaking, only that it was Germanic … perhaps Dutch, perhaps a dialect of German, perhaps Danish … those are my best guesses.
A couple hours in we stopped in Vernon, CT, at Burger King and I should have purchased the Hamlette (ham-omelet sandwich) rather than the sausage biscuit, which was unsatisfying. Orange juice from a carton, also unsatisfying. But seeing as I’d had only a glass of water in NY before leaving, the food, trashy as it was, was necessary.
Once in Boston I walked a few blocks to Amy’s place of work, chatted with her and a coworker, exchanging stories about office-mates-from-Hell, etc., and then headed to town for an hour or so before returning at 1pm to meet her to walk to lunch, where we met Todd and Richard. Helen couldn’t make it.
The Empire Garden (I think that was the name) was an old theater; one can still see it in the architecture. The food delivery system, a literal a-la-carte one might say, was rather new to me but interesting and effective. We chatted; I mostly listened. And after we split — everyone but me back to work — I went back to Boston Common, back to the Athenaeum, and viewed a few works up there. Then though the Common again and I settled for an iced coffee from Starbucks as I doodled and waited to return to Amy’s office again, so we could go home, drop off my bag, feed the dog, etc. At the Starbucks the employees were quite friendly and curious in their own ways — such as the transexual or cross-dressing guy, unless he was the world’s ugliest woman … but character. They recognized my Fulbright bag and used it as a topic of conversation.
Dinner included Gabe and Helen; it rained a bit. We went to Fajitas and ‘Ritas … both the food and drink were mediocre, but the margaritas were tasty enough. The price was right. I had a burrito that could have used more salt and other spices.
Thereafter we moseyed across the Common and then past Beacon and down street where I was quickly lost, but it was a quaint, expensive area, and very gas-lamp — Beacon Hill. Gabe and Helen left, and Richard, Amy and I went to an early music concert at the Church of the Advent.
And that was my music of/for the day.
