Oh, boy! Traffic!

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Hello!

Our DoubleTree Boston!

My migraine came back yesterday afternoon when we were heading back to the hotel from Logan Airport, so I wasn’t able to post last night…so…yesterday.  (Driving in Boston would give anybody a headache! – R)  We didn’t want to run into too much rush hour traffic yesterday morning in Boston, so we didn’t leave Bristol until 9 a.m.  Our plan was to drop off the luggage at the hotel and then head to the airport to turn the car in.  (We didn’t really want to schlep the luggage all the way back to the hotel from the airport.)  We actually had a very nice drive from Bristol to Boston; something like an hour and a half … and then it was time to get off the turnpike.  Wow!  We were looking for the DoubleTree Boston-Cambridge, and fortunately, it is something like a 16 story building … and it was right in front of us as we paid our last toll and headed down the ramp.  It just seems like hundreds of other people were thinking the same thing!  There were two lanes merging from the right, and three lanes merging from the left, all to try to get into three lanes going in three directions.  Fortunately, I was able to get all the way over to the right and make the turn in front of our hotel, and voila, we were there!  It wasn’t even 11 a.m. but our room was ready, YIPEE!  I parked the car in the parking garage and up we went to room 1023.  It’s a lovely king-bed suite with a view over the Charles River. 

View from our window on to the Charles River

You walk into a nice living room with table, couch, comfy chair and coffee table, then through a corridor off which is the bathroom as well as a wet-bar/fridge/microwave and closet, and then into the bedroom, with two big windows overlooking the city and the river and a second flat-screen TV.  Very comfy!  Dropped luggage, and then back to the parking garage.

A very busy river!

Emmy (the GPS) had a few problems getting satellites (I think because of all the tall buildings!) but we were off on an incredible drive.  As we still needed to get gas, R attempted to find it in downtown financial district Boston … and of course, did I mention it was now lunchtime and people were out in droves?  Somewhere near one of the major hospitals in town something had happened, so between the police and fire services, things just came to a halt…we were eventually able to get out of there, and into the financial district, where the gas station turned out NOT to be…so finally, back toward airport, hoping that gas might be available somewhere there…so, following instructions to gas at the airport – and the street that it was supposedly on is totally blocked by police cars and Road Closed signs!  We eventually found the Gulf station and were able to return the car with a full tank…lesson learned:  fill up when you see a gas station regardless of whether you’re at the airport or not! 

View out our window, other direction!

From the rental car return building, we took a shuttle bus back to Terminal A, and from there, got the Silver Line bus which would deliver us to a T (subway) station.  It was then that my migraine returned; UGH…but at least the car had been returned!  The Silver Line bus was definitely odd…it stopped at a way station and it was announced that we would be there for a few “moments” while the bus converted from gasoline to electric … say what?  Definitely more than a few minutes wait, and to be honest, we didn’t notice any difference in noise with the “converted” engine…we got off at (I think!) South Station, and were able to connect to the Red Line subway, which took us to Central.  As we had left our wonderful Streetwise Boston map at the hotel, we were hoping that we could see our hotel when we got off the subway…but we couldn’t, so, as my head wasn’t doing well, R found a cab and we were whisked to our hotel in just a few minutes.  (The only thing that is wrong with the hotel is that it is not located very conveniently for public transportation!) 

Looks like fun?

I went right to bed (which is the only thing I want to do with a migraine…) and R ordered room service.  He got a grilled cheese sandwich with French fries for himself and a bowl of wonderful clam chowder for me.  I also helped with some French fries…back to bed, and up again about 5:30 p.m.  And boy, the river is SOOOO busy!  Lots and lots of sculls – including their support boats; mostly 8 rowers, but some with four, and even the random kayak!  It’s definitely a busy place!  As we are getting tired of eating out all the time, I had noticed a Whole Foods just a few blocks away from the hotel, so there we went.  Robert was able to get several trays of sushi and I got a container of wonderful penne pasta with meat balls and sauce – yum; comfort food!  We were also able to get some things for breakfast – O.J. and fruit, which will be good in the morning.  I went to bed around 8 and slept until 6 this morning…needed it, for sure!

Up to a very foggy morning – it’s supposed to be much cooler on Sunday.  Our goal today is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which doesn’t open until 11 a.m.  We’re also thinking about re-visiting the Fine Art Museum (just next door)…so…more later!

m

xxx