Dan and I got to our hotel shortly before 10 on Thursday night, and, wanting both to explore and get a snack, we ventured out to Newbury Street, where we were luckily able to find an ice cream place open. I got a cup of DELICIOUS black raspberry ice cream with blueberry pieces and white and dark chocolate chunks. Seriously, people. DIVINE. I woke up early-ish on Friday morning to go for a little jog at the hotel gym, and it was such a bad run that I should have just let myself sleep in, as Dan had done. Afterward, we grabbed breakfast at a little place in the neighborhood and then walked to our first stop of the day, America's Most Beloved Ballpark (a.k.a. Fenway). I was very grateful to Dan for indulging me on that one, and, luckily for him, I did not make him go on a tour (I have been on two myself and have been to the ballpark numerous times for games, so I didn't think it was necessary). From there, we walked downtown, through Copley Square and then through the Public Gardens and the Commons. Poor Dan...since he has never been subjected to a vacation with my family, he has never experienced our ten-mile walking days (seriously, there were days when we walked that far in Europe). He is a very active guy, but all of that walking can take a lot out of the most in-shape people!
America's Most Beloved Ballpark
New England Aquarium
We finally ended up at Government Center, where we toured the Aquarium (which we both loved) and went to an IMAX movie which was, strangely, narrated by Jim Carrey (neither of us could get over this fact). Before we headed in to the movie, each of us gobbled down a grilled cheese that we had bought at a food truck. It was my first food truck experience, and it was delicious! After the movie, I agreed (and, after all of that walking, it wasn't too difficult to convince me!) to take the T back to the hotel. Over the course of the weekend, the consensus was that, as much as we may complain about the Metro (and, while we were gone, Metro experienced two total system outages, which would have left me spitting tacks had I been riding. But I digress), the T is so far inferior. T trains are dirty, noisy, not well ventilated, unannounced (there is no board with a schedule of trains) and poorly planned (the arrangement of the lines does not make too much sense, and, due to the layout of the stations, you often have to pay twice if you are switching lines). However, the T got us where we needed to go, so, for the course of the weekend, it served its purpose. We showered and changed before meeting up with Dan's sister Emily for dinner in the North End. 
Emily was the lone member of Dan's immediate family who I had not yet met, and, when we saw his parents a few weeks ago and I told his mom how excited I was to go visit Emily, she assured me that Dan had been getting pressure from both sides to make this trip happen. I really liked Emily a lot and instantly felt comfortable around her, which was not at all surprising, given how much I love Dan's entire family, and the three of us had a really nice weekend together. We started off with a fantastic dinner at this little hole-in-the-wall Italian place in the North End (that description could apply to any of the restaurants in the North End, actually) and then gelato from Mike's Pastry (the gelato line was nonexistent, as opposed to the crowded mess of a cannoli line, so we opted for the gelato). We then went to a bar in the Government Center area that was fun, albeit way too loud; we could barely hear ourselves think above the music, much less have a sustained conversation!!
On Saturday morning, Dan and I, in keeping with his race plan (in true fashion, I am not doing a race plan, which will simply mean that I'll run slower than Dan haha), went for an eight-mile run around the city. It was probably the best I've felt this year while running outside, and we got to see a huge swatch of the city in the process. Our pace was actually faster than my half-marathon pace from last year, so I was pleased about that. However, afterward I immediately started feeling sick to my stomach (the same actually happened after my half), and I struggled through breakfast. I could barely speak (and, thus, was not my normal bubbly self) because I felt so awful, and was getting up every five minutes to run to the bathroom. Poor Dan was practically eating breakfast by himself, and I felt so guilty :( At one point, I walked back from the bathroom and hit my head on a low-hanging tree branch. I initially started laughing but, as a delayed reaction, was tearing up, both from bonking my head and from how crappy my stomach felt. Dan, great guy that he is, suggested that we go back to the hotel and rest for a bit, and, after conking out for an hour, I felt significantly better.
We took the T out to BC to meet up with Emily, and, after getting a tour of campus and of her apartment, we went out for yet ANOTHER Italian meal (we were sitting on Emily's couch discussing what we wanted to do for dinner, and, when she finally conceded that she wouldn't be at all opposed to another Italian dinner, I felt okay chiming in that I could definitely have some more pasta). Again, the dinner was delicious although we had a bit of a bizarre situation when it came time to order dessert. Being that we had all just gorged ourselves on pasta, we were not in the mood to order dessert, but then our waitress brought us out some tiramisu! We all looked at each other and laughed, since we had not ordered dessert, and we wondered if she was forcing dessert on us, only to charge us for it. After a few minutes of wondering aloud, we decided to go for it, and it was actually delicious. Sufficiently stuffed at that point, we walked to a pub that had great Belgian beer. We had lots of time to just chat, and I can't overstate how great a time I had. Dan and Emily are VERY close, so it was very sweet to witness the interaction between the two of them. She was so incredibly sweet to me as well, which made it so much easier on me. I'm so glad that I finally got to meet her, and hopefully I'll see a lot more of her in the future!!
The delightful siblings
On Sunday, we were pretty lazy, heading back to Newbury Street for brunch at around 11. We then walked back to the Commons through the Beacon Hill neighborhood, and back to the Government Center area. Once there, we walked through Faneuil Hall and the surrounding markets before heading to Ye Olde Union Oyster House to get Dan some clam chowder (or chowdah, as the locals call it; and yes, I did intermittently speak in an annoying accent that resembled a Boston accent over the course of the weekend). Feeling sufficiently stuffed, we returned to the hotel, grabbed our bags and began our journey home.
Beacon Hill
I was actually pretty gloomy when I got home, because our wonderful weekend was over. I said to Dan in the airport yesterday that I often feel very sad when our trips, in which we spend a lot of concentrated time together and go on lots of adventures, are over. He "awwww"ed me and told me that our trips are so special because we don't go on them all the time, which I agree with. If we could afford to travel all the time, our trips might not seem as special, so for now, until we win the lottery, I am perfectly happy to take the occasional trip. As we were taking one of our sitting breaks yesterday, I told him that he is a wonderful travel buddy, because he is so easygoing (and, as I mentioned before, so am I, but only when I'm traveling haha) and doesn't have a specific timetable or agenda. That is my preference when I travel; I definitely prefer to wander around and get lost on side streets rather than stick to tourist traps. I look forward to hopefully taking many more trips together in the future (our next one is over Labor Day weekend for our half-marathon!!), as well as hopefully getting many more chances to spend time with his family!
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