This is the continuation of the Summer Trip Series. If you haven’t read the previous installment, find it here. If you’re reading this through Reeder or other RSS feed software, I would recommend clicking through to the actual site as the format looks better.)

On day two of our trip to New England, we had the entire day to explore as much of Boston as we could on foot. Not wanting to waste time on breakfast, we did what we felt made the most sense: get Dunkin’. When in Rome, right?

After a bite and a black coffee, we headed to the subway. Whenever I visit a new city with a subway, I love learning how to navigate the area by train. At first, it’s a bit overwhelming not instinctively knowing where every track leads without looking at a map, but when it intuitively clicks after the first ride, it’s a satisfying feeling. It's far cheaper than taking a ride-share or driving, too.

Also, I ditched the usual Transit app and Google Maps app this time and just used Apple Maps to figure out where to go, and I can’t believe I wasn’t using it sooner. It’s far and away a cleaner, simpler, truly better all-around navigational tool. I’ve been an Apple Maps user since the iPhone 4S, and I still can’t shake the feeling of it being an inferior product even though it’s made huge strides since its inception.

*All aboard the B train at North Station!*

*We only had to use the subway a couple times, so we bought the minimum amount we needed instead of going full Charlie Card.*

*Stairs up to the street from the subway platform.*

*The train to Fenway arrives at the station for us to board.*

We took the subway because our first stop on the day’s itinerary was Fenway. Since the ballpark was a good distance away from where we were staying, walking didn’t seem like the smartest use of our time. Plus, I just love riding transit whenever possible.

*Detail of a subway car at the station.*

Regardless of the city, I never feel comfortable taking a photo while riding. I worry someone will think I'm being a creep when I just want to capture an image of the design of the car inside. I chose this moment because the car was relatively empty.

I was impressed by how clean Boston’s subway was compared to other cities I’ve been to. Philadelphia had the grossest subway I’d ever ridden, Chicago could be bad depending on the station, and NYC is NYC. I’m sure there are more disgusting stations than those I visited, but overall, my impression of their system is positive from a hygienic perspective.

FENWAY

*A prominent corner in Boston's North End neighborhood.*

We got off the subway at the station closest to Fenway and made our way up the stairs to the street above.

The excitement of seeing baseball’s oldest field grew with every step. Though we wouldn’t see a game there, I still wanted to walk around the park and check it out from all four corners of the street. Historic architecture and storied Americana like this are something I greatly appreciate, making this a delightful stop on our trip.

The area around the park was pretty quiet save for a few crew people setting up for something. It looked like a show would happen later that evening at MGM Music Hall behind the ballpark. I would’ve loved to walk around on game day to access the street side kiosks and team shop across the street, but it wasn’t in the cards for us. Just as well; I didn’t need to spend more money than I already had.

Seeing a legendary place like this was still neat, even in its temporarily dormant state.

*I really dig Fenway Green and Red Sox Red as a color scheme. Instantly recognizable.*

*A view of Gate B with statues of former Red Sox players.*

Some fun facts about Fenway:

It’s the oldest MLB stadium, having opened in 1912.
The 37-foot high left-field wall, called The Green Monster, is home to a scoreboard still updated by hand.
The right-field foul pole, Pesky’s Pole, is just 302 feet from home plate and marks the shortest distance for a home run in the league.
Ted Williams' 502-foot home run, the longest in Fenway history, is marked by a red seat.
The rooftop has a garden that supplies fresh produce for the park.
Fenway is the smallest by seating capacity, holding under 38,000 fans.
The ballpark has special hot dogs called Fenway Franks.

Re: the 'Souvenirs’ images above—I was obsessed with these signs.

PRUDENTIAL TOWER

Having absorbed as much Fenway as possible from the outside, we continued to Prudential Tower, where we had timed tickets to go up to View Boston, the tower’s observation deck. Our stubs were for the 10 AM time slot.

Here are some frames from our walk there.

*Really neat old firehouse with beautiful, chunky dimensions and round arched bays for firetrucks.*

Prudential Tower stands atop a sizable mall—one that’s decidedly full and seemingly thriving. We were there before many shops opened, but after we left the observation deck and were on our way out, the mall was packed full of people. It was refreshing to see a mall in a good state for once. The photos below were taken before the shops opened.

*The trip down some steps to go up an elevator to the highest observation in Boston.*

The elevator was crammed with tourists just like ourselves. Ironically, I think we were the only English speakers among them; I heard a combination of French, Italian, and various other languages uttered in hushed tones as our ears popped from the rapid elevation change.

Upon reaching the top floor, our view of Boston immediately opened up. It was quite a sight to behold.

*You can see for miles from the top floor of the tower. There was no time limit on how long you were allowed to stay on the observation deck once you were up there.*

*Below the top floor, we enjoyed an open air observation deck with glass walls. This seemed to be the more popular level.*

We paid almost $40 for two mimosas, which were basically champagne with a drop of OJ for color. The breeze was steady, cool, and pleasant. We spent about an hour at the top of Boston’s highest peak, checking out the area below us. While not as high nor dramatic as The Edge in NYC, it’s definitely a must-visit for first-timers like us.

BACK BAY

After descending Prudential, we headed toward Newbury Street. Ashley wanted to get a pedicure and shop, and I already had a lunch spot for us.

*Seen on our walk to Newbury Street: a historic building with a decidedly less attractive fourth story added to the top of it. They put all their effort into utility over aesthetics.*

*I was smitten with this diminutive bar wedged into the side of a brutalist parking garage.*

When we got to Newbury Street, we were greeted by loads of people carrying shopping bags, enjoying coffees on sunken patios of shops at the bottom of historic brownstones, and walking in the middle of the closed-off street while milling about at different table side vendors. It was an urbanist’s dream.

Boutiques, big brand retailers, restaurants, coffee shops, art galleries, and service-based businesses among others occupy many blocks of Newbury Street, making it a popular destination for locals and visitors alike.

*Casual life on Newbury Street in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston.*

*Standing in the middle of the street to take a photo without fear of getting hit by a car rules.*

We ate at Joe’s on Newbury for lunch. Being on the coast has its advantages, one of which is its proximity to the freshest seafood money can buy. There, I had my first of many lobster rolls and cups of clam chowder—a combo I would eat almost every day for the rest of the trip.

This is the only image of food I will put in this series. I started the trip with a hot lobster roll. It was probably the best one I had on the entire trip because it was my first of the week and I would grow slightly tired of them by the end of the trip.

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

After exploring and enjoying Newbury Street for a couple of hours, we began heading back toward downtown. We planned to check out Fan Pier Park in South Boston before the day was done, but we had to walk a long way to get there.

Along our route back was the Boston Public Library. It is one of the country's biggest and best public libraries, and I had to check it out.

*An ornate, grand staircase leading up to the second level in the McKim Building.*

I was primarily interested in the McKim Building, the older of the two areas of the library. Completed in 1895, its architect, Charles Follen McKim, designed it as a "palace for the people."

Everything from the lions to the delicately designed domed ceilings was photogenic. I am certain there is no bad angle in this place, especially on a bright, sunny day. I stood there imagining all these architectural elements would say if they could talk.

*There's no shortage of texture in this space.*

*There's something about lamps with translucent green shades that I love so much. It's a classic look for a library.*

*If you're a student studying in this space, be prepared to have your photo taken. The line of tourists waiting to get images in this room was long.*

SOUTH BOSTON

Once out of the library, we went to South Boston to check out Fan Pier Park. I’d read online that it was a great place to see both the water and the city skyline at the same time. We rode the subway and walked over a bridge to get there.

*The Boston skyline from Fan Pier Park.*

As we inched closer to the park, the skies began turning dark. The radar said it would miss us, but I wasn’t confident. We picked up our pace a bit.

*This bridge looked like it had been closed for a long while.*

*"It says it's going to miss us." "I don't think that's right..."*

*A shot of the skyline with the Inner Harbor.*

As the clouds swelled with rain and my camera battery inched closer to empty, we decided to head to dinner post haste. The place I’d picked out in South Boston was closed for some reason, so we started walking back to the North End.

We got caught in a downpour and sought shelter at the Children’s Museum. When that became unbearable due to screaming children, we ran between raindrops to a nearby overhang and waited for a break in the storm.

This process of walking during breaks in the weather and seeking shelter when it returned happened for the next couple of hours. We ducked into a bar at one point to have a beer and wait out the rain at one point but had to hail an Uber to get to the Union Oyster House, where we wanted to have dinner.

*Union Oyster House claim to be the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the country (established 1826).*

If you’re ever in Boston, I highly recommend going to Union Oyster House. Besides being America’s oldest continuously operating restaurant, it’s been visited by US Presidents, celebrities, and many other notable people since it opened in 1826. JFK even had a favorite booth that he liked to sit in on the second level of the building. It has a little souvenir shop off to one side and is quite spacious inside despite how little it looks from the street. And, of course, the dining rooms are Frankenstein’d together in the way only a building this old could be, so it has a unique charm and coziness that many other places lack.

The lobster roll and clam chowder were delicious. I was secretly glad the place I’d planned to eat in South Boston fell through because Union Oyster House was fantastic.

*The copyright on the design of this placemat is from 1975. I assume they've been using this same one for nearly 50 years, and I love that.*

We were tired at this point in the day. With 10+ miles logged on our Apple Watches and bellies full of food, and a long road ahead of us the next day, we decided to call it a night. On the walk back to the hotel, though, I wanted to hit up Mike’s Pastry again. As we navigated the busy streets of the North End, I told Ashley I wanted to brave Mike’s line for another cannoli. A guy leaning against the wall of a nearby store heard me.

“Bova’s is better. Mike’s is a tourist trap,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Is that so? Mike’s is pretty good. What’s that other place called again?” I replied.

“Bova’s. Look it up. Cheaper and no line, better cannoli.”

I shook his hand and thanked him. He smiled and laughed, presumably at the ridiculousness of someone being this passionate about finding a better cannoli-gathering experience. I plugged Bova’s into my phone, and we found our way there. The local man was right; it was much less stressful than the buying experience at Mike’s. The cannoli was just as good, too.

Our night wasn’t finished, though.

We heard a marching band around the corner as we walked up the street toward our hotel from Bova’s. We followed the music and sounds of people cheering to an intersection close to Regina’s—where we’d eaten pizza the day before.

Dozens of people dressed in white polo shirts filled the street. Red-shirted band members beat on their drums and blew their horns. Children ran wild between the legs of the adults, everyone cheering and having a good time. A makeshift shrine to someone dressed in a robe of dollar bills and encased in a water-proof fabric box with flowers on all four corners was being hoisted into the air on the shoulders of a dozen men.

I couldn’t figure out what the celebration was for, but it had the same enthusiasm and DIY spirit as Bockfest, albeit with fewer goats and floats.

As the party lifted the shrine into the air and the band played, they marched toward a bar a block down the street. Curious about the occasion, I saw a man wearing the same white shirt standing in a nearby alley. I approached and asked him about what was happening.

In the thickest Boston accent I’d ever heard in person, he told me it was a celebration to kick off the Feast of Saint Agrippina.

From SaintAgrippinaBoston.com:

Sant’Agrippina di Mineo was a beautiful blonde princess who was unmercifully tortured to death by the emporor Valerian in 256 a.d. After her death, her body was taken from Rome to Mineo by three holy women: Bassa, Paula, and Agotonica. Sant’Agrippina is the patron saint of thunderstorms, leprosy and evil spirits. The story of the journey of the martyred body of St. Agrippina from Rome to Mineo was full of miraculous events. The fragrance that accompanied the body of St. Agrippina wherever it went, the veneration of the sailors and the farmers, the light weight of the reliquary so that the three women could carry it, the quickness of the voyage from Rome to Sicily, the miraculous cloud that covered the girls and transported them and the relics at certain times of danger in the journey, the angels that protected them from harm, the devils that were defeated and swept out at the sight of the sacred relics and the miracle of Teogonia, are all signs that it was the will of God that Agrippina should be the Saint of this blessed city. The relics of St. Agrippina arrived in Mineo on Wednesday, May 17th, 261.

“When I was a kid, there used to be 14 feasts a year. We’re down to four these days,” he said.

I thanked him for the information and continued following the crowd. At this point, my camera was fully dead, so I just used my phone. The joyous celebration was infectious, and we stood and admired the festivities for a bit before the sky began to spit rain again.

After all we’d seen and experienced in Boston, accidentally stumbling upon that festival right at the end of the trip in the part of town we most enjoyed was the perfect way to end our short stay.

Next time on the Summer Trip Series: We visit a picturesque lighthouse, a bad beach in New Hampshire, and drive to an island home to a beautiful national park.