Strom Travel Diaries

Day 7 – Saturday, October 22

Another lie-in for Claire on Saturday, thankfully. Abby and I discussed the morning over a cup of tea. We decided to take a short walk along the Charles River, on the appropriately named Charles River Greenway. Then we had just enough time for another cup of tea before meeting another friend, Emma, for brunch at Bistro781.

It was unusually busy, but we had reservations. I had a Pomegranate Sunrise mimosa, which was quite strong, and a CrunchWrap burger, which was quite delicious. Since it had been so busy, Abby and I didn’t linger or join Emma at the farmers market to get Greek orange cake. We got back to Abby’s a little after 1 and got ourselves together to go to Cambridge. I let Mom know so that she could get on the subway and meet us there.

Meanwhile, Mom had been bopping around Boston Common and the Boston Public Garden, finding new subjects for her paintings.

Friday and Saturday were two of the three days over which a large regatta was taking place near Cambridge, called the Head of the Charles. As a result, Cambridge was packed. Fortunately, we found a parking space and eventually found Mom! We had discussed it a little bit and decided to visit one of the many Harvard Museums. After poking around and getting just a little lost, we ended up at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, which housed the Glass Flowers as well as the Museum of Comparative Zoology’s public displays of fossils. It was also connected to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. We didn’t have a ton of time, so we tried to keep up a fairly good pace. We were able to take in exhibits on arthropods, sea creatures made of glass, insects, fossils, mounted animals from around the world, and the glass flowers. We had to skip the room devoted to rocks and minerals in order to leave a few minutes to glimpse the Peabody. There we saw an exhibit on Mexico’s history as a source of art and culture, as well as an exhibit on humankind’s relationship with food. 

After the museum we decided it was time for an early dinner. We tried Grendel’s, but they were full. Abby suggested Grafton Street Pub and Grill, and we got one of the last available tables before a large line started forming! We were seated outside, which was lovely. I had a Stowe High and Dry hard cider, Mom had a Cabernet, and we shared a spinach artichoke dip with pita chips for the table. For my entree I got a seared salmon with couscous and Mom got steamed mussels. 

Even though we were pretty full, we couldn’t resist walking down to L.A. Burdick for dessert. We had hot chocolates (made with shaved chocolate and whole milk) and Abby let me try her spicy one. Yum. Mom and I split a decadent chocolate chip cookie. We practically rolled out of there after and back to Abby’s car so I could grab my backpack.

Mom and I took the Red Line back to Boston Common and walked the rest of the way to the hotel. We were both pooped, but got our bags mostly packed before we got ready for bed. Unfortunately, it was not the most restful night we’d ever spent, between the pounding bass from some event, the dinging from the elevator just outside the door, and people conversing in the hall. Oh well, not much to do about it, though I did fantasize about going down to the lobby desk and demanding ear plugs.