December 31st 2012: First Night Boston 2013

Today, I woke up early to head into Boston to find parking in anticipation of the New Year's Eve activities later. After parking in Chinatown, I decided to head to Cambridge to have breakfast at Veggie Galaxy, passing by the Christmas tree on the Boston Common on this freezing morning.

After getting off in Kendall Square, I passed by a few places along the way to the vegetarian restaurant.

Kendall Hotel

MIT Stata Center

University Park @ MIT

Le Meridien Cambridge-MIT

I wasn't expecting much from the restaurant, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the interior of the place, which has the looks of a upscale diner from the 60's.

I was even more surprised by how tasty the vegetarian food I ordered was, being pretty much a carnivore myself.

I had ordered the Harvard Square Burger, consisting of a Mushroom Chickpea Burger with Red Cabbage Slaw,Sweet Corn Mash, and Tarragon Basil Pesto, which was pretty much one of the best burgers that I have ever had,

while the Western Avenue Omelette, with Grilled Brussel Sprouts, roasted Portabello, Asiago Cheese, and Sun dried Tomato Pesto, was simply excellent, especially with the sun dried tomato pesto paste.

I definitely want to come back to this place again. No questions about that.

After my delicious breakfast, it was time to head back to Boston to start utilizing the benefits of the First Night Boston 2013 button I had bought yesterday. I first headed to the North End to explore the Boston Harborwalk section there, starting off at the Charles River Dam.

TD Garden from the Charles River Dam

Zakim Bridge from the Charles River Dam

Charles River Locks

After walking along the locks, made of detachable platforms, I headed to the North End to walk along its wharfs, passing under the Charlestown Bridge by mistake and finding no way back onto it.

In the North End, I first passed through the snow covered Langone Park on Commercial Street and Charter Street area, which had nice views of the Boston Harbor area.

View of Puopolo Park from

Copp's Hill Terrace

Next, the Battery Wharf area.

The Battery Wharf Hotel

On to the Burroughs Wharf area,

and Lincoln Wharf.

I also spotted Red Breasted Mergansers at Sargents Wharf.

After doing this stretch of the Harborwalk, I decided to head over to the Old State House Museum which would be free with the button today, passing through the Faneuil Hall Marketplace area,

where there was an ice sculpture.

Finally at the Old State House, this museum is pretty small, talking about the history of the place with respect to significant events, especially to do with American independence. Pictures I took here follow.

From here, I headed to the Old South Meeting House, the site of the instigation of the Boston Tea Party events, which was also free for me today. This place preserves the interior of the meeting house, but otherwise it was not much else of a museum.

Next, I headed toward the Copley Square area to see the ice sculptures there, passing by a few places along the way.

101 Arch Street

Statler Park,
Columbus Avenue and Stuart Street

Smith and Wollensky Back Bay

When I arrived at Copley Square, the sculptures were still in various stages of completion.

I then headed to the Prudential Center area, where there was also an ice sculpture here.

After checking out the Hynes Convention Center which would be holding events for the Fedex Family Festival, From here, I headed through the Prudential Center, which had pretty nice Christmas decor, toward the Mary Baker Eddy Library, where I learned that the Mapparium was also free to button holders.

I made my way back to the Boston Public Library, where I was to meet my friend to view some of the First Night events.

Old First Spiritualist Temple

I realized at this point that I needed to know where the finish line for the Boston Marathon was, and the staff at the library told me it was actually just out the door at 585 Boylston Street.

At this point, my friend arrived, so I told her to meet me in front of the ice sculpture in front of the library. The ice sculpture was more complete by this time.

From here, we headed to the Hynes Convention Center, where we watched some of the performances, including an Indian Bhangra dance performance. It was comical when we were taught how to do the dance moves, and I can't dance for nuts, much less Bhangra dancing.

From here, we had to go to the First Church of Christ, Scientist, where there was a chiming concert. It was not that impressive after all, so we headed to the Mapparium instead, where my friend enjoyed her experience there.

After leaving the globe of 1935 behind, we headed toward the Museum of Fine Arts to watch a series of short films, but not before we stopped for a meal at Pho and I along the way. This place is a pretty nice restaurant, and we were glad that we decided to walk to the MFA, or we would not have discovered this place on Huntington Avenue.

I got the Tom Cua, a seafood pho soup, while my friend got the Bo Kho Pho soup, both of which were really good as we were both really hungry as well.

At the MFA, we were allowed free admission to see the short films, some of which did not make much sense, while others made us laugh. We were also able to glimpse an exhibition about the English Royalty, which had interesting artifacts as well.

Finally done with the day's events, we headed for our meetup event at the Boston Common, where we were to watch the fireworks at 7pm.

It was pretty good to see fireworks after having not done so for quite a while. Pictures follow.

After the fireworks, everyone headed to Hei La Moon for dinner, but as I had already been there so many times before, I decided to hop into Bento Express at 62 Boylston Street along the way with a few other people instead.

This place is kinda like a fast food ramen place, with me ordering the Spicy Beef Tendon Ramen Soup, and then picking it up when my number was called. The ramen was really good though, to say the least.

After dinner, we headed to Shojo, a bar restaurant in Chinatown for the rest of the night. We were early compared to the rest of the group in Hei La Moon, so we were able to find seats at the bar in this small but nicely decorated place.

I had wanted to order drinks all around as I had a discount card for $50, but as it was not valid for alcohol, after ordering the Pingpong Fizz (Oxley Gin, Matcha Syrup, citrus, egg white, seltzer), 

which was a pretty good drink, I decided to get starters for everyone, getting the Duck Fat Hand Cut Fries,

Szechuan Pork Stuffed Calamari,

 the Suckling Pig Bao,

and the Fried Oysters,

while my friend got a Tiki Cocktail.

I have to say, the bao and the calamari was simply excellent, while the other 2 dishes were pretty good too. Definitely a good place to come hang out with friends.

It was here we waited till the countdown to midnight with the bar becoming extremely crowded toward the end, and after the fanfare, I gave my friend a lift home before heading home myself.

I must say, this was one of my most eventful New Year's Eve ever. Happy 2013 everyone!