March 15th 2014: Badminton and Hiking

I had badminton today, so I decided to go check out the Arcadia Restaurant in Waltham for breakfast beforehand. This place is right beside Mulan, and is much bigger than I thought it would be for a small town diner without a website.

After getting my Hot Chocolate,

I decided to try their Benny Bologna (2 poached eggs over Bologna and English muffin, topped with Hollandaise sauce.

It didn't look like much, and was just so-so in taste. Oh well. Badminton was fun as always, and we ordered pretty much the same stuff  at Mulan, although we got a vegetarian version of the Sauteed Chinese Squash.

After lunch, I was left to my own devices,and headed first to the Magic Art Studio, which has a collection of gadgets and props used for magic from the 19th century onwards. Pictures I took of this quaint little place in Watertown follow.

From here, it was on to Winthrop to check out the Library, which has a tiny museum showcasing the town's history on the third floor. Nothing much to look at here though.

Next, it was on to Saugus, where I first checked out the Rumney Marsh Reservation. The entrance to this place is pretty hard to find, involving U-turns on a major road, the Salem Turnpike. As it turned out, the gate was locked, but I still decided to risk getting towed and parked my car at the entrance, heading inside to check out the beautiful views of the marsh on this clear sunny day.

Prankers Pond was another story though. It was difficult to spot the trailhead at 50 Lake  Circle,and equally hard to find parking on the narrow roads. After parking, much to the chagrin of the houseowners whose turf I had parked alongside, I walked to the trailhead and onward into the woods to find the pond, only to realize my path to the pond was blocked by the Saugus River. The path I took here is shown below in pink.

I decided to head to the other side of the path, located at the end of Cliff Road. The entrance here is actually the official one, and had easy access to the pond.

I also happened to find an iPhone in the snow here, and it was still working. Unfortunately, it was password protected, and I could not find out who left it behind. Not knowing what to do with it, I left it on a post at the entrance to the park. Hope the owner gets it instead of someone else.

From here, it was on to the town of Lynn for the rest of the day until the sun set.

Greater Bethlehem Temple Pentecostal Church,

21 Light Street

Sacred Heart Church, 571 Boston Street

Iglesia Pentecostal Misionera, 628 Boston Street

Austin Square Baptist Church

With no more light left, all that was left to do was eat, at D'Amelio's Off the Boat Seafood Restaurant in East Boston.

This place has a really small dining room, and all the tables were already filled up, so I thought I would have to come back another day, but as it turned out, the place has another side on the opposite side from the kitchen which is in the middle, and I had to go out in order to enter from another door. This side is much less fancy, with the tables being against the wall with high stools for chairs. There was some interesting table decor though.

For food, I got the Tortellini Alla Panna (cheese Tortellini sauteed with peas and prosciutto in an alfredo sauce) for appetizers,

and the Seafood Alexia (Shrimp, scallops, lobster meat in a white wine garlic cream sauce with fusilli pasta for my main dish.

I probably should not have ordered both dishes at the same time, as they looked pretty similar, but both were really good, especially the fusilli.

I had to get dessert as well, so I went with the Limoncello Mascarpone Torte, and it came topped with white chocolate flakes, which went really well with the sweet sourness of the limoncello. 

An excellent meal to say the least, complete with leftover pasta to go.

Looking forward to what tomorrow will bring.