My layover in Boston was initially going to be just a daytime one, arriving at 9 a.m. and departing at 8:30 p.m. that evening. However, a schedule change caused me to arrive the evening beforehand instead. My friend was situated in a high rise near TD Gardens, and insisted we wake up for the 6:30 a.m. sunrise since he had a clear shot over Massachusetts Bay. I agreed, although I slightly regretted this after I was unable to fall asleep until nearly 3 a.m. Nevertheless, I woke up right on time and we wandered up to the roof, where the wind was blowing and it was below freezing. We were lucky that we timed our arrival so well, since I don’t think I could’ve stood out there for longer than 5 minutes in my pajamas. I was so tired that I fell back asleep on the couch almost as soon as we got back downstairs.

I woke up for good around 9:30 a.m., in time to get on the Red line towards MIT. I still had a few friends that hadn’t graduated yet at this point, and I’d planned a 10 a.m. brunch with one of them. She’d found a diner near campus, so it was nice to pay college prices for this meal. They had chicken and waffles on offer so I got those, in anticipation that they’d fill me up for the rest of the day. After we parted ways I met up with a math friend I’d made back at my high school, and we’d kept in touch even after his family moved to Mississippi. It turned out that he’d just gotten a graduate school offer from UC Berkeley, and it just so happened that I needed to fill an upcoming vacancy in my apartment there. Crazy how these connections sometimes just come together perfectly! We did the walk from the MIT to the Harvard campus, a nice stroll which I remembered fondly from my visit 3 years ago. Instead of the 7 feet of snow I’d encountered last time though, there was no trace of it today. We got Boba at Boston Tea Stop, a visit I ended up regretting slightly. I remembered their Rose tea being really wonderful when I visited 3 years ago, good enough that I actually made the trek up on my last day to get another cup! But this one was pretty disappointing, since it tasted strongly of artificial sweeteners, the rose petals on the top were gone, and the pearls themselves were soft and mushy. Ah well, sometimes it’s just best to let those memories be… One of my highlights actually ended up being an albino squirrel we saw squatting on a tree near the Harvard quad. 

After my college visits, I took the T downtown to the Boston Common. I hadn’t actually ventured into the city at all when I’d visited 3 years ago, so this was a first for me. The commons were pretty drab though, with all the grass withered from winter and all the trees had lost their leaves. There were plenty of statues dotting the Commons though, as you’d expect from such a historic city. After taking the time to read all their inscriptions, it was time for something else

My friend had invited me back to a Chinese New Years’ celebration back at his apartment’s rooftop for dinner before my flight, so I didn’t have time for an extended visit anywhere. But one place was timeboxed especially well for my schedule, and that was the Boston Tea Party museum. It’s built near the city’s eastern docks, and features a restored ship that looks similar to the ones that might’ve carried tea back in the day. The tour takes you onboard the vessel, where you can see what the crew lived like during their 6 week transatlantic voyage. Lastly, you also got to see crates similar to the ones that the tea would have been carried in. I was surprised to learn that they could be extremely heavy, even into the hundreds of pounds. So not only did the American Revolutionaries (or vandals, as the English would have labeled them) have a lot of gall carrying out that act, but they also had to be extremely strong and work as a team to dump all of that tea! A short video presentation covered some of the other history behind the tea party and the Intolerable Acts that followed, in addition to the restoration process for the ship. All in all, it was a nice tour, although it was definitely more geared towards schoolchildren that were still learning about the Revolution itself. 

I left the Tea Party tour with a lot more time than I thought I’d have, so I took a very scenic route back to my friend’s place near TD Garden. First was the mix of older concrete skyscrapers, and the newly minted glass towers that stood next to them. Skylines like that are common the United States, unlike newer cities in Asia where most skyscrapers are entirely modern. I did a quick walkthrough of the Quincy Market, but I didn’t feel like eating anything there. 

My main stop took me to the Old North Church, famous as the structure from which Paul Revere hung his lanterns to  warn of British regulars. After he signaled their route, he left on horseback to warn the villages of Lexington and Concord about the impending British arrival. The church itself still held strong to its Protestant roots, with understated decor and lots of plain white paneling for the most part. Unlike most churches with their rows of pews however, this one had individual stalls for each of the families that attended. There was more attention to detail paid to the organ and chandelier in the back, although these still didn’t go very overboard. Despite being outsized by much taller buildings today, the church’s steeple still maintains its stateliness of before, and you can imagine the single lantern glowing from the top, piercing a dark and stormy night. The Old North Church ended up being my favorite visit of the day.

All things considered, I ended up being really glad that I’d chosen to layover in Boston rather than Chicago for United’s Polaris lounge, or Newark in order to fly a premium service aircraft that way. I got to catch up with some dear friends, and fill out my Berkeley apartment for what ended up being another couple of years. I also had the chance to venture into Boston itself and explore a city that I hadn’t been to for over a decade. It brought back memories too, of the trip I’d taken 3 years ago to the day during the Snowmaggedon period. I have to say, I really missed the globs of snow that piled around Cambridge and the snow flurries that swirled around me during this trip. I’ll just hope that someday I get the chance to experience that again. In the meantime, I’d absolutely recommend Boston as a daytime layover destination.