BOSTON

Photo Courtesy Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau
The heart of downtown Boston may be the greatest walking-running place in the U.S. Whether it's a 6 mile run along the Charles River or a long afternoon walk through Boston Common. There are so many interesting historical spots, distinguished homes, churches, cemeteries, old taverns and pubs to be enjoyed.

Photo Courtesy Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau

It wasn't a typical day when I recently walked through downtown Boston. There were 2,000 plus people singing and speechifying everywhere. The group was Occupy Boston - part of the greater Occupy Wall Street movement. The Boston group is now marking their one-month anniversary with an open No Talent Talent Show and a Corporate Zombie March. The passion and fervor the group shows is undeniable. I imagine that in this same location there was a very similar scene going on during the time of the Revolutionary War 230 years ago.

Durgin-Park Restaurant
I stopped in at Durgin-Park restaurant, a Boston icon whose motto is, "We serve history." For me this meant a kind of generational history. My father tells me that he bussed tables here when he was a student at MIT. The restaurant had its beginnings when Peter Faneuil, the top merchant in 1742, built a large market house near the waterfront. The market vendors needed a place to eat, so a small dining room was set aside. Over time, it turned into a full fledged restaurant that serves up regional specialties like Boston baked beans and Yankee pot roast.

Photo Courtesy Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau

Making my way through Quincy Market, I walked through a blended cacophony of Boston brogue and various tourist accents engaging in conversation about local products and wares. Eventually, I made my way to North End of the Italian section where I came upon an old friend - Regina's Pizza, a must experience pizza house. Pizza pie fanatics don't seem to mind standing in a 75 person line to place an order at one of he best pizza houses in New England. I got a kick out of Ginnia, the thick Boston accented woman who juggles the phone, beer and pizza orders behind the bar. She barks, "Watta yah waant?" And, you better be ready to reply to her command - no idle chit chat tolerated here.