Reminiscing as we wander around Beacon Hill

We stepped out of our rather grand hotel onto Copley Place and headed up Boylston St. and then across Boston Common. Our first stop was Matthew & Helen’s old apartment block and then we walked past the State House to call in on 21 Beacon Street – our home for the last 4 of our years there. We walked into the lobby and chatted with the concierge noticing that the whole interior had changed and the post boxes were gone. He explained they had decided to return it to its original style and it did look much improved than when we lived there (which was pretty splendid anyway).

We also noted the 21st Amendment bar and explained why it was so called to the boys (the 21st Amendment reversed prohibition) which they thought quite a clever name. We then took a stroll into Beacon Hill down Mount Vernon, around Hancock, across Joy, down Pinckney, through Louisburg Square and then down Acorn Street and along W. Cedar to the MGH end of Charles Street. It did all look just as stunning as when we lived there – not much had changed in the residential part in 17 years.

Many of the stores on Charles Street were the same (Gary Drug, Savenors, DeLuca’s) but of course there were changes. 7-Eleven was now Charles Street Market but had lost the mail boxes where Insitu had its official mailing address.

It was about here that we realised a quick one hour stroll had turned into nearly a couple of hours and we had 50 minutes to get to the restaurant. So we legged it back to the Fairmont skipping the narrative on the Public Gardens and, after failing to get through to the restaurant, changed clothes and jumped into a taxi bound for Cambridge. One of our favourite places was East Coast Grill and I remember being so full after my 30th meal there that I didn’t eat the entire next day! Having said all that, we didn’t recognise if it had changed or not inside but the food was superb. We elected for a pulled pork platter (pulled pork, beans, coleslaw, watermelon, cornbread) and a full rack of ribs (12 monsters) which sat well on our cocktails The banana split dessert was something else – brushed with mollasses, grilled then served with mango ice cream, whipped cream, pecans & caramel sauce. Compared to Delmars in Cape Cod the previous evening (where we did order more courses) the food seemed incredible value – we were all full for $108.

We strolled up Cambridge Street about 25m to Harvard Square and took the T home to Copley Place.