Adam Infantino is a world traveler, vegan, coffee lover, and Pokémon Go aficionado. When he’s not traveling to China, the Adirondacks or his beloved Boston, you can find him at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, OH, where he studies marketing and management, music, Chinese, and philosophy (yes, you read that right) and works for the school’s marketing department, blogging and creating content for the school’s social media channels. Adam put these skills to use at his recent internship at Rockport HQ. Here, Adam shares what he loves about the greatest city on Earth: Boston. (Ok, ok. We’re biased.)
Boston is an incredible city. I’m from Rochester, NY, but for the longest time I’ve been a Boston sports fan (mostly because the first Super Bowl I ever watched was SB 39 when the Pats won it all). As you can imagine, I take every opportunity I can to visit.
Boston has about a million and one things to offer, and on a recent weekend, my friends and I decided to take the city up on some of these offerings.
I started the day by making breakfast for all of us. Nothing like french pressed coffee and oatmeal to kick off a stellar day.
If you’ve never had French pressed coffee, let me take some time to say that it’s absolutely worth the investment. Instantly better quality coffee at home, for a fraction of the price you pay at a coffee shop. Not to imply that visiting coffee shops isn’t one of my favorite activities on this planet.
When you’re exploring a city as magnificent as this one, you must make sure you have
comfortable shoes. You don’t want your puppies barking when you’re only 1/3 of the way through your adventure.
For most of my journey, I chose the
Ledge Hill 2 Chukka Boot. These boots are great looking and make your feet think they are inside running shoes.
Lesson 1 on pretending you’re from Boston: Newbury Street.
This place has everything: 30 different coffee shops, brunch spots, even a
t-shirt bakery! And obviously, many MANY different clothing stores. You’ve probably caught on that I’m a sucker for great coffee and stylish shoes, so I was drowning in options.
After walking the entirety of Newbury Street, we decided it was time to see Boston from a different perspective. Where better than atop the Prudential Center Building? You can see the entire city, but even then it’s still impossible to grasp how amazing this city is.
Lesson 2 on pretending you’re from Boston: The Museum Scene.
If you’re not a museum person I really urge you to reconsider.
The Museum of Fine Arts (featured above) is amazing, and incredibly large. I actually got lost in it. But be warned: you’ll need
at least 3 hours to fully appreciate the works of art in this building.
There is also the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which is a walk away from the MFA and has an awesome story attached to it: in 1990, 13 of the museum’s works were stolen. The case remains unsolved still today!
It goes without saying that when you’re in Boston you have to at least walk through the
Fenway Park area, even if you can’t make a game. There is so much history in that stadium, it’s overwhelming.
Lesson 3 on pretending you’re from Boston: The North End and Pastries.
The
North End of Boston is what Little Italy is to New York City. There are endless Italian restaurants, most of which will be booked until 9:45 p.m. without a reservation, so plan ahead.
After you eat dinner, you really only have two options:
1. Go to
Mike’s Pastry and get a cannoli
2. Go home sad and deprived of Mike’s Pastry
Now I’m a vegan and unfortunately Mike’s does not have any vegan options, nor do most pastry shops in the North End, but worry not! I found satisfaction in vegan donuts at
Jennifer Lee’s Gourmet Bakery in the
Boston Public Market just a short walk away from the North End.
So there you have it, folks. Three ways to pretend you’re from the great city of Boston. If you’re planning a trip to Beantown soon (and I strongly encourage it), I hope you’re able to check out these
wicked awesome spots (see how quickly I picked up the local lingo?).
