Home from Maine 2022 Day 4 - Hanging out in Boston

 It's the first of two days off to explore Boston. 

Bottom line is we ate a lot of food, I made some repairs to Max's bike, and we ate a lot more food.

Debra went out and got some bagels and coffee (this sad AirBnB did not have any coffee!). Then we went to a tavern called Five Horses nearby, where I had a burger and some beers. Then I took a nice long nap.

After napping, I rode over to the REI near Fenway for some supplies. It was only a mile or so away. When I got there, I saw no bike racks. 

This is a topic of debate with my bike friends. Everyone frowns on no bike racks, the issue is what to do. I say that no bike racks means they obviously mean for you to just bring your bike in with you. Some people think this is obnoxious. I will point out that any business with no bike racks that does not want you to bring the bikes in will eventually get the message if people keep bringing bikes in.

So at the REI, naturally, I went right in with my bike.
The greeter confronts me. "Can I help you find something today?"
Me: "Yes, you can help me find the bike rack."
Greeter: "Just put your bike there by the front door and I'll keep an eye on it while you shop."

See, they meant for me to bring it in.

And a few minutes later, I was all set, with a couple pack towels, a couple inner tubes, and a new cassette for Max. (When Max broke his chain yesterday, I bought a new chain, but I misremembered that his cassette was pretty new. It's not, so now I can replace the chain and cassette together, as one should.)

When I got back to our AirBnB in the dungeon, I put the new chain and cassette on Max's bike and he should be all set now.

Then we have to decide what to eat for dinner that will make everyone happy. Max threw in the curveball, which was that he wanted to check out the scene in Copley Square, where the City of Boston was setting up a giant TV so everyone can watch the Celtics in the NBA finals without paying $1000 for a ticket. So the restaurant has to be by Copley Square. And it has to have food we all like, and it has to have reservations available on Friday night when downtown is mobbed because of the NBA finals. Good luck with that.

Debra made a reservation at the very fancy Banks Fish House. Which was spectacular. First up, they have great cocktails. Hilariously, their craft cocktail menu has high-zoot renditions of classic cheesy cocktails more often seen at tiki bars and old Chinese restaurants. Singapore slings, Zombies, and Mai Tais. ROFL.

I had a "Cavalier", which was an amazing concoction of rye and reduced maple syrup with some cognac thrown it. Followed by a Mai Tai, because how could I possibly not.

I had some oysters, and some mussels (in an amazing creamy curry broth), and helped Max finish his ribeye, which cam with a brilliant salsa verde that perfectly complemented the steak.

And then this bombshell for dessert:

Rhubarb cheesecake. Wow. Amazing.

After this amazing meal, we waddled a couple blocks over to check out the Celtics game. This scene was great. The square was mobbed with Celtics fans, all enthusiastically cheering and yelling and watching the game. It was great fun.

Having this public viewing was a brilliant move on the part of the City of Boston. It was a really great time. I wish Baltimore did stuff like this. 

One thing that probably makes this super popular among the crowd that chose to attend was the massive amount of pot smoking going on. I bet there are plenty of people who, even if they had $1000 for a ticket to the game, would rather watch the game where they could light up.

Here is the Strava track for my quick ride to REI.