Travel Thursdays: Boston Sister Meetup {Part 1}

We did have other folks with us on this trip - quite a lot of fun friends, actually - but I planned our 3.5 days in Boston on this past little vacation we took completely around getting to hang out with Natalie and her dude in our beloved college town.

It started off with a home-brought snack in the Paris airport (least favorite airport in the world, but nothing some Bockwurst, stuffed olives, and a can of Heineken can't solve!)...

That's Alyssa massive present of chocolate hanging out with us on the left!

...followed by the most empty flight I have ever been on, I kid you not. Best. Thing. Ever.

Man, am I a prepared flyer with my way-too-tightened seatbelt, or what?

I'd only ever once before gotten an entire row to myself on a flight (back when I flew from Italy, where I had studied abroad, back to New York for two days, then home to LA for two more days before jetting off to New Zealand for two weeks to visit Nat - yes, it was as insane as it sounds. But I miraculously got my own row on the flight from LA to my stopover in Australia and it could not have been better timing or more glorious.) and have dreamed of reliving that ever since. So you can imagine my joy when we realized that on this flight, each person in our section had a good 3-4 empty rows to choose from. (No joke!) An added bonus came when the adorable French flight attendant (we flew Air France) giddily told us, "I don't know why it's so empty but it's wonderful! Enjoy it! I'll break out the champagne as soon as we're in the air!" And he did. Hats off to you, Air France man.

When we arrived in Boston at long last, Alyssa and Erik graciously picked us up from the airport after already having picked up our friend Sara, whom they'd never even met, from the airport two hours before us; that's how awesome they are. And even more to their credit: they let the three of us house crash that night and then put up with six (questionably sane) house guests the next night when Natalie, F, and then later that night, Liz, all joined us for some Beantown shenanigans.

We spent our Friday sister day showing our troop of Europeans - my two Germans and her Italian :) - the swankier side of Boston, starting downtown at Faneuil Hall and following the Freedom Trail backwards towards Boston Common and up through the ever lovely Beacon Hill (which Sara was completely smitten with).

Nat had the brillant idea to stop for drinkies in the Liberty Hotel, a stunning luxury hotel converted from an old prison.

Sadly, we were an hour too early for the bar, but least we got to admire the stunning design of the place.

After stocking up with supplies at the grocery store - and giving Sara her first American giant-ass supermarket experience - we headed back to Alyssa's and Erik's for a mini Scotland reunion with Mike and Deanna, where we ladies caught up on gossip...

(Sorry for that first one, Nat, but the second one's pretty unattractive of me, so at least we're even!)

...while the menfolk barbecued in the backyard...

...and then managed to burn everything as they concentrated more on the copious amounts of beer each of them brought than the food.

The Germany-Italy love pose

And that with a professional chef in the midsts! But hey, we still wolfed down the blackened asparagus and well-done/crispy marinated steaks, so we must have had enough spritzes in us, too, by the end.

The next day we, tragically, had to leave Alyssa and Erik's since they were heading to a wedding for the weekend. And as much as we didn't want to go - and could have spent a lot more time with those two! - at least we were headed next to the most adorable B&B in existence...

More to come!