Boston Day 2: Come To The Dark Side!

At 3:00 AM I woke to a loud buzzing.  My fist immediately went to the alarm clock, banging on it in a half-awake stupor, but the buzzing wouldn't shut off.  A speaker in my room blared: "IF YOU ARE ON THE FIRST FLOOR, PLEASE EXIT THE BUILDING.  IF YOU ARE ON ANY OTHER FLOOR, PLEASE GATHER YOUR BELONGINGS AND WAIT FOR INSTRUCTIONS."  Then the sirens wailed into hearing.

Great.  About 2 minutes later, the same speaker said, "The Hotel and Boston Fire Department have verified that all is clear.  Please resume your activities."  Meaning banging my fist on the alarm clock?  I thought of all the activities one could be doing at 3 AM that could be rudely interrupted by a fire, and drifted back off to sleep.

A minute later, again over the speaker.  "The Hotel and Boston Fire Department have verified that all is clear.  Please resume your activities." Nice.  Then a minute later.  "The Hotel and Boston Fire Department have verified that all is clear.  Please resume your activities." Repeat that every minute for the next hour.  ARRRGHH!  At 4 AM, I was finally allowed to sleep.

At 7 AM, groggy and miffed, I stumbled out of the hotel down to my new regular coffee joint, The Capitol Coffee Room.  Their muffins and croissants are not really very good there, but I'd rather poke out my eyes than go to Dunkin' Donuts.  I consulted the computer for more Boston Weirdness ... this was turning from a curiosity into an obsession.   Then it was back to Oracle University.  The view from Oracle University is pretty darn nice, as you can see on the right. It's hard not to daydream a little. Once I did my lectures and homework assignments, I was ready to explore.

At noon I hopped on the Green Line to visit the Darth Vadar building.  It is called this because ... well look at it and it should be pretty obvious.  I couldn't really see it well from the street level, so I looked for the tallest building in the neighborhood.  That would be the Prudential Tower, 52 stories tall. I bought a ticket to the top floor, and found the view a lot less white-knuckle-producing than the towers in Chicago.  From there, I could snap a really good picture of Lord Vadar.  You can almost hear the breath whistling out of the windows.  "Agggggg-haggggh.  Agggggg-haggggh.  Luke  I am your fath-ah!"

I just wanna say ... I Love, Love, Love the T!  I was able to get all the way from Beacon Hill to Back Bay, up the Prudential Tower, back down and to Beacon Hill again (with a quick stop for Starbucks Espresso) all in the space of an hour.  And all with my $15/week pass for all the rides you can handle.  I don't care if Charlie had problems with the subway (and you can pay homage to him by buying a Charlie Card).  I love it. It's part of my new love for public transportation in general.

For dinner, I decided to hike out to the Boston University turf.  The Boston Vegetarian Society recommended the Grasshopper for Asian Vegan cuisine.  Sounds like a plan!  The campus was a little dead this time of year (classes start next week).   But the night air supported a brisk 2 mile walk, making me one famished patron.  I ordered the Grasshopper Supreme and texted a picture to Amy ... who concluded "It looks like Animal from the Muppets or Jack the Pumpkin King."  Or at the very least glazed Duck and Bananas!  In fact, the Grasshopper Supreme is two long skinny eggplants, steamed and sliced up the middle to resemble a squid, a portobello mushroom cap in the middle, carrot slices, and a "hairpiece" of asparagus atop a bed of spinach ... the whole of which is smothered in brown sauce.  Think Garlic Vegetables.  It wasn't spectacular, but it was a lot of good wholesome food and it was just what the doctor ordered! 

I ended up back at the The Last Hurrah for single malt scotch (Ardbeg - I'm a creature of habit) and hot nuts.  Love those hot nuts. This will be an endless supply of jokes, I'm sure.