Beacon Hill. For the 1%. And Brave Explorers at the weekend.

The only time I stayed in Boston proper, I stayed at the John Jeffries House, which is a strange hotel. It used to be nurses' accommodation for MGH and now houses a combination of MIT and other Boston visitors and people who are staying there because it is right by the hospital. This means when you check in you have to answer a lot of medication and general health questions, particularly about ear, nose and throat complaints. However, I thoroughly recommend it, for several reasons:

1. They get the Weather channel

2. Free breakfast in the morning and free coffee all day.

3. It's right by the river (and not expensive by Boston/Cambridge standards)

4. It is on Charles Street, the fanciest of all the Boston streets, in the fanciest of all Boston neighbourhoods, Beacon Hill. Every dog looks expensive and all the signs that hang from shops are black and gold.

A few weeks ago I went for a mosey back to my old stomping ground. The weather was good, in stark contrast to earlier in the week, so I walked from where I live, over the Charles (pretty views) and along Charles Street to Boston Common. It was a good day. 

Charles Street has the business with my absolute favourite name in Boston.

Sorry about my finger being in the photo. I was on my way to meet a friend when I took this and keep forgetting to take another, better, one. 

Oh yes. BosTAN.

It is also has a most excellent cupcake shop - Curly cakes - which does delicious cupcakes in many forms. Most notably in Vegan and Gluten free forms on particular days of the week (Vegan on Thursday and Sunday, GF on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday from the looks of the sign below). They are many people-friendly cupcakes. 

Vegan chocolate mint cake is all gone! Snarfle snarfle. 

It also has Beacon Hill Chocolates, which I'm sure will sell delicious wares, but I like it because of this sign:

It's my new philosophy - "Chocolate is sunshine on a cloudy day". Mmmmm. This is particularly relevant to those of you in the UK, you made need to buy more chocolate.

When you've had a relaxing mosey along Charles Street, you can pop across the common and watch a film at the Boston Common Loews. It is a notable cinema because it has many, many, many screens, a giant popcorn box over the concessions stand and a place where you can dispense butter onto your own popcorn (in the US the question is not "sweet or salted?" with popcorn, but "buttered?"). So naturally I ended my walk down lovely, elegant Charles street with a saccharine film and an even more saccharine white cherry icee. 

Just say no. White cherry icees are much worse than a coke icee, and that was bad.

Maybe next time I will skip the icee, unless they have blue raspberry flavour. I love blue raspberry.