After packing Dan, Carolyn, and I drove to the coffee shop we’d been at on our first morning in Bennington. There we met up with Jameson and Meghan, and enjoyed muffins, coffee or tea, and conversation. I was sorry to miss out on seeing Brandon and Lia once more, but they were staying further away and couldn’t make it down.

We said our goodbyes and then got back into the rental car (since when did a Toyota Corolla go from being a compact to a midsize car?) and made our way to the Boston airport. We had chosen no toll roads so toward the end of the drive it was pretty crazy. Prior to that the drive was a wee bit colorful at times (we are thinking the color will arrive early this year but perhaps not be as stunning as some years), but really rather boring. Still, since our drive to Bennington was in the dark I enjoyed seeing the route we took albeit in the opposite direction.

We dropped Carolyn off at the terminal, filled the car with gas, returned it, and grabbed (not literally) a Lyft. I simply wasn’t up for figuring out public transportation by then. Our driver was one of those aggressive sorts who manages to squeeze in front of cars even if they don’t want to let him in. He wasn’t so kind to the cars that tried to do the same to him. Go figure!

Our hotel is in a great section of Boston: we are staying at the Copley Square Hotel. When I was planning this trip I learned that Boston is just horrifically expensive. But so it goes — it’s our first trip here and who knows, it may very well be the one and only trip, so we just decided to deal with the cost. We were told the first elevator — one that looked to me like it was for guests — was out of order. The other (service elevator perhaps?) was what we were to use. My goodness it was slow!

Getting to our room … it looks just fine. The bathroom door, however, really need work! We had to pull it VERY hard to get the door to shut!

Our room and the view from the room:

We sat in our room for a bit (thankfully it was ready well before the 3:00 check in time) and relaxed with our iPads in hand. Then it was time to start exploring!

We are just a few short blocks away from the popular Newbury street: it’s full of brownstones most of which are now stores in the lower floors. Many of the clothing stores seemed to be high end and/or boutique places. For Sunday they close off a lot of the street, although cross traffic still is allowed through. Booths are set up as well — people selling a variety of things. The street was quite full of people, many of whom looked like they were in their twenties so Dan and I fit right in.

When we had first arrived at Newbury I saw people at the corner having what looked like light snacks and drinks, so I mentioned to Dan that that looked tempting. Sure enough, we did wind up there after a bit of walking. We ordered the mezze platter for two, I had a Last Word cocktail and Dan, being the good boy that he is, had a Nanegroni (an alcohol free drink). The mezze plate turned out to be more food than we had expected and was delicious.

We had a nice chat with our server. She had asked where we were from and we told her, saying it was our first time in Boston. She told us she’d been here for three years, and came from Uraguay, a place I confess I’m totally clueless about. She was very kind, and then surprised us with this dessert as a sort of “welcome to Boston” treat! How sweet (literally and figuratively!).

From there we did more walking, heading the other direction of Newbury. When it ended we turned right and walked to the Charles river.

Then it was time to head back. We went up (or is it down?) a different street and saw more beautiful buildings.

We both agreed we hardly needed to get dinner so we wound up back in our room We did munch on some chips we had from a little goody bag Sara and Ben had gifted people who stayed at the Vervana Hotel, and that was all we really needed. (Okay, we really didn’t even need those. But they were there, and we heard them calling our names.)

I then did a few puzzles (Yeah, I know, I do too many!), and read more of the Camino book I’ve started. We are really hoping to do that in the spring of 2027 (if not the fall of 2026) and I want to know what we are in for.