The Boston Marathon

Peter and I find immense satisfaction in joining our friends as they traverse through major stages of life. This past weekend, I had several good friends in New England who were finishing medical residency and fellowship. It had been so long since I had seen these friends, so a reunion was in store.

Eric is a good friend from college who completed internal medicine residency and will be continuing medical training in cardiology in NYC. We actually were in the same graduating class at UCSD, and even completed a master’s degree contemporaneously. We eventually started medical school at the same time, but Eric decided to double up on his doctorate degrees instead. The combination of a MD and PhD would result in 8 years of schooling. That meant I was finished with residency when he was barely graduating medical school. He’s seemingly determined to remain in training forever.

My other dear friend who I’d be visiting on this trip, Naillil, is finishing her geriatric psychiatry fellowship. She has just signed her first attending contract and will be staying in Boston, a decision that was so very difficult for her. Boston represents many points of growth for her, not only in her professional identity as a psychiatrist but personally as well. I was her chief resident when she was still a fledgling PGY-2, so it’s amazing to watch her grow over the last few years.

We planned for us to fly out of LAX into Boston overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning. With everything packed since Tuesday night, we were all set to go as soon as work wrapped up at 4:30 PM on Wednesday. Due to the sheer amount of responsibilities and tasks we had the weeks prior, we could not plan as thoroughly as we typically would. We were able, however, to coordinate with our other friend, Sunny, who is also from my same graduating class from UCSD, and also a good friend of Eric’s. Due to his flexible job as a pharmacist, he was able to meet us in Boston for the entirety of the weekend. Peter and I received randomly assigned seats on our flight, and fortunately got placed next to each other in Premium Economy. We had intended to sleep during the flight, but we each only got a few restful moments.

Upon landing on Thursday morning in Boston, Peter and I took a bus directly from the airport to Boston to the Boston Common, an urban park akin to Central Park of NYC. We walked to a nearby coffee shop (one of my past favorites when I last lived in MA) for some much needed caffeine and morning fuel. We had a pear tart while there to hold us over until meeting up with Sunny for lunch. Peter and I decompressed for an hour or two at the coffee shop, catching up on events of the past week and excitedly discussing events for the weekend that lie ahead. With our batteries replenished (both personal and cell phones), we headed back to the park to people-watch. There, we played a few games of Terra Mystica via an online platform called Board Game Arena. Soon, it would be time to have lunch with Sunny.

We headed over to a sushi and poke restaurant that came by recommendation from Eric. He unfortunately could not join as he was sleeping, having just been relieved of his final overnight shift of residency. Sunny arrived slightly late for lunch from his hotel due to working late the night prior. He still had a few meetings to attend mid-lunch but those were fairly painless. Satisfied with some real sustenance, the three of us planned to walk around a popular Boston district called Back Bay to explore. Sunny, who had already left his luggage with his hotel’s concierge, suggested that Peter and I do the same. We walked over to the hotel so that we could lighten our walking loads throughout the afternoon.

During the walk around Back Bay, we visited a variety of boutique shops along a popular shopping street. There was a lot to see, though we weren’t shopping for anything in particular. We stopped by a famous cookie spot called Levain’s for a midday snack. This shop hails from NYC and had garnered a cult following over the years before its eventual expansion to Boston. I’ve enjoyed their decadent cookies years prior, and figured Peter would enjoy them immensely. I wasn’t wrong. This would be our first stop at Levain’s, but certainly not our last. We got a dark chocolate chocolate chip cookie and a lemon cookie to share amongst the 3 of us. We sat at Levain’s to gossip about shenanigans in our lives until it was time to resume our walking.

As it approached 5:00 PM, we made our way to a French-Cambodian restaurant to meet Eric and his partner for dinner. Unfortunately, dinner was pricey, mediocre, and with poorly organized service. The restaurant was still fairly empty at 5:00 PM, and yet the waiter still struggled to seat us properly, confusing us for a different party. Luckily, the food was only a medium for our bonding time. It was good to hear more about Eric’s eventual move to NYC, and also to get more acquainted with his partner. Dinner wrapped up and soon we were headed toward dessert. We stopped by a place that had been on their to-try list. Peter and I shared a scoop of matcha flavored ice cream with peach chunks—nothing groundbreaking but refreshing nonetheless. Eric and his partner parted shortly after, while Peter, Sunny, and I took an Uber to our AirBnB. Peter and I retired to bed early after such a long night, and having had so little shuteye on our redeye flight.

Friday morning rolled around and we were excited to spend the whole day with Sunny and Eric. Eric’s partner unfortunately couldn’t hang out for the day due to school obligations, but would be meeting us for dinner and evening hang out. We had a late morning so everybody could sleep in a little bit. Eric graciously drove his car up from Providence to Boston so we would have access to more flexible transportation for the day. He picked us up from our AirBnB and we headed straight to North End, the historic Italian neighborhood of Boston. We walked around the Boston Public Market, checked out the farmer’s markets, and window shopped at Fanueil Hall, one of Boston’s historic buildings.

We had lunch at the most rated restaurant in all of Boston. I had been to this restaurant before many moons ago. For some reason, it didn’t seem as good this time around. It’s also quite pricey though comparable to any other popular restaurants in the Boston area. The food was also unfortunately quite heavy so we’d need quite a bit of walking to burn it off. I think this was likely one of Boston’s best restaurants back in the day, and is still riding on its laurels from since then. Few things feel worse than paying big bucks for hype.

From lunch, we walked down to Seaport to explore yet another neighborhood of Boston. Seaport has its own charm and modern twist on an otherwise old city. It’s quite a bit quieter than the older neighborhoods, but also quite a bit cleaner. While there, we stopped by for coffee, refreshments, and another visit to Levain’s. This second location offers the exact same menu, but Peter wanted to try the carrot cake cookie this time. We got it with a side of brown sugar vanilla ice cream which tasted exactly as it sounds. It was probably our least favorite cookie flavor, but it was nice to sit, rest, and enjoy a quick snack with our friends. After a long day of traversing Boston by foot, it was time to start heading down to our dinner spot which is only accessible by car. We walked from Seaport back to Eric’s car to start our journey toward dinner where his partner would meet us.

The car ride to dinner was unfortunately littered with traffic and horrific drivers. While en route, one of Peter’s friends called to check in on us and catch up by phone. Through the sweltering heat, we finally arrived at our dinner destination, a lovely Afro-Caribbean and Nepalese fusion joint. It was definitely cuisine that I haven’t had before. I was smitten by the cute and decorative interior. The five of us ordered several dishes to share family style. Again, the food was rather pricey and many of the dishes mediocre. We made up for it by grabbing several other local delicacies afterwards: Meet Fresh and HeyTea. The ride to dessert was entertained by Jackie and her friend Michelle who FaceTimed us to catch up.

After dessert, Eric and his partner departed ways back to Providence while Sunny, Peter, and I went back to the AirBnB. While at the AirBnB this evening, we sat around sharing old memories and photos. Sunny somehow has amassed a collection of the most unflattering photos from our last 15+ years of friendship. Peter reveled in this abomination of a collection, giggling his way through the evening. As the evening hours passed, we found ourselves hungry again so we DoorDashed some late night pizza. Everything about that experience (staying up late, DoorDashing, and eating pizza) is antithetical to Peter’s existence, and yet he was fully indulging that night. This turned out to be one of the funnest evenings we had in Boston.

Saturday morning arrived quickly. Sunny would be flying out at 4:00 PM on this day. Eric would make a solo trip into Boston to meet us for one last lunch as a group, this time by train. While aboard the train, he reminded (and warned us) that it was pride month and the pride parade would be happening in Boston that day. Sunny, amidst his packing, paid it no heed. Peter and I just laughed off Eric’s comments. Lo and behold, as we Ubered from our AirBnB into the city, we encountered awful traffic jams and road closures everywhere. We ended up walking half the distance anyway to find Eric for lunch. This would be my and Peter’s first pride parades. We eventually made it to lunch, opting for something lighter to counteract all the heaviness from days prior.

We had a few hours to spend before Sunny would depart from Boston back to California. In that time, we got dessert at a matcha shop and went window shopping along some popular streets. As if that wasn’t enough, we dropped by Levain’s for the third time on our trip. Peter indulged in yet another cookie, this time classic chocolate chip. Soon enough, Sunny would Uber back to the airport and Eric would also make his exit. Eric caught a train back down to Providence away from the hustle and bustle of Boston on pride weekend. Peter and I made ourselves over to a Capital One cafe to decompress and review events of the trip. We spent a few hours in a cozy corner just catching up and playing some more Terra Mystica. We had dinner plans just around the block at 6:00 PM so it didn’t make sense to go back to the AirBnB, a 30 minute ride out of the city and then back.

Dinnertime rolled around and we made our way to a cozy Italian restaurant to meet my friend Naillil. Naturally, she was late to her own dinner party, so Peter and I made friendly with her other guests while we waited. She had reserved a table for 8 for all of her besties in Boston, myself included (and Peter). As our final dinner in Boston, we indulged in hefty portions of pasta and a side of meatballs. Something about Boston pasta hits differently—even Peter cleared his plate of bolognese. Naillil, like Sunny, shared many photos and memories of our time together with Peter. And just like Friday night, Peter giggled on and on throughout all of dinner. We wrapped up dinner fairly quickly as Naillil and her girls were getting ready to hit the clurb. Before they did so, we stopped by a photobooth to take cutie photos. Suddenly the topic of Levain’s came up and the whole party made their way over to the cookie shop. Peter is singlehandedly funding this business as we walked away with 7 cookies this time, 1 for the road home and a half-dozen to share with friends and family upon return to California.

Naillil and her friends said their goodbyes outside Levain as they embarked on their exciting evening ahead. Exhausted, Peter and I made our way back to our AirBnB via subway. We soon retired to bed as we had a 10:00 AM flight on Sunday morning to wrap up our long weekend.

As we reflect on our trip, we noticed a few things. First, it was a little more freeflowing than we had anticipated. With that, it fell outside of the cozy theme that we had envisioned for our year of traveling. But this taught us that we can have fun even without structured plans. After all, it would’ve been very difficult to impose this “cozy” theme on friends in a city that didn’t quite make sense. More importantly, we felt badly that our friends ended up accommodating us, such as with Eric driving such long distances on Friday in very bad traffic. We’re constantly trying to improve in our planning process, especially when and if it involves friends.

The second lesson? That Peter may have a clinical addiction to cookies. Of the flavors we tried on the trip, he has devised the following Levain cookie rankings, from best to worst: 1) lemon, 2) dark chocolate chocolate chip, 3) chocolate chip, 4) carrot cake. In the half-dozen we brought on the flight back, there are additional flavors of chocolate chip coconut, oatmeal raisin, and dark chocolate peanut butter. I find them all to be very yummy though of course my favorite is dark chocolate peanut butter. And that just about wraps up our trip to Boston!