• Poppy + Grace

    A lifestyle blog with southern charm

    Ballpark Tour Trip#2: NYC and Boston

    ballpark tour · baseball · travel · vacation

    It is a goal of mine and David’s to travel to all of the MLB ballparks and go to a game. We made our first trip last year to St. Louis and Kansas City. We took Raley with us on that trip and had a blast! We loooovved the St. Louis Zoo and both stadiums that we visited. It was also pretty cool to see  Kansas City play the year they won the World Series.

     
    This year David and I decided to travel without the kids. New York and Boston are places we both have been wanting to visit and so we took this opportunity to get away for a little while and let the girls spend some time with their grandparents. And we were so glad our friends Casey and Britni could travel with us! We had a great time!
     
    We flew into LaGuardia airport on a Wednesday. Our flight got delayed about 4 different times (typical American Airlines) and we ended up getting in around 3:30 or so. We had ordered a car from Dial 7 and it took the guy forever to find us. We finally made it to the hotel to check in just in time to leave for the Yankees game. We stayed at Hotel Mela, which was in Times Square. It was an amazing location! 
    I embarrassed David several times on this trip and made him use a selfie stick
    We took the subway to the Bronx to Yankees Stadium. We sat in the upper deck behind home plate. [ We don’t generally like paying a ton of money for tickets because there really is no bad seat in a baseball stadium.] We ate dinner that night at Yankee Stadium. We had heard they had good Philly cheesesteaks and they definitely did not disappoint! 
    It was a beautiful night for baseball

     

     
    After the game we all went to Juniors for cheesecake and OMG were they good! Hands down, best cheesecake I’ve ever had! 
     
    Thursday was our “free day.” We didn’t have anything scheduled and we were hoping to catch a show so we grabbed a bagel (I really wanted a New York bagel) and then went straight the the Gershwin Theater box office to check on tickets for Wicked. The tickets were a little more than we wanted to pay for them but we decided to get them anyway. I am sooooo glad that we did! 
     

    After we snagged these tickets we walked all the way to the Met. We enjoyed the sites and seeing the city as we walked. We stopped in Central Park for just a minute, but I wish we had had a little more time to spend there. It’s beautiful!

     

     

    We ended up eating a hotdog from a street vendor in front of the Met (something else I wanted to try while we were there). It was actually delicious! We spent a few hours in the Met, but honestly we could have stayed there all day. My favorite part of the Met was the Arms and Armor exhibit. All the old armory was beautiful and fascinating. The Egyptian exhibit and European sculptures were beautiful as well.

     

     

    That night for dinner we ate at Mama Mia’s 44th SW. It was a cute tiny little Italian place and had the best Fettuccine Alfredo we’ve ever had!
    We had a little bit of time to kill before the show so we did a little shopping. I loved the Disney Store. We took this picture to send to Raley of the floating Rapunzel lights.

    We are SO glad we decided to spend the money on Wicked. It was amazing! The Wizard of Oz is my favorite movie and this just put a whole new spin on it. I can’t wait to go see it again!

     After the show we tried to make it to Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center. The show got out at 10:45 and the last elevator went up at 11:00 at Top of the Rock. We were bookin it but literally got there 1 minute late! We were definitely disappointed. We decided to go back to Juniors and get more cheesecake.
    Friday morning we had breakfast at Caffe Bene. They had some amazing Belgian waffles!
    We then took a subway down to the financial district and went to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. The museum was much larger than I had imagined and definitely very emotional. I learned alot of things about this event that I didn’t know.
    Inside one of the buildings of the new World Trade Center
    After we got done at the museum we were going to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to Grimaldi’s. But then we decided it was too far so we just walked out onto a pier and took some pictures. Then we took a subway back to Times Square and ate at John’s Pizza. It was delicious!
    Brooklyn Bridge
    John’s Pizza. We thought a small pizza wouldn’t be enough. We were crazy!
    That evening we went to a Mets game. We were afraid it was going to get rained out because it had been raining on and off all day. Once we got there though the sun had come out and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful night. We got a couple innings in and it started pouring rain! While we were in a delay we grabbed some burgers at the Shake Shack inside the stadium. It eventually lightened up and we were able to watch a few more innings before it started raining again and they called the game. I was just glad we got to visit the stadium and see a few innings of play.
    As Phillies fans it was pretty tough wearing Mets shirts!
    The sky was beautiful
    We got to break out our tourist ponchos
    Tarp’s out
    I took a really nerdy selfie to show that I DEFINITELY lived off coffee this trip. We stayed up later than we had stayed up in a long time. I loved that all the parks served Dunkin coffee!
    The next morning we grabbed some Starbucks and headed to catch our bus to Boston. We had a great time in New York but I wish we had had one more day there to see a few more things. We will just have to go back another time!
    We took a 4 hour bus ride to Boston and arrived around 3:00 or so. We stayed at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, which was beautiful!
    This city is beautiful
    We ate an early dinner at Panza, an Italian restaurant in the North End (Boston’s Little Italy). It was a cute little place and very good. The North End is lined with little restaurants like this.
    Panza. So cute!
    We had a little time to kill before heading to the Red Sox game so we wondered around the North End for a little while. We got cannolis and puff pastries at Modern Pastries, which were sooo good!
    Paul Revere’s house

    We took a subway to Fenway park. The subway system in Boston was very different from the one in New York City, but I liked it alot. Once I figured it out I found it very easy to use.

    I think Fenway was my favorite park that we went to. It is the oldest park in the MLB and still has a vintage feel after all these years. The Red Sox got stomped by the Angels, but we saw a ton of homeruns. Several over the Green Monster, which was pretty cool.

    I loved how even their signs were vintage
    The weather in Boston was so nice! It was warm during the day but it wasn’t hot. At night it was in the 60’s. I even got a little chilly at times, which I loved!
    Boston Common. This weather is perfect!
    On Sunday we ate breakfast at an adorable little place called Sofa Cafe. Just look how cozy!

     

    After breakfast we walked through Boston Common and were very excited to catch a Freedom Trail Tour. Our Tour guide was great and we learned alot about the city that we wouldn’t have had we just walked the trail on our own.

     

    Granary Burial ground where Paul Revere, Samual Adams, and John Hancock are buried.
    Old State Building. Where the Declaration of Independence was read
    and the site of the Boston Massacre
    Faneuil Hall
    After the tour we decided to eat lunch at The Bell in Hand Tavern. They have THE best BBQ chicken sandwich I have ever had. David got the sandwich and I got something else. I immediately regretted my decision as soon as I tried his sandwich. I could have drank the BBQ sauce, it was so good. We ended up going back for lunch the day we left.

     

    We walked down to Long Wharf after lunch. The water at the Harbor is breathtaking. I wish we could have spent a little more time in this area.
    On the way back to the hotel to get ready for dinner we walked back through Boston Common and came across a food truck called Cookie Monstah. We got a cookie ice cream sandwich that was to die for!
    That evening we ate with Casey and Britni at Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in the city. These guys are so much fun!
    After dinner we wondered back to the North End and got some more cannolis and a lobster tail from Mike’s Pastry. We had to try both Modern and Mike’s and they were both delicious. We enjoyed these pastries with some pour over coffee from a cafe down the street. I’m not sure how pour over coffee is made but it is really good!
    On Monday (the 4th of July) we all took the subway to the Sam Adams Brewery and did a brewery tour. Our guide’s name was “Petah” and was incredibly entertaining.  At the end of the tour everyone in the group got to sit down in a big room at tables and they served a few different kinds of beer to try. I’m not a big beer drinker but I figured “when in Rome”…. They served one that you can’t find anywhere else called Smoked Porter (or “Portah”) which actually wasn’t bad.
    We took a trolley from the brewery to a restaurant called Doyle’s. The trolley driver was a nut and so funny! Most fun trolley ride I’ve ever been on

    After lunch we did a little shopping in the city and walked around a bit. Then we went to Cambridge to check out MIT and Harvard. We ate dinner at Legal Seafood in Cambridge with Casey and Britni. Legal Seafood has someone specially inspect all of their seafood so that it’s fresh and high quality. I don’t love lobster but I figured if we were going to try something new, this would be the place to do it. We shared a lobster bake that included lobster, mussels, steamers, and clam chowder. I liked the clam chowder and the more tender parts of the lobster were good (I don’t like the tougher parts) but I wasn’t a big fan of the mussels and steamers. I’m glad we tried it though!

    After dinner we made our way down to the Charles River to find a spot to watch the fireworks show. They had a screen and speakers so you could hear the Boston Pops concert and the fireworks were right in front of us. While we were waiting for the fireworks to start we shared a funnel cake and had fun people watching.

    Best fireworks show I’ve ever seen!
    There was a line all the way down the street waiting to get on the subway so we decided to walk across the Longfellow Bridge back to the hotel. It was a good little walk but it felt amazing outside. Boston is very enjoyable to walk and we saw a lot of the city this way.

    The next day we unfortunately had to head home. Our flight was not until 4:10 in the afternoon so we got to enjoy the morning walking around the Boston Common and doing some more shopping. We ate at the Bell in Hand Tavern again and this time we both got the chicken sandwich. I wish they bottled that BBQ sauce because it’s sooooo good!!!

    We flew Jet Blue on the way home and didn’t have any issues. We were very excited to make it back home to our girls. We missed them like crazy!

    Raley is wearing her Rapunzel crown and holding her Arlo that we got from the Disney Store
    I know they had a ton of fun playing with their grandparents and their Auntie! We enjoyed seeing pictures throughout the week.
    Paintin toes with Auntie
    David’s parents took them to the American Girl Store
    Raley loves her new Bitty Baby
    We had a blast on this trip! I could never live in New York but I could totally see myself living in Boston. It’s beautiful, walkable, the subway system is commuter friendly, there’s tons of history, and all kinds of stuff to do there. I am so glad that we were able to spend the 4th in the city where our country’s independence was won. This city is overflowing with history and patriotism. We will definitely be going back and taking the girls next time. Boston has the coolest playgrounds I have ever seen and we would love to visit the zoo next time.

     

    We are very thankful to our parents for watching the girls while we were gone. And thanks to Casey and Britni for coming with us! We had so much fun!

     
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