Seaport to Kendall- an Epic Saturday in the City

JO and I spent the night of July 4th playing video games and surfing the web.  As if reading each other's minds, we turned to each other in disgust and proclaimed that we needed a plan.  So we decided that we would explore Castle Island, the ICA, and the Seaport District the next day.

The weather on Saturday was absolutely splendid.  The sun was shining but it couldn't have been more than 78 degrees, and there was a lovely breeze to keep things cool.  We drove over to Castle Island, rented some Hubways, and proceeded to bike around Castle Island.  Everything was going splendidly...

...until we were informed that you can't actually ride your bike around Castle Island.  I'm still dumbfounded about this.  Wasn't Boston recently recognized as the biking capital of the world?  Had JO and I really stumbled upon the only place in the city you can't bike ride?  Isn't Castle Island, with it's loop around the Causeway, the perfect place for bike riding?  Completely confused we returned our bikes and headed back to our cars.

We headed towards the ICA, and found metered parking, easily.  JO decided we needed a bit of a pick me up after the biking debacle so he steered us towards the Atlantic Beer Garden where we stopped to grab lunch.  The weather was perfect for sitting on their dock, with views of the World Trade Center and boat docks.  We also had a first hand look at the jelly fish invasion, which I surmised must have been caused by the hurricane.

This picture does not do the jelly fish invasion justice.

As we ate our lunch, which was surprisingly good, we watched a bride and groom do their first look pictures on one of the boats docked across the way.  We also spotted our Justice of the Peace presiding over the ceremony.   That was pretty fun!

After lunch we made our way to the ICA.  I do love this museum but I have to say, some of the write ups that they hang next to the art are just hysterical. I tried not to laugh out loud as black and white striped canvases and trees in cement buckets were described "as life changing" pieces of art.

We made our way to the Jim Hodges exhibit, which I must say was fantastic.  My favorite was this blue door:

After the ICA we walked along the harbor walk for a ways.  Again, we both agreed that we don't do this walk enough.  We joked that we could've ridden our bikes here.

On our walk we had spotted a new restaurant called Gather.  There was something inviting about their patio, with stellar views of the harbor, so we made our way over.  We both really liked this place, and when the table behind us ordered the steamers, we agreed we would come back because they smelled so good.  Our good friend ended up joining us and we spent the afternoon enjoying the view and good company.  I have to say I really enjoyed Gather, and was pleasantly pleased when a few days later it received a Best of award from Improper Bostonian.

We headed back to our apartment for some Mario Kart before hitting up Tommy Doyle's for dinner.  Our other friends ended up meeting us at State Park for drinks.  We sat outside, at one of their picnic tables, and just enjoyed the beautiful city evening.  This is truly what city living is all about!