Happy Friday!  This is my second set of Boston photos from this past spring, you can see the first set here.

Besides the requisite Freedom trail, here are a few other personal highlights:

*  Breakfast at Mike & Patty's 

 It's located in a cute little neighborhood with some really tasty twists on breakfast classics.  I kid you not, it's a tiny joint (seats maybe eight people total).  Savvy locals call ahead but this little tourist cooled her heels for a solid twenty minutes before chowing down on their North South Classic.

*  Boston Harbor Islands

We were able to see firsthand the reclamation project on Spectacle Island, which has essentially seen everything from hotels to a horse processing plant to a trash dump.  Now it's a lovely little recreational area very similar to the Berkeley marina.  We also stopped by Georges Island, well known for the Lady in Black (a ghost of a Confederate prisoner's wife).  An impromptu tour by a friendly ranger let us play with the large canons around and temporarily get lost groping around one of the pitch black tunnels that run throughout Fort Warren (mind you this was right after we heard the ghost story).

*  Boston Pops concert

This was definitely a pleasant surprise.  How often can you sit at a concert hall like Symphony Hall listening to music while drinking and eating?  Not to mention during a pops concert you're encouraged to make friends with your neighbors (I heard quite a few FB connections) and, for better or worse, to also sing along.

*  Boston Public Gardens

After reading The Trumpet of the Swan as a child it's hard not to fall a little in love with the idyllic Boston Public Gardens.  It's a perfect place to sit and enjoy the sun.  I wouldn't recommend dangling your feet in the water, however.

I had to dig back six years for these photos, but they are no less memorable for that.  My experience of Japan was very brief but lovely, a surprising mix of peace and frenetic energy.