What's happening in Boston?

Jude returned to Boston in June to work in the office for a week and a half.  As always this trip was well packed with plenty of work commitments and plenty of connecting and re-connecting, with staff both old and new.  Here is Jude with his Learning Exchange Programs team, L-R, Emer, Helaine and Erica, all of whom have started at IIIC within the last year.







For this trip Jude pushed the boat out (well the 'T' to be more precise) and ventured away from his beloved Brookline ...... this time he stayed ........ in Newton.  Newton is a cool wee place indeed ....... very quiet and very beautiful.   Here is the Guest house he stayed in on Chelsey Road.

Now that's a nice house ..... sure what about a wee tour ..... well ok then. 






This place was one of those classic old wooden New England houses.  For some extra detail here is the view of the entrance hall with the breakfast area in there to the right.

Cool, wha?  

Living room 1.















Living room 2 with door onto very large balcony / decking area.

A view down the street from Jude's balcony (which was adjoining his room).

On Jude's first day back in Boston he always has one thing on his mind ....... getting a good feed at one of his favourite places to eat.  Tonight he had Pad Thai at Coconut Café.












A view of the town of Newton.















Newton Centre 'T' stop was just a 2 minute walk from Jude's accommodation.  It sits on the Green 'D' line and would be about 15 minutes further out of Boston than where he lived in Coolidge Corner.  











On Jude's first morning back in the office he chose to meet his colleagues for tea at Bruegger's Bagels in Washington Square.  Meeting Helaine, Emer and Erica for the first time and meeting Paul again was great.  Remember Jude had already been working with them for some a long time now so they all knew each other very well ....... but (besides Jude and Paul0 they had just never met in person ........ until now.







And before you knew it he was back at 100 Franklin Street. 



    

  

On Jude's first day in the office he attended his LEP team meeting, the Management team meeting and the All Staff meeting.  That's a fair few meetings in one day and needless to say it just whizzed by.  The day was topped off with Jude joining Ronnie and Gjerji in the Elephant & Castle pub next door to the office for a bit of a catch up and a burger and pint.  








The following day was the annual Staff Day out.  Jude met Helaine, Erica and Emer at Downtown Crossing and off they all went too have a great day out (see previous post for detail).

After the Staff Day out Jude arranged to go to see a Boston Red Sox game. 













Jude and Marguerite lived in Fenway for two years so just being back in the area was a great feeling. 

Joining Jude at tonight's game were his friends Lindsay and Dave.  Plenty of funnies stories were retold tonight and of course there was plenty to laugh about.











Fenway Park ........ class!   

Big Papi David Ortiz is reputedly retiring this year so Jude was excited to see him in action again before he hangs up the boots.    

The scoreboard had it's own little tribute to Big Papi. 

Big Papi is 40 now so younger players are needed and there are plenty of great young players at Fenway Park these days ...... players like Xander Bogaerts ..... so the future looks good.

Tonight the Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-4.  

 






Dave, Lindsay and Jude enjoying the game at Fenway Park.    

Helaine, Emer and Erica slag Jude about how much he likes the green line .....but he just loves it.  He reckons it's cool, it's always on time, and it takes him exactly where he wants to go ........ every time ...... what more do you want?

It takes him to places like Park Street for example. 

Now Jude didn't take his camera to work every day ...... he was there to work remember ....... and besides you don't want to running around looking like a geek taking pics of everyone.  So before you knew it it was Friday night  .........








....... and Friday night meant a night out with IIIC staff in Emmet's pub on Beacon Hill.  Here enjoying the craic are L-R: Jude, Emer, Michael Paul, Erica and Helaine.











It was great to catch up with Ann Marie and Clare. As always the craic was great.

That girl Jude is chatting to is Aileen, a former employee at Emmet's who Jude and his friends were all friendly with throughout his years in Boston.  Lucky enough she happened to be visiting tonight so they got to catch up.











Jude and Neil ........ partying on!!!

Jude happened to mention that he liked the Samuel Adams glasses and soon Helaine and Erica were gathering up a little collection of them!

There's Jude holding up one of those Samuel Adams glasses!

Having fun in Emmet's are L-R:  Ambreen, Ann Marie, Jude, Neil, Helaine, Erica and Emer. 

The craic was great in Emmet's tonight, as it usually is.

Up bright and breezy at 7.30am the next morning is Jude.  

He has set up the 10 second timer thingy on his camera again and snapped this cool shot of himself eating breakfast.  Wha?

It's Saturday and he has a big day ahead.

First up was a scoot round to Cambridge to Robert's house to watch the Ireland football match.  Today they were playing Belgium in the European Championships Finals ...... sadly they lost 3-0.

Anyway ........ let's not allow a heavy defeat like that get in the way of a good day's craic ...... so Robert got the party started early with a lunchtime BBQ ......

........ and a few cans of this diesel to wash the BBQ down!

    
 
  

It was a hot day and Titus ha dthe best seat in the garden ...... tucked in below the table!

After the lunchtime BBQ Jude and Robert went to Fenway Park ...... this time to watch the Red Sox play the Seattle Mariners.

Here's Jude doing his best Dustin Pedroia impersonation.

And here he is with Ben's mate ......  Wally!

And here he is again ...... yer man ..... what's his face ...... Wally.

It really is a cool place.

Boston's greatest player ........ Dustin Pedroia.

Robert is doing a good job of singing 'Sweet Caroline' at this stage.

Koji Uehara ........ class!

........ Kimbrel ....... last pitch ....... game over!

Yeaaahh ...... Red Sox beat Seattle 6-2.   

Mookie Betts getting interviewed after his man-of-the-match performance.

Final stop tonight for Robert and Jude was a trip to good old tasty burger ....... the perfect ending to any game!

The next time Jude will be in Boston this skyline line will have changed dramatically as a new skyscraper is being build close to the Prudential Tower.  

It's the morning after the day before ......... Sunday morning to be precise ...... and Jude is out on his balcony supping on a cup of tea.  He's excited this morning because he has a Skype call scheduled with ..........










........ Ben and Marguerite.  Ben got to tell Jude all he had been up to this week and Jude got to tell Ben what presents he had bought him. 

Just 10  years ago this would not have been possible and folk can often take the like of this for granted ...... but it's just modern technology, in this case Skype, which allows for these communications to happen.  Wonderful!

After catching up with home Jude scooted down to Brookline Village and paid a quick visit to Our Lady of the Assumption church in Brookline.  That's where Ben was baptized. 

Then he went for a dander through Coolidge Corner.

A view from St Mary's Street up to Coolidge Corner .













Marguerite and Jude used to meet at St Mary's Street on Friday evening in the summer time.  They would sit outside one of their favourite places in Boston ...... the Beacon Street Tavern ...... for dinner and a few beers. That place is now called Waxy's. 

So for the sake of old times ...... he popped inn for a plate of Oysters and a beer.  Sure what else would you be doing on a Sunday afternoon?

After work on Monday Jude, Erica and Helaine headed on a Magical Mystery Tour.  What?  Well over the course of the week Jude would say, 'have you been here', have you been there', and often the reply was, 'no'.  So he decided a last minute speedy tour was in order calling in at some of his favourite spots in Boston. 

First up was Marliave. 






A plate of Oysters, a beer and a bit of craic.  Perfect!















Erica and Jude getting set to leave Marliave and head to ..........













........ Chinatown .......... Shabu Zen in fact.  Jude handed his camera to this girl and asked her politely to take this pic but emphasized twice the importance of getting the name of the restaurant in.  Ahhhhhh ....... anyway .... moving on .......

....... Shabu Zen is a cool place where you get your uncooked food served up before you cook it yourself in a hot pot.  Helaine's more interested in the Tsingtao by the looks of it though!











  
The one where the waitress takes the pic. 















'Corn ....... anyone ...... anyone ...... corn ...... anyone?














Now there is a super cool pose indeed.  A spontaneous pic taken whilst dandering through Chinatown, L-R: Helaine, Erica, Jude. 

Next stop was the Cheesecake Factory ...... ehhhhh ....which was just across the street from here ...... the fountains at the reflecting pool. 

Then a quick scoot up to the top of the Prudential was followed by the final 'rocking' stop of the night ......










........ a beer and a live band at Wally's Jazz Café. 

This place never disappoints ....... class music and a class atmosphere.  The perfect end to a visit to Boston. 

Tuesday was Jude's final day in the office. 

This week and a half was great as it allowed Jude to reconnect with all his colleagues he has worked with in the past, and to meet all the new arrivals in the office (since he last visited).  The best part of the trip was definitely about meeting those members of his team he had not met (in person) before ........ connecting with wonderful folk like Emer, Helaine and Erica ....... brilliant.