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kenthenugget · 10 months

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Brightline West will Change the Perception of High Speed Rail in America

(Yes I know this not related to art but I really wanted to talk about this)

Yesterday, it was announced that Brightline, a passenger rail company running higher speed trains in Florida, had received $3 billion of federal funding which will allow them to begin construction on their high speed rail between Las Vegas and Las Angeles area. And this will actually be a true high speed rail line with a top speed of 185mph (300kmh) on a dedicated right of way built in between the median of I-15. As someone who's been following this project and Brightline for 5 years, this news excites me because not only do I have the utmost faith that they'll get this project done within the 2 to 3 years projected, but I truly believe with the completion of this railroad, that public perception of high speed rail and passenger rail in general will change for the good. I know that's a loaded statement but here me out.

In the United States, we dont have any form of high speed rail. We have the Northeast Corridor, Brightline in Florida, and places in Illinois and Michigan where trains run faster than the national capped speed limit of 79mph, but not much in the way of true high speed rail like in France and Japan. In fact, we probably have the most outdated national passenger network in the world. That wasnt always the case, we used to have one of the best passenger trains in the world.....until the end of world war 2 however. With the rise of the automobile, car dependant suburbs, and a highway network, trains were seen as an outdated form of transport with the car being seen as the future. This wasn't exclusive to America though, as many 1st world countries 50s also had this mindset. To most, trains would eventually go the way of the canal.........that is until Japan stepped in showed the world that the train wasnt dead through the creation of the Shinkansen, the world's first modern high speed rail line. Many countries would follow Japan's example, including France, Germany, Italy, and others. But as for America.....its complicated. The high speed ground transportation act was passed in 1965 but not much came from it apart from Budd's Metroliner which couldnt meet expecations, and the UAC Turbo Train still holds the record of the fastest production train in North America at 170.8mph. Outside of that, we didnt really invest much into high speed rail and improving our rail system, outside of a few regions in the country. We continued build highways and sprawling suburbs. Because of this, by the 1990s we were far behind the rest of the developed world in terms of high speed rail. I mean there was the Acela Express, but its more of a high speed service than true high speed rail. And its because of this that the stigma of passenger rail being an outdated form of transport never went a way like it did in other developed countries, and honestly its even worse now since many of the people who were around during the glory days of passenger trains are no longer with us.

But why do we need high speed rail and, hell, better passenger rail? Arent passenger trains slow, dirty, outdated, and a boondogle for democrats to ship immigrants to low income people into the backyard of my mcmansion #notinmybackyard? (okay I promised myself I wouldn't get politcal here but the sad truth is that passenger rail in America is political, with the left being in support of it and the right being against.....its time like these where I do wish we had more than 2 voting options). The reason why need rail in general is due to the fact that options for traveling between cities are limited...outside the northeast. If you want go from Charlotte to Atlanta, Houston to Dallas, or Las Angeles to San Francisco, you either have to drive or fly. For driving, you're limited to one interstate between the cities and you'll mostly be in for a lot of traffic and headaches. For flying, you'll have to get to the airport, go through a painfully slow check in process where they have to make sure you're not terriorst, then you got into the fucking plane where you barely have any room and the window is so tiny, usually dealing with parents who cant shut their kids up unless they have an ipad in their face and Im pretty sure you can tell that I dont particularly like flying. These options can be pretty annoying but they're the best ones you got. Sure you got Amtrak but usually they only run one train between those cities with inconvenient hours and from some of them, Amtrak doesn't even serve them anymore. This is why a third option is needed. High speed rail and upgraded conventional rail can make these corridors competitive for travel, since they're too long to drive to short to fly. And it will be much more environmentally friendly as well which is a urgently needed in order to combat climate change. And one of those cities I mentioned (mainly LA and San Fran) are being connected by High Speed Rail at this moment.......and it wont be done until the 2050s at the latest... Time to talk about California High Speed Rail.

One of the biggest high speed rail projects going on the US right now is the California High Speed Rail, an ambitious project connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco with more connections in the future. You've probably herd of this project and if you have, it probably wasn't good. Despite being voted on in 2008, they havent really gotten anywhere in the past 15 years. Most of the construction is being done on an isolated segment in the San Jose Valley, a flatter and sparsly populated region with mid sizes cities, with little to no work being done in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The San Jose section is set to be done as early as the 2030s and is also over budget. Its this project that I feel has not only ruined the reputation of high speed rail, and added to the poorer perception of passenger rail in general. To most, high speed rail is soon as a boondoggle and a complete waste of tax payer money, and attempts to necromancy a form of transport that hasn't been relevant in the US since 1945. I know not everyone feels this way, but the truth is a lot of Americans are ignorant about passenger rail in general and cant really see the potential for it like most around the world do. And who can blame them! Like I said, the generation that believed in passenger rail, who around during its heyday are long dead, with the eldest generation having grown in sprawling suburbs and with car culture. They never got to experience what life was like before, and so base their world view on what they're used to, and passed on to future generations. Its why any proposals for high speed rail and improvements to rail in general have been shot down because they dont see trains as anything more than old fashioned, because thats what they're used to. That's what they are in most of the country. However, as stated in the title, I believe this can change, and it all starts with Brightline.

Brightline is a private passenger rail operator in Florida running higher speed services between Miami and Orlando. They've been operating since 2018 but it wasn't until September of this year that the Orlando extension opened. This rail line has been making headlines across the country with their sleek modern trains, efficient services, and changing the perception of rail in general. I've been following Brightline for a while and I cant express how blown away I've been. The fact that they got this project off the ground at all is an achievement, and the fact we have trains running at 125mph outside the Northeast is insane! Something like this shouldnt exist in United States. It should've been shot down thanks to NIMBYs and Republican Politicians, but they somehow broke the curse and actually brought a modern fast service that many people enjoy and is actually turning a profit. Its because of this that I have no doubt that Brightline will succeed in this recent project as well. Brightline Florida is good but its not high speed rail. Brightline's Las Vegas project is, and I am 100% confident that this will be the nations first true high speed rail line long before CHSR gets done. And when it does, it will change the perception of high speed rail in America as something that can actually be tangible, and not just a fantasy, and will help jump start and bring more confidence and support to other projects across the US. I think most people will look to Brightline when they think of High Speed Rail, and view the concept in a more positive light that California High Speed Rail will ever do. There has never been brighter future for High Speed Rail in America than there is today and I cant wait to see what's in store for Brightline and other future projects.

Also if you're a republican voter reading this, please dont get offended. Im just stating what I've seen and I know not ever republican thinks to the same

#trains #public transit #high speed rail #high speed train #hsr #brightline

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anumberofhobbies · 1 year

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Historic Newark station predates the Pennsylvania Railroad, having been built in 1877 by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad.

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fara-posts · 1 year

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Check it out

Sufletul meu s a cutremurat ,inca si inca o data ...intelegand ,din păcat,tacerea abstract,cu sunet asurzitor...ochii ,albastrul ,orbite ...ma dor...dorul acela profund ,nesecat ...izvoare spre voi,iar eu,neumblat ...c un zambet mai sec decat desertul parerilor c ar fi contat,c un zambet ucigas ca miezul netrucat,c un zambet fin ,sagalnic ca marea de adanc ,c un zambet te ating... c un zambet te alung ,c un zambet necuvinte ,cu ochii mei nestinsi ti aprind infiorari pentru cei necuprinsi si ti spun inca o data pe limba celui mut ...ca te iubesc asa si intr un fel ,curat ,profund dar mai ales atat ...incat pe frunte ...in.centru ....se naruiesc pareri ,dezlantuiri in care doar inimii ii ceri ...prinos de nefiresc in ordinea "ciudata"...

In care iti repet ...iubirea e si nu e vinovata... si bate nesfarsit... in voi ...ca sa puteti ,sa va vedeti cu ochii celei pe care, dealtfel ,asa de mult o vreti ...incat v ascundeti voua ,tacerile din piept ...pe care ea le aude cu sufletu i prezent ...si absent iti este chipul , iubite ,ce deșert, mi te a furat de asemanare tu ai si nu e un desert ...atat de rar ...mai vii ...iar eu ...cam dusa ...undeva....ma fac ca imi e bine...si s las atingerea ,asa ca intr o doara ...sa nu ma poti uita....o volta siderala ti atinge inima...si nesfarsiri din tine in care uiti si razi ...atat de simplu este incat te uit ....ma uit....si cerul ...cam atat....ce stranie faptura...esti tu iubita mea....fereasca Dumnezeu sa nu mai fii ....asa....

Iubitule-iubita mea ...tandem perfect ...si linistea curgand asa ....degeaba....Tu ești furtuna din capul meu, dar nu furtuna, este un uragan de emoții și senzații, bucuria trezirii mele.

Tu esti răspunsul la toate întrebările mele, analiza mea și concluziile unei iubiri care se adaugă în viața mea.

Tu înseamni motive și motive pentru inimă, tu esti conversia viselor mele în realitate și vinovat de căderea în ispită.

Tu esti ritmul meu și cântecul meu, cea mai bună doza a mes, cea mai mare poezie a mea proprietarul iubirii mele

Ești o artistă care a proiectat ceea ce sunt acum, esti proprietate meu în dragoste și complice la pasiunea mea; tu esti femeia pe care viața mi-a rezervat-o.

Tu ești fructul meu preferat, ceașca mea de cafea de dimineață, perna, unde noapte de noapte îmi trăiesc visele;

Esti calea pe care în intimitate, buzele și degetele mele merg.

Daca ar fi sa ma nasc din nou si as avea ocazia, fara indoiala m-as reintalni cu tine, as decide sa fiu din nou fericit cu tine, pentru ca o singura viata nu imi ajunge sa te iubesc.

Poate nu o intelegi, dar tu esti totul pentru mine, ma simt incomplet fara tine ; te iubesc și tu mă iubește; și deși suntem atât de diferiți, am învățat atât de multe unul de la altul

În ciuda diferențelor noastre, ne iubim și ne acceptăm așa cum suntem, înțelegerea poate fi complexă, pentru noi și datorită dragostei pe care o avem unul față de celălalt, nu este complicat pentru că este multă iubire implicată; și știm că nu există nicio diferență, asta ne face să fugim.

Știu că oricâte întoarceri ne-a dat soarta, printre mii de mâini le-aș recunoaște pe ale tale, știu că amândoi eram sortiți să ne bucurăm împreună de această nebunie care este viața și să mergem împreună... Până la sfârșitul drum.Ioana:

Iubitule-iubita mea ...tandem perfect ...si linistea curgand asa ....degeaba....

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frankhightower · 1 year

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Commission Prices 2023 (and FAQ)

I'm open for commissions! I'm only taking full body sketches at this time. I intend to revise my prices annually.

FAQ:

So now I can make you draw anything I want? Not exactly. There's several things I won't draw under any circumstances (mainly: genitals, nipples, death or gore; I'll go into more detail later. If you're unsure, please ask!) What does “price per character prop, or background element” mean? It means each character in the piece costs that amount. Two characters costs twice as much, but a character with an object also costs that much (thus Microfan with his flag costs the same as two people hugging or indeed a guy sitting under a tree). Whether a prop counts or not depends on if it’s an indispensable part of the outfit (for instance, Copper’s pocket watch is part of his conductor uniform, but his clipboard is not). This also means you can request one character in color and the other in black and white or indeed the prop in color and the character in black and white. What counts as a background element? It’ll be judged on a case-by-case basis. For instance, the locomotive and its tender count as a single element, with the boxcar counting as a second element; however a multiple-unit train such as the Acela Express would count as a single element. Why do some things cost the same as others? Price is based on effort – that is, how hard and time consuming it is for me – and I consider the two equally-priced things to require about the same effort. This may change in the future, but I promise to always have something available for $5. Then why does lineless cost more if you literally do less? Because, when coloring, the thickness of the line allows me a certain margin of error that disappears when we go lineless. Why do you only offer lineless with color and shading? I don’t think lineless looks good in black and white or with flat colors, so I don’t do ’em. Why do you call them sketches if you color and shade them? Because I’m doing these entirely freehanded: minimal use of guidelines, references and revisions. Wait, there’s no revisions?! What if I don’t like something?! There’s revisions, they’re just limited in scope. For instance, I originally drew Ty as gray fox, not a silver fox (i.e. no white tailtip), despite having references telling me otherwise; I assumed responsibility for the error and corrected the drawing. However, corrections of the type “Ian’s shovel looks crooked, do it again” I will not do because those kind of “errors” are intrinsic to the freehanded nature of the sketch (I may attempt to digitally scale the shovel to make it look less crooked, but I won’t redraw it). What if I want you to do those things? Then it wouldn’t be a sketch; you’ll have to wait until I can do commissions that aren’t sketch quality, which will happen when I feel I have the time available from my dayjob and family life. What if I don’t want a full body? What if I only want a headshot? I don’t do just headshots because I always end up putting effort into the parts that don’t get drawn (i.e. I inevitably think about and plan out what the shoulders and arms should be doing and don’t like that time going to waste). You are free to crop the picture after the fact if you want to focus on just the head, though. And besides, my prices are pretty low already. Why the complexity charge? Why is texture harder than extra limbs? I’ve discovered that the mental effort of swapping to a different texture adds a lot of time to the artistic process. If you have, say, a bird and a lion, you only need to swap once when you finish one character and start the next, but if you’re doing a griffin, you need to be doing that constantly. Extra limbs don’t create this problem for me; I instinctively understand they’re as much part of the character as the tail is. I have a character with both fur and feathers but I can’t afford the complexity charge I’ll be more than happy to draw them with just fur or just feathers all over. Do bat wings on a [insert mammal here] count as a different texture? No, bat wings have fur. Do bat wings on a scaley dragon count as a different texture? No, because I draw them covered in scales like the rest of the dragon unless otherwise specified. How does the “no reference” option work? I’ll ask you for a detailed description of your character and probably some clarification questions. Can I give you an AI-generated image as a reference? Oh God, please no! I'd much rather you give me the "prompt" text and work from there! I’ve never heard of an artist working without references before I do it because I’ve been there. All-too often, I need art of a character, but don’t have the time or money to make reference (and indeed, half the reason I buy art from other artists is because I’m too busy to do it myself). Can I just get a refsheet? Not as a sketch, no. A refsheet cannot contain freehanding errors. Please wait until I open commissions for refsheets (which I will do eventually). Can I use the resulting sketch to get a refsheet from another artist? Yes, that’s part of the reason I do it. Can I get a black-and-white sketch from you and then color it myself like a coloring book page? Yes! That’s also part of the reason I do it. In fact, it’s what inspired the “black and white shaded” options. Can I put it on a background to make it look like my ’sona was there? Yes, that is why I always deliver with transparent background when possible. Can I print it and hang it on my wall? Yes, once delivered, you can do whatever you want with it. Whatever I want? So I can post it online? Of course. I do ask that you link back to me for that, though. This sounds too good to be true Well, I’m still learning. I charge cheaply not only to remain accessible, but because I never went to art school nor paid for art classes (my only formal art training was the mandatory art class in middle school). I feel like the difference between what I charge and what I “should” charge is what I should pay for the art class that teaches me what I’ll learn by drawing the piece (i.e. I don’t expect it to be perfect so I don’t charge it as such) and besides, since this is something I do in my “free” time, I know I probably won’t deliver it as quickly as I should. Do you have a sample? Please refer to the full version for each of the "strips", and try to imagine that "but better"

Black-and-white version ($5/char)

Flat color version ($20/char)

Gradient-shaded version ($25/char)

Lineless Gradient-shaded version ($30/char)

Cell-shaded version ($40/char)

Lineless Cell-shaded version ($45/char)

Who are the characters in this picture? This picture features, from left to right (as identified by their FA username)

Microfan the tiger as the black-and-white Flagman waiting for his cue from the stationmaster

Morticia981 the pig as the flat-colored Station Hand loading water into the boiler

CopperM the black-and-white-shaded ferret as the Stationmaster checking his pocket watch

IantheGecko (gecko) as the gradient-shaded Fireman shoveling coal

Angel the wolf as the lineless Porter guiding the special passenger

HollieHyena (hyena) as the cell-shaded Yard Worker watching from the roof of macro car #17 waiting for her cue to close the door

TyVulpine, the silver fox taur in all the other styles, as the Special Passenger requiring macro-sized accommodation

Can I share this on other socials? Yes, please. I'll have the links to this pricesheet elsewhere, here Yes, please. here are the links to this pricesheet:

Twitter

Deviant Art

Fur Affinity

Ko-fi

Mastodon

Posted using PostyBirb

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amtrak-official · 6 months

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Lovely Names for a daughter

Acela Express

Avelia Liberty

GE P42DC

GE P32AC-DM

GE P40DC

Siemens ACS-64

Siemens Charger

GE Dash 8-32BWH

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dalihdgaming · 2 years

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Train Sim World® 3: Amtrak's Acela® Express Introduction PC Gameplay 1440p 60fps

America’s Fastest Train! Race along Northeast Corridor rails in iconic style, reaching incredible speeds through multiple states and suburbs. “Train approaching, please remain behind yellow line”, Amtrak’s Acela® blasts into Train Sim World 3!

Operate Amtrak’s flagship service on the Northeast Corridor. Beginning in 2000, the Acela service offers the fastest and most direct connection with the principal states that make-up the East Coast of the US. Competing directly with air travel, the Acela service features Business Class and First Class accommodations, and makes easy work of the route, being able to reach speeds, on limited sections, up to 150 mph.

Train Sim World® 3: Amtrak's Acela® on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2101400/Train_Sim_World_3_Amtraks_Acela/

#youtube #trainsimworld3 jimmydali dovetailgames amtrak acela trainsimulator simulator simulation

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dearvicme · 2 years

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Just 23 Million Amtrak Passengers In 2022; U.S. Airlines Had 736 Million

A close-up of AMTRAK Acela Express electric power car at Boston South Station. Amtrak Acela Express … [+] is a high speed tilting train.. (Photo by: Sergi Reboredo/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Comparing America’s passenger train system to that of Europe is difficult. One has efficient, popular high-speed trains running on tracks…

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travelwiththefallons · 2 years

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Boston

TL;DR Places You Must Go To:

Nico Restaurante

Isabella Gardner Stewart Museum

Acela Express Train (From D.C. to Boston)

Shore Leave Tiki Bar

Parla Boston

Bloodlust: Mysteries of Victorian Boston Walking Tour

When I was in college, I had the fortune of interning with Liberty Mutual for about 6 months. As a complete aside, it was a really incredible experience. I had some of the best co-workers and really had the opportunity to see what made a great salesperson versus an okay salesperson. I am thankful that I had the opportunity.

Now that I have completely digressed, one of the perks of the internship was that they flew all the interns to Boston to visit the headquarters and be wined & dined. We spent most of our time in conference rooms learning about the history and future of LM, meeting a few olympians and having a few talent competitions. There were a few breaks where we could explore the city, but most of the time we had a very structured schedule. I remember during one break I had just enough time to walk down to George Town Cupcakes (it was the new hot thing at the time) and run back with a few cupcakes in tow. The final night they took us on a sunset boat cruise and my little cohort of Georgians visited the Cheers bar after. It was a blast and I absolutely fell in love with Boston. People would ask me why I loved Boston since I didn’t really see much of it and I could really never put it into words, it was just, je ne sais quoi.

Poor Jimmy has heard me talk about Boston constantly since that trip 10ish years ago. He has always had an interest, especially in the city’s history, but there were always other places that we wanted to go to.

Finally for my birthday, he surprised me with a trip to Boston in the late summer early fall to watch our hometown Braves take on the Red Sox in Fenway and see all the things that I didn’t get to see all those years ago, but with a twist! We would travel to Boston on a train and then fly back home. We recently “discovered” the train with a recent trip to Charleston. It was so easy and much more comfortable than driving.

Fast forward 6 months and we were ready to go on our trip! Train/plane tickets purchased, hotel booked, Braves tickets acquired, and several tours reserved. We were ready. And then life. My oldest baby, Monte (14 year old Bichon Frise), had a bit of a scuffle with another dog the week before and we just didn’t feel comfortable leaving him until he was entirely out of the woods.

Here comes the pivot. Thankfully, we were able to rebook just about everything. Obviously the baseball game wasn’t going to happen and one of the tours we reserved had a strict no refund/exchange for a later date (boo), but everything else was able to be shifted pretty seamlessly.

A few weeks later, Monte had a clean bill of health and we were off on our first train to D.C. where we would stay for a night before catching a second train for the rest of our journey on to Boston. D.C. was pretty quiet, but we did have a nice evening visiting a few bars and ultimately ended our night at our hotel bar to watch Serena Williams' last match. It was a pleasant first night for our journey.

The next morning we were up and off to Union Station to catch the Acela Express train with its last stop in Boston. The train ride was about 6 hours and included Amtrak's finest wine and Nathan’s hot dogs. The Acela is the only true express train on the east coast of the U.S. and left us wishing we had more express train options for travel. It hit speeds over 130 mph as we blasted through the Northeast with minimal stops.The views from D.C. to Boston were pretty fun and we especially enjoyed the skyline in NYC.

We made it to Boston and walked about a mile to our hotel with a broken piece of luggage. It turns out that the cheapest piece of luggage for sale in the Croatian airport isn’t all that sturdy. Though it is good for smuggling about an allegedly illicit quantity of wine back from Croatia. Back in Boston, we checked into the W hotel and got changed for our highly anticipated dinner. We started making our way towards the Back Bay area where we found a quaint little Italian bistro called Metropolis and found ourselves at the bar for a glass of wine and a small bite to eat. Metropolis was great and we made note that we may want to come back for a full dinner. Our walk was incredibly nice and I could already feel the charm of Boston creeping back in. After the bistro, we set off for what turned out to be our least favorite dinner in Boston.

Our dinner that night was at The Butcher Shop. We found this restaurant on one of those travel food shows and it looked great. I don’t know if they have changed chefs since then, but everything felt uninspired and somewhat bland. It was fine, but nothing to write home about. While our dinner wasn’t great, we quickly discovered that Boston hospitality felt very much like Southern hospitality with rougher edges. We had several great conversations and were given even better recommendations. The night ended at an amazing Tiki Bar called Shore Leave. We were chatting with a bartender a few days later and he mentioned that it’s a local favorite and locals tend to not recommend the bar to tourists, as he didn’t think, “tourists deserved to experience such a great place!” Perfect end to a perfect evening!

The next few days consisted of seeing some of America’s oldest landmarks, drinking at some cool bars and eating some great food! We also did a historical bar tour that was a bit underwhelming, but we did get to learn some history that we didn’t know about prior to our visit!

We did have a few standout meals, both of which consisted of Boston’s North End AKA Little Italy. The first night we spent in Little Italy, Jimmy made reservations for us at Nico. We were seated at this great table next to the open window overlooking a fire station. We were immediately greeted with wine recommendations and their nightly specials. We decided on a beautiful bottle of Montalcino and their crab and lobster gnocchi starter. Words don’t begin to describe how delectable those first few bites were. The plate was served with healthy portions of crab and lobster covered with the perfect amount of cream sauce (let’s be honest, we wish we had more to lick the plate with). From there, we ordered their house specialty cacio e pepe and spaghetti and meatballs. The Cacio e pepe was made tableside in a huge parmesan wheel. Goodness, if we thought the gnocchi was amazing, this absolutely knocked our socks off. The pasta was cooked to a perfect al dente and the parmesan sauce was rich with bits of kick from the pepper. Our spaghetti was also amazing, apparently the meatballs had been a family recipe since the 70’s and they were perfect. Should you ever find yourself in Boston, make reservations for Nico every night you are there. Our only complaint was that they were closed Monday and Tuesday, so we couldn’t visit again.

The other place that we absolutely adored was Parla Boston. We had just finished our history pub crawl (it was a 5 out of 10 at best) and we were looking for a place to have a drink (or two) before dinner. I found this place by happenstance on Google Maps and thought it looked intriguing. We walked into this tiny space, if it held more than 25 people I would have been surprised. Despite not having reservations and all but 1 table having folks sitting at them, the hostess was able to give us the last table in the bar. Their cocktail list was fairly extensive, but what got me excited was their list of 20 surprise cocktails that would only be revealed if you rolled a D20 dice and you would receive whatever cocktail was tied to that number. No take-backs or clues. You get whatever drink you get. While Jimmy decided to be safe and order an Old Fashioned, I thought l would leave my cocktail in the hands of the dice. The first drink I rolled for was a really nice pineapple/pistachio summer drink. It went down a bit too easy, but was something I would absolutely order again. After having a few appetizers, we decided to order another round and I tried my luck at another drink. I rolled for a drink called a Rum Dumpster and I was pretty sure mistakes had been made. My drink was delivered in a mini blue dumpster and tasted about as you would imagine. Included in the cocktail was a tiny plastic “dumpster baby”.

The night continued at our next stop, a rather forgettable Italian place with an overly fried appetizer at a very local and mediocre bottle of wine. At this point in the evening we were somewhat overserved, so the details start to get a little fuzzy. However we did make our way into Giacomo’s, another Italian restaurant. We were greeted by an actual Italian gentleman who was our waiter. In mere moments we had complete faith that he wouldn’t steer us wrong, so we let him pick our wine and our dinners. He ordered me a fabulous mushroom ravioli with a truffle sauce and Jimmy a bowl of 4 different types of meat. To the best of our memories, the wine and the dishes were phenomenal. Not quite up to the experience that we had a few nights earlier at Nico’s, but still terrific. Perhaps if we could remember it a bit better, it might have been. Oh well, that happens when you travel sometimes. Stuffed and walking a bit sideways, we managed the mile and a half back to our hotel to end a beautiful evening.

While we didn’t love our history pub crawl, on a whim we decided to sign up for Bloodlust: Mysteries of Victorian Boston walking tour. While we signed up for it via AirBnB experiences, we later found out that you can book directly with Michael. Jimmy and I have done a lot of walking tours and this may honestly be one of the best ones we’ve ever done. We met Michael in a small park, where he told us a story about maybe a potential murder? Maybe a demon trying to suck a young girls soul? Or maybe just a young girl being a bit hysterical? From there we made various stops along the Back Bay area where we gathered more clues about the mystery but where he also pointed out the different architectures that make up the area as well as other true-crime events that took place over the city’s long history. It felt like we were detectives on the hunt. While we didn’t quite figure it out, the entire thing was incredibly fun and we learned a bit of history that we hadn’t heard before. If you have a few hours and don’t mind walking a few miles, I would recommend pinging him and joining him for an evening! After our tour, we returned to the scene of our first night's pre-dinner drink and snacks. That’s right, Metropolis. Is it really possible to have too much Italian food? We obviously didn’t think so and had another great Italian meal. We both agreed that we would have been better off ditching our reservation the first night and just eating there. We’ll know for next time.

The last highlight I want to mention is one of my favorites. The Isabella Gardner Museum. We learned about this museum while watching an episode of Drunk History and then later on the This is a Robbery on Nextflix. If you haven’t seen it, I would highly recommend it. In 1990, two robbers broke in/were let into the museum where they proceeded to steal about $500,000,000 worth of art that to this day still hasn’t been recovered, nor has the robbery been solved. While the robbery itself is quite intriguing, Isabella Gardner was a fascinating historical figure. She spent most of her wealth collecting works of art from around the world to house in various rooms in her mansion, with the intent of it being a museum when she passed. Everything about the museum has not only been handpicked by Mrs. Gardner, but she was incredibly precise about how these works of art should be displayed. To me, most museums feel very antiseptic. I think this is done on purpose so that nothing distracts you from the art that you are looking at, but it doesn’t make you want to linger too terribly long. The Gardner Museum makes you feel like you are truly walking through someone's home. Each room evoked a different emotion and made you want to linger a little longer.

Boston lived up to all of my expectations and I am in love with the city. The people, the food, the roads, the neighborhood, and even the accents. I never once felt like I didn’t belong, despite us ending up in some very local establishments. I thoroughly enjoyed walking through Boston Common, there was always something new and unique to see. While Boston does have the same issues as most big cities, it also very much had a small town charm to it. If you’ve been, hopefully you know what I am talking about and if you haven’t, you should add it to your places to visit.

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