Category: Kathryn Beskrowni

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Cheap Locale

By Kathryn Beskrowni.

When thinking of ‘it’ places to be, Boston often falls into the shadows of the bigger cities, the likes of New York and Los Angeles.  Without the Hollywood glam or the 5th Avenue glitz, Boston, the smallest of the three, can be forgotten in the city commotion.  However, if given the chance, the New England city does not fall short.  Beyond the revolutionary history, Boston can still hold its own among giants.  Under the bustle of the day-to-day lays an active recreation, if only one knows how to find it.  While tour guides and informationals can give visitors a hand in finding their way, there are some perks, events, and secrets only a Boston native can let you in on.  The best tastes of Boston and all the culture it has to offer are often through these overlooked, cheap, experiences.  So here’s the challenge: find the best of the city and do Boston for under $100 this week.

If you’re starting your visit out Monday morning, a place many may not suspect of a decent brunch the Fire & Ice restaurant on Arlington Street in the Back Bay area.  Fire & Ice is known for the radical style in which the restaurant is set up; think of a hot pot restaurant for the new generation.  Everything is raw and after your personal choosing, cooked right in front of you.  However, what they are not so well known for is their open college discount policy.  Flaunt that student loan and get a good chunk of change taken off your bill.

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Once you’ve had your fill to eat, a short walk down Boylston Street will bring you to the Public Gardens.  Providing the weather is suiting you, for a quarter short of three dollars you can take a fifteen-minute ride on the swan boats.  Now 130 years old, the swan boats will allow you to enjoy both the atmosphere and the knowledge that you are experiencing the only boats of their kind in the entire world as you glide around the lagoon in the botanical garden.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Garden_(Boston)

A leisurely walk through the Commons will invite you to innumerable options for activities.  Whether interacting with fellow pedestrians or sticking solo is your taste of fun, you will find something worthwhile.  The carousel, the dancing gazebo, and the Frog Pond will each give open invites to meet new friends, while the book exchange by Park Street will be sure to expand your mind.

Once you’ve killed a good amount of daylight, the Red Hat Café becomes the place to be.  Down on Bowdoin Street, the Red Hat is one of the oldest, still functioning establishments in all of Boston.  More importantly, their wings are ten cents a piece from 5-10pm.  If their buffalo sauce doesn’t hit you too hard, be sure to make your way back to the Landsdowne Pub, right behind Fenway Park, for darts.  Since they’re free, you can certainly make a night of it.  Perhaps you’ll even find some companions for the rest of your journey.  Current balance: $80.25

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Since your Monday evening ended off in the Fenway area, what better way to start your Tuesday than a tour of arguably Boston’s greatest sporting landmark?  Each day during the open season, Fenway Park offers free, guided tours through the building and field, including options to meet players practicing, touch the Green Monster, and taste the renowned baseball fare.  Most days, tours are open from 10am through 5pm, unless a scheduled game intervenes.

If the air of Americana didn’t satisfy your feining for franks, Castle Island in South Boston is your next stop.  Sullivan’s, though seasonal, will give you the best bang for your buck you could ask for, all while enjoying the harbor view and the airport traffic overhead.  With milkshakes for $3.00 and hotdogs for half that, you can’t go wrong.

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Tuesday nightlife can become a force, as most people are still settling into the reality of their work week.  The Harbor Hotel at the waterfront has an answer for the early-week-drag: Timeless Tunes dancing on the pier.  With a DJ covering hits from the 1930’s up through the 90’s, one would be pressed to spend a night without hearing at least a single song they did not adore.  The event is free and open to those 21+, with fairly cheap appetizers and drinks available.  Tuesday night, week balance: $70.75

Wednesday takes you out of the heart of the city and to any of the many community centers throughout Boston.  Each community center holds daily events and specials dependant on the area and their facilities.  The Jim Roche Center in West Roxbury, in particular, holds a day-long free skate open entirely to the public.  Skate rental is $3 for unlimited time, and personal skates are completely welcome.  After you have gotten your Michelle Kwan or your Scott Hamilton on, head over to Cambridge to mellow out a bit.  The Cantab Lounge offers spoken word poetry events every Wednesday night.  Entry to the club is free and participation in readings is voluntary and open to the public.  Share your creative side, or indulge in that of others.  Week balance: $67.75

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Prepare for Thursday night nightlife, because we are about to get active.  Back in the Fenway area, Jillian’s has blessed us all with free bowling every Thursday night; shoe rental and cover charge is on the house for the night.  With three floors of bowling, dance floors, and bars, the free cover is worth it, even if you are not completely feeling the big-ball bowl.  And, when you tire of the club environment, Coogan’s over on Milk Street has you covered with $1 drafts all night, which definitely gives you some wiggle room with your budget.  Week balance: $65.75

With such an active week, you will need some time to chill out come Friday.  You are in luck, since the Boston Harbor ferry runs regularly all day to each of the harbor islands and back.  For a mere $2.50 you can find yourself aboard the vessel, on your way to Spectacle Island to simultaneously enjoy the beach and the city view.  Or, if you are in a particularly adventurous mood, you may find yourself on Deer Island for a tour of the wastewater plant.  That sort of intellectual stimulation you just can’t buy.

bostongeology.com/boston/geology/islands/islands.htm

After a day of sunbathing (or water purifying), what sounds better than $1 oysters? Van Shabu, a relatively new ‘Asian Fusion’ restaurant in Dorchester has your back on this one.  And if you have had your fill of all things relating to the ocean today, head over to the Pour House on Boylston Street.  As long as you ask, hot dogs are free at the bar after 1am.  Week balance: $53.25

Saturday will become your day of exploration.  Since there is so much to see around the city, you will need at least the day to give in to the markers of the Freedom Trail, the old architecture, the new architecture, and the purposely planned greenery around the city.  You are in luck, since most areas within the city hold their Farmers’ Markets on Saturday mornings, you can finagle free parking to mingle with the locals.  Stop by the tents and booths and ask for samples so you will have the boost of regional locale to get you through your adventures of the day.

As the evening wears on, be sure to keep your phone handy; each weekend Club RISE gives out free admission for a guest, plus one, to the winner of their online trivia.  Keep refreshing that Twitter page and racking your brain and an entry bracelet will soon be on your wrist.  Break out the neon and prepare to dance.  Week balance: $53.25

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You’ve made it to Sunday, and what a balance in your pocket.  In order to treat yourself for the end of your travels and your frugal skills all week, you have $50 to spend on dinner in the word-of-mouth-renowned North End.  While you will have your choice of restaurants upon restaurants to indulge in, all sorts from 5-star eateries to small cafes that seemingly are attached to someone’s kitchen, some spots have perks above others.  If you are looking to spoil yourself just a bit, try the Euno restaurant, recently opened.  You will enjoy entirely authentic Italian food, an accessible wine cellar, and if you ask for “Tony” to tell him how great your meal has been, free dessert with a touch of house Moscato is a guarantee.

As you let your meal settle, make your way back to the heart of the downtown area.  The Prudential Mall, located right in Copley Plaza in the Back Bay area, hosts free film screenings on their lawn each Sunday night that the weather permits.  A movie under the stars with a view of the largest buildings in the area is quite a way to end your week.

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Total Balance: $0.

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A Change of Location

 By Kathryn Beskrowni.

Wentworth, New Hampshire, is a fairly rural area, about the size of three blocks of my Boston hometown.  The locale made the two-hour drive there seem even less tangible, and we made that trek at least three times each summer.  My grandmother and grandfather, Baba and Didu, lived off the highway just past the town center that consisted of all the essentials: a square of grass, a church, and a post office.  Once you pass the square, if you drive too fast, you’re bound to miss the turn into their drive way.

Having been demoted to the backseat for the car ride meant I had less of a view, but the seclusion meant far more time to catch up on the homework I had long been neglecting since leaving school.  A comparative literature course on children’s stories had seemed far less daunting on paper, yet somehow I had novels full of magic and young heroes weighing on my already overwhelmed mind.  I tried to keep up with C. S. Lewis as he wove together World War II and the White Witch, but the idea of a magic wardrobe was less than original.

My father slowed and pulled into the driveway, not a spoken notion from any of us of the end of our voyage.  The untreated wooden exterior of their three-story house camouflaged their home within the trees and greenery that protected it from highway traffic.

Within those walls were enough beds and bedding supplies to accommodate a small army.  While everyone else seemed to bounce around between beds and visits, my bed was somehow a constant.  The small brass day bed in the room at the very top of the stairs was my bed, covered in stuffed animals and dolls from the old country, under the watchful eye of a particularly gruesome portrait of Jesus.  And it was all in my room, despite the second, larger bed, the closets of storage, and innumerable knickknacks to be found within.  That meant that every single inch of that room was free range, of which my older sister, Sasha, and I took advantage.

One day, while hunting for gems and riches to add to our competing treasure boxes, Sasha and I made the most exciting discovery: the huge armoire in my room, the one big enough to fit our family and then some, the one that was decorated with gold flowers, locked with a big key, and was filled with God-knows-what, had an end… and that end meant that there was a behind, and behind that closet there was magic.

As we peered behind the massive wooden panels, we were greeted with a darkness neither of us expected.  Bags and bags filled the crevice, probably filled with even more unused and forgotten bedding.  This was the dumping ground for dismissed pillows, hand-me-down throw blankets, and unfinished quilts.  The grey and white plastic reached from the ground to nearly the ceiling, from the back of the armoire to the smallest corners of the floor and the wall.  Sasha carefully put her treasures away and locked her box, putting the key in her dress pocket, asking me very matter-of-factly if I knew what this meant.  This was a passage, and if we could make it all the way through to the other side, she informed me, we would be in a different universe.  I knew she was right.  And I was horrified.  Not only did I not want to get stuck in another universe, but climbing over would be so high up!  I put my treasure chest down, not wanting Sasha to leave me alone, and decided that if we were going to kill ourselves, it was better to do it together.

Our first steps were matched with the aggressive squeal of stretched plastic.  The cushion inside the bags made it nearly impossible to find real footing or grip, while still giving a strange sense of security in the case of a fall.  A thousand foot drop wouldn’t be so bad if you tumbled on blankets the whole way down…

We traversed the mountains of clutter, making closer contact with the wood body of the house.  The initial smell of hot plastic was overwhelmed with the usually familiar aroma the wooden beams, now heightened with the strain of keeping everything confined between these two wooden barriers.  The further we climbed into the dark we became that much closer to each eye of the knots in the wood.  I worked for footing and things to grab, trying to avoid a direct gaze into one of the eyes of the house.

We were halfway through the climb when we met a barrier, the lowest beam that would make passing through that much harder.  The only ray of light that could make it through to where we were shined on tiny fairies of dust, urging us to continue on our quest.  I sucked in my stomach as much as I could and tried to be small, thinking only of the Polar Caves and that horrible time I got stuck at the exit of a cavern, and pushed my way past the plastic covered pillows.

Our descent was more of a roll than a climb and could have used some grace, but we had made it, and just like Sasha had said, we were in a totally different world!  Except, everything seemed the same.  We were still in my room, my bed with still unmade, our treasures were still on the floor.  I was confused.    Maybe Sasha realized my disappointment, or maybe she was convincing herself, but she quickly had reasoning—and advice—for me.  It would be exactly the same as our world, she told me, except it isn’t.  Things would look and feel the same, but some things would just be off, and it would be different.  And we could not let anyone know that we didn’t belong, or else everything would go wrong.  It seemed so simple; it was all just so obvious.  We needed to test it out, to figure out what was different.  We started to brainstorm how to make this difference obvious when we heard footsteps on the stairs.  In this world, it could be anyone—or anything!  We couldn’t stay, we ran.  We scrambled back up those pillows and blankets, pushing plastic out of the way as fast as we could to get back to our own universe.  As we tumbled back out from behind the armoire, safely in our own true realm, we were greeted with an angry demand as to what we had been up to.  If Baba didn’t want us back there, the passage definitely had power.  Sasha and I both knew it, and we would have to go back through.

I imagined that the worst day would be when Sasha and I could no longer fit through the small space behind the closet, or when she would decide she no longer wanted to explain the inner workings of her world to me.  Unlike the children in Lewis’ realm, I knew the closet would lose power and merely hoped my sister would still want to play with me once it did.  I never anticipated seeing the armoire against a wall in an assisted living apartment when my grandparents moved, or in pieces in our garage back home when they ultimately no longer needed it.