The Part Time Southerner’s Guide to a Sunday Afternoon in Boston Well Spent
Every summer, in spite of how much I love Macon and living in the south, I find it necessary to move somewhere in the northeast or to even explore a different country altogether in order to both escape from the high temperatures, and satisfy my need to travel and explore a new environment. This summer, I chose to migrate to Cape Cod in Provincetown, MA.
As I have made several excursions to Boston and Cambridge for various cultural happenings during my time here, and somewhat know my way around the Boston area, when my parents came to visit me for the weekend en route to Tanglewood and a conference in Amherst, I was tasked with showing them a glimpse into “my” Boston. While this was easy enough, there were two added stipulations. First, we only had about five hours to spend in the city itself, and secondly, that time would be on a Sunday. Here is how we chose to spend our afternoon:
Virtually every good southerner is well versed in the tradition of Sunday brunch. As we would be arriving in Boston around brunch time, we decided to start out at Mistral, a stylish dining hotspot in Boston’s South End which featured Provencal cuisine.
Even though we had gotten into a bit of traffic coming into Boston from the Berkshires and had not made it to the restaurant in time for our original reservation, the hostess was more than hospitable and had a very nice table for us upon our arrival. We started with coffee and an assortment of house-made specialty pastries which included their Boston Cream Donuts and Bostock, a raspberry almond brioche.
My parents ordered the Jumbo Lump Crab and Chive Omelette and the Steak and Eggs with Pommes Lyonnaise, and I ordered the Egg White Frittata with Basil, Oven-Cured Tomato, Vermont Creamery Goat Cheese and a side of fresh berries. Each of the dishes featured a familiar brunch item with a French twist, and fully delivered on both flavor and presentation. The wait staff was very knowledgeable and attentive to our every need, and my parents and I left the restaurant fully satisfied and ready for the second part of our afternoon: the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Tackling the Museum of Fine Arts in only a day would be a feat in and of itself. With more than 450,000 pieces on display, squeezing even the highlights into a few hours was going to definitely take some maneuvering. We had come there primarily to see the John Singer Sargent Rotunda, which was decorated with murals depicting scenes from Greek mythology. After taking that in, we explored the Syndey and Esther Rabb Gallery which featured French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism pieces, the Musical Instruments Gallery which had some of the most ornate early pianos and harps that I’ve ever seen, and Quilts and Color, which displayed a multitude of quilts of all sorts of styles, patterns and colors. Although at the time the museum was closing we had barely scratched the surface of what was inside, seeing Sargent’s original sketches and the beautiful murals that resulted was certainly a sight not to be missed.
On our next excursion in a few weeks when my mother returns to Massachusetts, I will be showing her more of the South End and Back Bay area, and maybe venturing into Cambridge if time allows. Stay tuned for part two of my guide to Boston, as well as my in-depth guide to the Upper Cape!
