Mark, Dave, Mike, and Ted from Toronto and Pete from Newfoundland all came down to Boston in search of green beer.
This page still needs work, but most of the details are there. If you have stories or photos to add, let me know.
Each photo on this page is linked to a larger version of itself, but if you have tons of bandwidth you can look at them all inline on a single page.
Mark, Dave, Mike Betts arrived from Toronto (without Mike's luggage) around 10am, and went to Frenchie's for breakfast while I crashed for a couple hours (having just completed an all-nighter so I could take today off.)
Pete arrived from Comfort Cove around noon.
We hung out at my place all day, drinking beer and waiting for Mike's lost luggage. Mike spent a long time on the phone (and on hold) with the extremely courteous and helpful customer service representatives from Air Canada and American Airlines.
Meanwhile, Mark called Ted and convinced him to come down for the weekend using Mark's frequent flyer miles.
Mike Best happened to be nearby for work and dropped by from 5-8pm:
We finally gave up on Mike's luggage around 9pm, the final phone conversation going something like:
Mike: Is there a manager there that I can speak with?
Richard: No.
Mike: Do you have the phone number for a manager or someone else who can take complaints? What's your full name?
Richard: I can't tell you that.
Mike: Do you have an employee number?
Richard: I can't tell you that either.
Mike: How can I make a complaint?
Richard: You can complain to anyone you want. <click>
We went to the Black Rose around 9:30, had some chowda. The music sucked, so we left and went to Durgin-Park (bar side) which had good tunes but not much of a crowd, then Marshall House (next to the Purple Shamrock.) Ted joined us at Marshall House around midnight, his flight from Toronto being delayed a couple hours.
Then we went back to my place, where the boys enjoyed their luxurious accommodation:
Got up at 10, had a beer, discovered that Mike's luggage arrived some time this morning. (after Mike had spent some time yelling at the courier company on the phone.)
We walked to Kelly's on Broadway for breakfast, then on to Davis Square to begin a day of bar hopping: The Burren, Cambridge Common, House of Blues (not), Shay's (sat on the patio, had some tasty Oatmeal stout), Cheers, Samuel Adams Brew House, Dick's, and Cask & Flagon.
(I still need to add more details above.)
After hours of pleading from Dave, we caught a couple cabs to South Boston for the St. Pat's day parade at 1pm.
Pete, Mark and I had an extremely enjoyable cab ride there. Our driver was a young guy (seemed to be early twenties) with a fairly thick Boston accent, who played a video poker game while driving (but stopped after a while, probably only because we were laughing too much.)
While flying around the other traffic, weaving in and out, accelerating and braking like a madman, our driver told us about his day: he had been working since 1am that morning, had smoked a joint before coming to work, and sometime that morning managed to give a lady he was driving to the airport a heart attack.
Apparently she was a bit older and was late for a flight, and told him to get there ASAP, so he did. While he was weaving between lanes in the tunnel to the airport, she had a heart attack so he had to stop the car in the tunnel (blocking one of two lanes) and give her CPR while some cop was yelling at him for blocking traffic. Somehow she made it to a hospital, leaving the cabbie wondering if anyone would notice the marijuana ("mawawana") on her breath.
I asked "and they don't give you the rest of the day off after something like that?", and he said no, and something about having 5 kids to feed. This seemed surprising given his apparent age, and afterwards I was left wondering if his stories were for entertainment and tip-seeking purposes only. In any case, it was very entertaining.
Meanwhile, the other cabbie managed to keep up, and when he didn't (or when we didn't), we kept in touch with the boys in the other car using our cell phones.
"We'll be caught up in a few seconds."
(cabbie zooms through a red light)
"OK, we're right behind you now."
Finally, we arrived just in time for the parade (much to our surprise):
We went to Burger King for breakfast, then bar-hopped a bit in South Boston.
We weren't exactly a cheery bunch this afternoon, most of us extremely tired from yesterday's 14-hour bar-hopping extravaganza.
After South Boston, we took the T to North Station,
went to Fours Boston and another bar nearby (which one?), then took the T to Sunset Grill in Brighton with its huge variety of tasty beer to choose from. (I had a Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale, mmm.)
We got back to my place at 8:30, I watched X-Files, while everyone else crashed.
At 10:00, Pete, Mark and I went to Pizzeria Uno at Harvard Square.
Dave, Mike, Ted left this morning, way too early.
I had a teleconference from 8-10am, then went back to sleep until 3pm, then went to work from 3-9pm. Then Renaud, Charles and I met Pete and Mark at the Black Rose for beer and much singing and dancing. Got a cute redhaired girl's phone number, but messed up entering it into my phone and lost it somehow. D'oh!
Mark left this morning, a bit late due to not hearing the alarm clock.
I met Pete in the North End for dinner at Trattoria Il Panino and dessert and coffee at Caffe Vittoria, then headed to the Black Rose for yet more Guinness. Oh my aching liver!
Met Pete et al. at the Sheraton, then cabbed to Joe Tecce's for an excellent dinner. Then stopped by the Black Rose yet again, but the line was too long so we headed to the Marriott bar, then Whiskey's, then back to the Marriott.
Pete dropped by work around 6pm, hung out there for a while, then went to the Cheesecake Factory for ribs with Renaud, Martin, Taka and Rolf. Then we went downtown to pick up Pete's bags, then crashed at my place.
Went to Frenchie's for breakfast, then Pete left around noon.
Finally I can get some sleep...
Last modified: $Date: 1999/03/31 14:36:50 $
Gerald Oskoboiny, <[email protected]>