Day 19: Fenway Park

All photos of Boston and Fenway Park available on Flickr.

I got to hang out with Mary, I got to walk around Boston for about 8 hours, and I got to see a game in storied Fenway Park from the bleachers. And on top of that, we made $72 and we went to the infamous Boston Beerworks after the game! It was definitely one of the more perfect days on the trip. Boston and Fenway were definitely the city and stadium that I personally was most looking forward to on the trip since we started planning, and it did not disappoint at all. The weather was gorgeous when we arrived from upper New Jersey to Beverly, a "suburb" of Boston where Mary lives. She graciously had a meal of salmon, orzo, asparagus, and custard prepared for us upon our arrival, and it was by far the best meal of the trip. Arriving the night before gave us ample opportunity to explore the city. We walked all the way from Fenway Park to the North End, and for anyone familiar with Beantown, you know that this is a lot of damn walking. It was well worth it though; we saw the library, tons of churches and squares, the Gardens, Quincy Market, city hall, the Oyster House, the train station, and we even made a stop at Cheers for a pint. The best part of the day was when we were at Quincy and saw a group of street performers from England put on an awesome show. We concluded our long day with some canoli from Mike's Pastry (which is apparently famous) and took the 'T' back to the park to fundraise.

The game was excellent; as expected, it was a longer offensively-driven game. The stadium was beautiful; it was definitely old and you could tell, but it was not nearly as run-down as Yankee Stadium or Wrigley Field, which are both falling apart. Its odd shape created to fit its lot size gives it a lot of character, along with other atypical features - Pesky's pole, primarily only one deck of seats, and of course the Green Monster. It was an awesome experience to be around so many die-hard Red Sox fans (albeit the accents and drunkenness is a little much to handle at times). The people in the city/stadium are very indearing though and the atmosphere definitely made the game more exciting...as well as, of course, scarfing down a couple Fenway Franks. As for the game action itself, knuckleballer Tim Wakefield gave up 4 over 6 in the win. The 1-2 punch of Okajima-Papelbon was again unstoppable in the 8th and the 9th. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez combined for 4 hits and 4 RBI in the 7-4 win.

After the game, we met up with Mary and her friend at the Beerworks and I got to try the highly-touted Blueberry Ale, which features a real spoonful of Maine blueberries in every glass. It was delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Boston. A special thanks to the Coelhos for their hospitality! Tomorrow it's off the New York City for a third and final time to watch the Mets battle the Reds at Shea.

park stats and rankings:
aesthetics - 9
views from park - 5 (gotta love that infamous Citgo sign!)
view to field - 9
surrounding area - 7
food variety - 4
nachos - 8 (featuring chili and sour cream)
beer - 5
vendor price - 7
ticket price - 1
atmosphere - 10
walk to park - 8
parking price/proximity - 5 (most people take the train...parking is expensive)
concourses - 7
team shop - 9 (most shops are outside the park, and very well)

best food - Fenway Frank
most unique stadium feature - Green Monster
best jumbotron feature - we sat under the jumbotron...
best between-inning feature - "Sweet Caroline" in the 8th

field dimensions - 310/400/298
starters - Tim Wakefield (BOS) v. Roy Halladay (TOR)
opponent - Toronto Blue Jays
time of game - 3:00
attendance - 34000
score - 7-4 W
Brewers score that day - off