Today was an adventure - in a good way, overall.

The driver from the car service picked me up promptly (even a few minutes early!) so I was on schedule to get to Newark Penn Station with ample time for reading, getting a snack, and otherwise loitering (though, really, if I’m a ticketed passenger, it’s not loitering, right?)  I know the main roads fairly well, but my friendly driver took an exit and got us on some backroads. I was excited at the prospect of learning a new secret ninja route to the train station. Instead, I now know a new secret ninja route to the AIRPORT. Yes, indeedy. He thought he was supposed to be driving me to the airport and when I noticed that he had taken an exit (from which there was no longer access to main roads to get to the train station) I spoke up and said, “Um… I need to get to Newark Penn Station, not the airport.” The driver actually took the flat of his palm and slapped himself in the forehead, muttered something to himself and then apologized profusely–and had to drive around the entire perimeter of Newark Liberty International Airport to get us back on the road.

But I got to the train station in time, so all was well. A little less than four hours later, we pulled into South Station here in Boston.

Since I’ve now taken the Acela express train to Washington D.C. several times and to Boston today, I feel comfortable saying that it is very much worth the extra few bucks just for the comfort factor. While regional service isn’t tragic, the Acela is definitely a nicer ride. I know some people who say it’s not that big a deal, but I ask them to try reading a book or doing a crossword puzzle comfortably on a four-hour regional train ride where you’re wedged in sardine-style with the person next to you. It won’t work. Also, if you ever have to get to Boston, taking the train is just a better option than driving. It’s a fairly beautiful ride since almost the entire second half is a ride along the Connecticut coastline so you’re seeing lots of little beach enclaves with waves splashing up against rocks and other such loveliness.

In true nerdy fashion, the first thing I did when I checked into the hotel was get the laptop out of my bag and connect to the internets. I felt right at home. Except that at home, I’m not on the 25th floor of a building overlooking all of downtown Boston. There will be photos later since I neglected to bring the USB cable for my (not that great) digital camera.

Blah blah - did stuff at the convention center - blah blah - figured we could call it a day until tomorrow - blah blah - weren’t hungry yet and decided to head over to Newbury Street to do some shopping. In doing so, we discovered my new favorite shopping street (and it might be my favorite shopping street ever since there aren’t that many terrific shopping streets that are affordable). The first thing that caught my eye was a Paperchase store right on Newbury. Not a Borders with a Paperchase boutique: it is a full Paperchase store. I could’ve done some serious damage, but instead I got a gold and pink velvet patterned change purse that was 75% off ($3.25) and some beautiful kraft paper notecards with intricate floral curlicue patterns in varying colors of metallic ink. (Photos of these to come as well.)

Further down Newbury Street, we walked into Tealuxe. It’s a tea shop with a glorious selection of loose teas to purchase by the gram. We got a list of their flavors and after a few minutes debating in line, I purchased 50 grams each of five teas:

• Puttabong 2nd Flush Darjeeling - black tea, “A bright bouquet and wonderful complexity, termed ‘the champagne of tea’”
• Pear and Pomegranate (black tea with pear and pomegranate)
• Lady Londonberry (black tea flavored with lemon and strawberry)
• Buckingham Palace Garden Party (Earl Grey tea with jasmine and blue cornflowers)
• Chocolate Raspberry (black tea flavored with chocolate and raspberry)

I have a feeling I’ll be going back tomorrow to get more. There’s a coconut green tea that sounds divine (and my coworker bought some and let me smell it - DAMN, it smells delicious) as well as Kashmiri Chai (chai with cardamom, peppermint and nutmeg) and Moroccan Mint (since it reminds me of the tea I had in Tunisia - strongly brewed mint tea is a “thing” in Northern African countries like Morocco and Tunisia).

Finally, we had a delicious dinner at Stephanie’s on Newbury. I had my New England clam chowder (mine only inasmuch as having some while here was a goal of mine) which was absolutely delicious and probably contained a full cup of cream. This was followed by pan roasted sea scallops with garlic, corn chowder, roasted red skin potatoes and thin onion strings (like onion rings, but not) accompanied by a glass of pretty tasty rioja (Marques de Caceres Rioja Crianza 2003). I ate all but half a scallop and skipped most of the potato and onion starch-fest because I wanted to leave room for dessert. And we got dessert. That was a roasted pear turtle cobbler (warm roasted pears with chocolate and caramel, topped with pecan crumble served with vanilla ice cream). I totally couldn’t finish that, but what I did have was incredibly flavorful and rich and wonderful.

So now I’m in my hotel room, drinking some of the mint verbena tea I brought with me from home in hopes that I will be able to digest all this food and feel not so much like a stuffed pig on a spit when I awaken tomorrow morning.