FA L L I N G I N L O V E W I T H …
BOSTON
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KRIS FRIESWICK EXPLORES THE SECRET PLACES THAT QUIETLY DEFINE THE ESSENCE OF BOSTON
Summer is the loveliest time of year in Boston. The weather turns inviting. The students depar t. The leaves burst into fullness along the Esplanade, and the flowers begin their annual riot in the Public Garden and Back Bay Fens. You can literally watch Bostonians relax and star t to smile again. We of fer directions to strangers. Outdoor cafés fill up, even when the evening temperatures would advise against it. We laugh more easily, and our patience with our fellow man returns (to an extent). You can feel the entire community rejoice. And so it is with some trepidation that we watch as the influx of summer visitors arrives. They are seeking the same magical experiences in Boston that we take for granted. Drawn by our succession of celebrations — the Nor th End’s weekly feasts, the Four th of July’s Harbor fest and Boston Pops concer t, the Scooper Bowl Ice Cream festival, the Chowder fest competition — summer visitors add significantly more bodies to a cit y that has already outgrown its socks. Or maybe it just feels that way. Bostonians are notoriously insular and clannish — all those new faces throw us for a loop. That’s why each summer we find ourselves seeking out the city’s more meditative spots. We retreat to our private version of the city, a version where we can
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Summer 2012