Boston Day With Mom Serpico

Last weekend John’s mom was in town. I love when Mom Serpico comes to visit because she always wants to do touristy things in downtown Boston which we love to do. For this visit she wanted to go on a Swan Boat ride, to the Chihuly exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, and eat dinner in the North End.

First stop was the Swan Boats in the Public Garden. Despite being born and raised here, I had never been on one so I was excited! The Swan Boats are pedaled by one person and lazily cover the interior pond in the garden. It was quiet, relaxing, and beautiful; very easy to forget you are in the heart of the city here.

Infamous swans:

Next we walked through the rest of the Public Garden to get to Boylston Street for lunch.

We had a great lunch at the Parish Café which was surprisingly not crowded. Afterward we hopped on the Green Line to get to the Museum of Fine Arts.

When we arrived at the MFA the line for the Chihuly exhibit was down the street! We waited for an hour in line outside. The exhibit ends in a few days so I totally understood the rush.

Once we were inside the museum we had about an hour to kill before our wave could enter the exhibit. We browsed some of the amazing collections at the museum.

A few of the MFA’s Picasso pieces:

Some more of my favorites:

Finally it was time to Chihuly! Dale Chihuly is best known for his amazing pieces of glass sculpture and artwork. He designed the glass ceiling at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The pieces at the MFA are massive in scale, in every color imaginable, and very impressive.

This first piece, the Lime Green Icicle Tower, was specifically built for the courtyard at the MFA and has received so much attention that the museum started a petition to keep it. Every donation given towards keeping the Tower will be matched by a benefactor. Amazing!

Ikebana Boat:

Persian Ceiling installation:

Chandeliers:

Neodymium Reeds on Logs:

Painting prints (actually my favorite of Chihuly’s pieces):

After the saw the exhibit we took the train back downtown to the North End. We had some time to kill so we sat in the North End Park, chatted, and enjoyed the gorgeous afternoon.

Finally it was time for dinner! We took Mama Serpico to Trattoria di Monica:

After a delicious dinner we walked around the North End. It’s so gorgeous.

Turns out The Feast of St. Joseph was going on! Feasts are legendary in the North End. Being the Italian district of Boston, this area is the cultural and religious hub for Italian-Americans to celebrate the memory of their saints with food, parades, and music during the summer months.

Arrancini!

Fresh made cannoli for Mama Serpico:

After all that we were exhausted! We headed back to the train and went home happy, full, and a little sunburned. What an awesome day and, as always, it was so nice to have my mother-in-law here with us. She’s the best and we love taking her to do all of the special things Boston has to offer.