Summer 2014 - Leaving Boston

A couple of Sundays ago Colin and I walked through the low brush on Mount Diablo. The sky was an expressionist's dream of layered oranges and bright pinks. The sunset cast a romantic rosy glow on the yellow hills. As the sun sank below the horizon we wistfully wished we could stop time. Colin's hand tightened around mine, confident, excited and nervous for all of the changes the next day would bring.

It was the last sunset of our summer. On Monday morning Colin started a new job, and my job hunt went into full swing. The last two months have been a joy, and while we could have gotten use to early retirement, we also felt ready to start keeping track of days again.

Colin finished his Masters of Engineering at MIT at the very end of May, and I had my last day at Micronotes Inc. Colin had a job lined up with Ginger.io in downtown San Francisco starting in August, giving us two months to play. We traveled around the US seeing sites, friends and family, and also managed to catch a couple World Cup games and some beach time in Brazil. .

The next couple of entries will track our summer adventures starting with our trip to Cape Cod and leaving Boston.

Our last few weeks in Boston were crazy busy. Colin was in lab finishing his thesis 12-14 hours/day 6 days a week. His lab friends teased me about spending more time with him than I did, and I was jealous. I was packing us up, selling anything that wouldn't fit into a packing box, and wrapping up at work. Moving cross-country and transitioning out of a 7-person start-up after 4 years is no joke.

We got to spend our last weekend in Boston on the Cape with Colin's wonderful parents. It was a delightful trip. In the mornings Colin and I spent final minutes proofreading his academic labor of love, and in the afternoons we hiked on the seashores and ate delicious crab cakes.

Cape Cod is quintessential New England. Little houses with outdoor showers, crab and lobster joints everywhere, salmon shorts, and white picket fences along the picture perfect shores. We tried to convince Colin's parents to buy a home there, but all the locals' winter memories were still too fresh to make a compelling case.

So many things happened to us in Boston and Cambridge. Too many firsts to list. Independently we became adults in this city with all of the wonders, surprises and occasional disappointments. We have life long friendships that were started here, we had our first date at the Cheesecake Factory in the Prudential Center, and we made it through every winter without losing any fingers or toes to frostbite (a much bigger accomplishment for me than Colin).

We are going to miss the glorious spring days, and the mesmerizing colors of falls. We are going to miss the camera that detects your mood in the MIT halls, and times spent sitting on the Weeks footbridge. We are leaving a piece of our hearts in Boston, but Boston has given us so much more in return. Thank you, Boston, for being our first home together.

Now a couple of throwback pictures from the city we love

Dunster house formal 

Just after Colin proposed

Memorial Day weekend in Boston Commons

Shakespeare in the Commons

Ice skating on frog pond

Firenze

After our last Italian breakfast of sliced meats, cheeses, bread, and fruit we said goodbye to Federica and Paolo and hopped on a train to Florence.

When we got to Florence it was raining, the museums were closed, and we weren't sure we had a place to stay. Thankfully Florence held some beautiful and smelly surprises that made it an incredibly memorable experience.

Let's start with our CouchSurfing host. Colin was his exact 1,000th surfer and he was hosting 9 travelers at once while we were there. Our host was a little quirky, had some interesting stats on the visitors he'd had over the years, and generally made all 9 of us a little uncomfortable; on the bright side we got to stay for free! We met a group of thee French students who were biking from Paris to Croatia. They had done some really cool things like working on farms along the way, and camping in the middle of nowhere. We also met another CouchSurfer who had stayed with a host who had a "no clothes" policy... after that story the grimy bathroom didn't bother us as much.

While in Florence we took two trips out of the city. One to Pisa and one to Sienna. We loved Pisa even more than Florence. Pisa is much smaller with a university vibe, and beautiful streets. We bought newly picked heirloom tomatoes and ate them like apples with fresh mozzarella cheese. We shared our 100th gelato and saw a gorgeous sunset from the leaning tower. We got in trouble with our CouchSurfing host because we weren't back for dinner, but Pisa was worth it.

The trip to Sienna was the highlight of our Italy adventure. We rented bicycles in the city and rode through the rolling Tuscany hills. Around every corner and at the top of each hill the relaxed beauty of the vineyards, flowers, and green pastured became more beautiful to us. We loved the biking.

On our way out of the city

On the first day of biking we did around 100 miles and were racing against the day light to get to our AirBnB. We accidentally veered the wrong way once, and had to back track, and then for some reason I thought we needed to go on the highway for a small stretch. That was not a good idea. It was scary biking right next to the cars, and I just stared straight in front of me and hoped for the best. Cars honked, and when we took the first available off ramp (after about 10k), the police followed us and gave us a stern talking to about not biking on the highway.

Police volunteered to take this one for us (just kidding!)

The AirBnB was a dream though. We had the whole downstairs apartment of a farmhouse and the host gave us a refreshing plate of the softest mozzarella, salami, bread and apples. The windows were framed by purple flowers with the Tuscan hills in the background.

AirBnB breakfast

View from the AirBnB

The second day of biking we finished the trip into Sienna and celebrated with gelato and pizza. Sienna was a stunning city. The houses and shops were brightly painted. The main church was a light pink against the blue sky, and cobble stone streets make any city feel romantic.

After Sienna we got back on the road towards Florence. We saw a parade of 10 Ferraris going through the hills. We told each other that biking was more enjoyable, but I wished I had a gas pedal on the big hills. Again, were were racing against the sunset to get into Florence. We were jubilant when we started to see city lights, and then city parks, and finally the water around the city. Nothing compares to sitting on the Florence bridges with a 105 miles of Tuscan roads behind you, the city lights all around you, and your best friend by your side.