Scheduled to start my full-time internship job on Monday, Aug. 17th, I sought to make the most of my last weekend of vacation. I headed into the city from Cambridge on the Red Line T on Saturday afternoon and wandered my way through Beacon Hill over to Faneuil Hall. Listened to a very modern National Park Ranger talk inside the meeting hall, took a few pictures, and then did some browsing and selective shopping in the market. My major purchase was a cool neoprene lunch bag by Built. This was a strategic choice because I planned to dine on the Boston Common, while staking out a good seat for the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company‘s production of Comedy of Errors. My new lunch bag carried the wrap sandwich, drink and dessert I picked up for dinner at Quincy Market food hall very fashionably. I arrived on the Common shortly before 6 pm for the performance at 8. My seat was pretty good except for the rude women in tall chairs who infilled the space right in front of me at about 7:30. I could still mostly see the action if I shifted around behind them, though. The weather was a bit hot, but there was no threat of rain, and it hadn’t rained since Thursday, so the ground was pretty dry. They had a student Jazz combo from the New England Conservatory perform a half-hour set of original music before the show began. I’m not that into contemporary jazz, and this performance didn’t particularly impress me. The music reminded me a lot of Tom Grant, but it was nice to have a bit of entertainment while we waited for the main event to begin.

The play started promptly at 8. The setting was 1930′s Miami, and they opened with a big production number set to Salsa music. They had several other Salsa interludes sprinkled throughout the show. The  production was of somewhat lower quality than that which I enjoyed at OSF a couple of weeks ago, but it was professional and entertaining. The best performance by far was that of Larry Coen as Dromio of Syracuse. He did a really excellent job. I also enjoyed Zofia Gozynska as Luciana, though her recitation of lines was a bit sing-songy at times.

Sunday I slept in and enjoyed a peaceful morning at home in the empty house (my landlords had to go up to Maine to pick up their kids from summer camp). After completing a load of laundry, I headed into Boston to see more of the sites on the Freedom Trail. Not having a lot of time, I decided to skip the USS Constitution and other maritime stuff for now and headed straight to the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. I got my workout for the day climbing the 294 steps to the top of the monument and then wandered around Charlestown for a bit. Headed back to Boston, I stumbled across a nice Moroccan restaurant, Tangierino, displaying its restaurant week menu in the window. It looked good, the price for the 3-course fixed menu was favorable at the restaurant week standard of $33.09 (plus tax and beverages), and I was hungry because I hadn’t eaten a proper meal all day, so I decided to splurge on a fancy dinner to mark the end of my vacation. Good choice. The food and service were excellent. I also discovered a very nice California cabernet, Oberon 2006. Yummy.

While I’m excited about this internship, it’s still work. Vacation is much more fun.

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