Gang of 8 Storms Boston

While the New York Gang of Eight hasn't attacked Gotham in several years, it did do some groundwork to ready itself for the next venture into The City - it invaded Boston for a weekend late in October.

The Almonds, Kneebones, Thomsons, and Paces journeyed to beantown via Dartmouth Coach and settled into some reasonable quarters at the Westin at Copley Place. Following lunch at the Top of the Hub, we readied for our duck boat trek under the command of Colonel Duck-Tape and his aide, Lt. Colonel George Thomson. It was a marvellous land/sea view of Back Bay Boston, the North End, the Charles River, and the Esplannade.

We returned for a planning session at Bar 10, then the group ventured into the North End for dinner at Lucca's. This was followed by a highly cultural event, a Mamet comedy dealing with the difficulties of being a lameduck President in the play "November".

The next day, based on intricate plans prepared by the ladies, we assembled on Boston Commons and began to retrace the Freedom Trail. This included a number of historic churches, cemeteries, the old State House, Fanueil Hall, the Greenway and Harbor, and Quincy Market. It was here that we decided to have lunch at Cheers (not the original one). We had the good fortune to meet Curtis, a young lad probably from New Orleans who might be attending MIT (who took the group photo above).

We had a second expedition to the North End for Italian ice - gelato. Naturally it was incumbent on us to test the various concoctions offered. As may be observed, susan Kneebone decided it was necessary to do some close-up photography of the items to ensure that they satisfied Massachusetts health requirements and meet the needs of the group.

Our Saturday night dinner, naturally following a second planning session at Bar 10 in the hotel, was in Back Bay at one of our old haunts, Casa Romero. All enjoyed a good Mexican dinner with supporting beverages.

That evening, at the suggestion of our now-Florida-based friends, the Moores, we attended a second cultural endeavor at the Charles Street Playhouse, "Shear Madness", a tale of homicide and wicked doings where the audience selected the criminal.

On our final day we split into two groups to do our museum trekking; the Thomsons went to the Science Museum while the rest of us went to the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Some selected scenes from these various cultural endeavors may be seen by clicking here.

It's rumored that the gang may find itself back in New York next year - only a rumor, of course!