Boston: winter, plenty beer and a short home visit

Back in Boston without Franzi was sad, dark and cold. Winter was there and snow hit Boston from time to time. By far not as much as when I arrived last year, but still some snow. Not only do I dislike the cold, but also the darkness. The view from our weekly Friday 5pm beer hour offered no more sunlight.

snow flakes can be massive in Boston

5pm nightly view on Boston from our weekly Friday beer hour

Harvard Medical Campus main complex surrounded by snow

I had quite some fun nights though with Patrick, Tim, Christina, Abby, Adam and more. After one beer hour we visited a college ice hockey game: Boston College vs. Boston University. Also, my colleagues in the lab had a belated birthday cake for me. The great number of birthdays in our lab made us having quite some ice cream cakes these days^^

college ice hockey: Boston College vs. Boston University

yummy^^

February 2nd, I surprised Franzi by visiting her in Germany. I got some good deal on tickets with the low cost airline WOW Air flying via Reykjavik, Iceland. I had to tell her about my visit 4 days before, otherwise she might not have been around. After we found out at my birthday that she was pregnant, I didn't want to miss the first ultrasound. I arrived Tuesday, ultrasound was Wednesday, Saturday we visited my family and revealed the pregnancy before we went for a carneval party Saturday night. On Sunday I already flew back to Boston telling my boss here about Franzi and me expecting.

our little baby, 10.5 weeks old :)

sunrise at Leipzig airport on my way back to Boston

In Boston, Abby had her farewell party and we visited the Fire and Ice restaurant. Quite a treat and funny style to get your food^^ A week later (February 20th), I visited the European Conference at Harvard Kennedy School. It was great to see Manuel Barroso (former EU commission president), David O'Sullivan (EU ambassador to the US), Douglas Alexander (former Europe Minister in UK), and many more brilliant speakers. The views from the roofs of Harvard Kennedy School were nice too and the evening offered some spectacular sunset.

Fire and Ice restaurand

Sunset from BU bridge

Sunset in Brookline

The next day I visited Disney on Ice with Patrick, Christina, Christian and Romy. That was quite some fun^^

Disney on Ice in TD Garden

7) San Juan for New Years Eve

In San Juan, we stayed at Hotel Milano, which offered a great location and except for the rather small room it was really ok. We were quite hungry coming the long way from Vieques and went for Osteria de Fortunata. Their fresh homemade pasta looked great and the prices were not much different from the other restaurants around. The pasta was delicious, indeed. But the portions were tiny. I gave them a bad review and we then went to Castillo San Cristobal where we enjoyed the sunset over San Juan. We were really surprised by how nice San Juan is. Beautiful little cobblestone streets, plenty bars and restaurants and everyone walks. And best of all are the two forts overlooking the city and its rough coast. After sunset at Castillo San Cristobal, we walked to Castillo Felipe del Morro, which was closed. We liked the streets a lot and Plaza de Armes offered live music. We got some fast food nearby and listened to the music and enjoyed the Plaza filled with people. Later we walked from our hotel along the pier back to the cathedral and finished the day with mojitos at stylish El Batey bar.

Franzi enjoying the sunset at Castillo San Cristobal

I and Franzi overlooking San Juan from Castillo San Cristobal during sunset

Cemetery and Castillo Felipe del Morro after sunset

Princess Fountain at night

stylish El Batey

The next day (31.12) we started with another walk through the city. Then we walked to San Juan's city beach. We were a bit unlucky as huge rain clouds appeared when we arrived at the beach. We went for a swim and enjoyed the view of old San Juan anyways^^ After a shower at our hotel, we visited Castillo Felipe del Morro for sunset. This turned out to be a great choice and we were to see a really beautiful last sunset in 2015. The streets were still busy and with all these people around, we were sure to have some good time for New Years Eve. We had Mexican dinner at Lupi's - just like last year :) Then we went for a nap in our hotel. We were surprised when we woke up again, the streets were empty, although it was an hour before midnight. We strolled through the city but couldn't find "the place to be". We decided to follow our taxi driver's advice and watched the fireworks from the pier. Unfortunately, there were no fireworks in Old San Juan, but we had a good view of the plenty fireworks across the city and just in time for midnight several people gathered at the pier and counted down the old year together. We were then eager to go for drinks and dancing and so we headed for Calle San Sebastian. We started at Bodega Chic, where we saw people gather the night before. But the crowd remained small and we continued to La Taberna Lupulo, which was nicely crowded. However, the crowd and the drunk bar keeper there made it impossible to get a drink. That led us to La Factoria. A place that connects multiple bars each with a small dance floor offering differnt music. We got mojito and entered the dance floor :)

The last day (01.01.) we enjoyed breakfast atop our hotel again. It was a sad day as we had to go to the airport separating us again. Franzi flew to Frankfurt and I flew to Boston :(

Franzi at the Princess Fountain

San Juan's city beach - with Old San Juan in the background

Franzi and I in font of Castillo Felipe del Morro

last sunset 2015...

...a gorgeous one :)

cannon at Castillo Felipe del Morro shrouded by sunset light

Mexican food for New Years Eve :)

a nice view - a sad flight