Thursday, December 5, 2013

Four Seasons Boston - Thanksgiving 2013

Four Seasons Boston

We decided to get away for the holiday and head to Boston for a three-night stay.  We stayed at the FS Boston last year and chose to stay here again.  The service, as one would expect, is amazing.  We arrived Thanksgiving day around noon and stopped for a drink at the Bristol Lounge.  After one we snagged a taxi and headed to the Hotel Commonwealth to have dinner with our friends.  It was a long day so afterwards we just headed back to the room and relaxed.  Now we can begin with pictures J

The rooms have an old city feel with some modern luxury.  The hotel recently revamped the bathrooms and now the rooms have a much more FS feel.  Below is our room, number 707, with a view overlooking the public garden.  Below are pics of the room and view.


Pictures of the room


Entry to the room

Updated bathroom

Gorgeous shower

Comfortable bed and linens 














One of our favorite features about this hotel is the house car.  It's a new BMW 750Li and is available on a first come basis.  They will drive you anywhere within a 2mi radius of the hotel.  While that doesn't sound far, in city terms it's perfectly fine.  We had pretty good luck with having the car available when we wanted to venture out and when it wasn't available immediately it was usually only a 15min wait.


If you strike out with getting the house car we HIGHLY recommend using Uber.  We used it our very first time while leaving L'espalier at the Mandarin Oriental to go back to the Four Seasons.  We requested a "black car" (they have taxi, black car, and suv options) and received a text message from the app. letting us know the car was on its way.  When the driver pulled up he sent us a message to let us know he was out front.  It was a new Mercedes Benz GL 450 (I believe).  The only catch is there is a $15 minimum charge.  But not having to take out cash or your credit card (because you enter your CC info when you sign up) is worth it.  



As mentioned previously, we went to L'espalier.  We are hooked on their cheese selection so it is a must do when in the city.  We did their tasting menu for lunch last year and that is well worth it.  This year we chose to just sit in the salon.  

Gorgeous light fixture






Being the nerd I am, I immediately recognize Mr. Louis Risoli walking through the salon.  So I had to ask for a picture.  



Relaxing in the salon



And a glass of Bourbon to end the day



One of the days we decided to have lunch at Mooo inside the XV Beacon hotel.  They have maybe one of the best lunch specials in town.  Three courses for $25, menu here.  They also have a VERY large selection of scotch and bourbon to wet any appetite.  My lunch is below minus the dessert.  Forgot to take a picture of the bananas foster.

Steamed little necks w/ Chorizo

Steak with bone marrow butter 

Perfect medium rare


And of course, bourbon


As a treat, my wife let me go to Alton Lane to do some shopping.  Very cool place.  It is by appointment only but very easy to make one.  We made it for noon on black Friday.  We arrived at about 11:45 and there was one customer currently being helped.  Almost right behind us another customer walked in for a noon appointment as well.  I felt a little rushed with the whole appointment but it being black Friday I just took it in stride.  They never pushed me to hurry up but I was done in 35min.  That was from initial selection of shirt color and style, to 3D measuring, measured by hand, and trying on full outfit.  The prices are very reasonable.  For a custom order/fit, it ended up being $125 per shirt (with tax).  I should have my first one in 5 weeks.  If that fits to my liking then they send the 2nd shirt and that arrives 3 weeks after that.  Now for a few pictures.

Small bar in the shop

A glass of bourbon. Notice a theme yet?

Looking to the showroom from the bar

The room. Sorry for the blurry image.


3-D measuring system


This is "How to dress v. How not to dress". 


All in all it was a great trip.  Great friends.  Great food.  Great drink.  What more could one ask for?  





Monday, July 22, 2013

Maui - Day 3

Maui Day 3 – January 11, 2012 (Ambers Tour Day/Beach Day)
Another beautiful day in paradise and an early wake up call from the birds. No real plans for today so we took our time leaving the house. Made coffee and breakfast at home and played with the adorable Emma for a while.
Emma
Amber suggested that she show us around South Maui and her favorite spots. So we let her be the tour guide for the day. It was a little cloudy when we started out for the day so our first stop was down to La Perouse Bay.  La Perouse Bay is located south of the town of Wailea at the end of Makena Alanui Road, just keep driving till you cannot drive any further and you will end up at the parking lot for La Perouse.
  



After taking in the beautiful lava formations we loaded up in the car and slowly worked our way back up to Kihei. We stopped at many beaches along the way and I wish I could remember all the names but it is amazing what you can find just by pulling over to the side of the road. We would not have found half of these beaches by ourselves. Here are some pictures showing the beautiful South Maui beaches.
Amber and Kevin
We then decided to hit a couple farmers markets in the area and got some great fruit and vegetables for the week. We also bought the sweetest basil and fresh tomatoes to make a caprese salad for dinner. We dropped off Amber and Emma at the house so the baby could nap. Kevin and I headed back down to the beach for a couple hours until Amber's husband got out of work.


After some beach time we decided to stop by the Shops at Wailea to check it out. What a cute shopping area. We stopped at Longhi's for happy hour and had our first Mai Tai's of the trip.

We headed back to Amber's to cook dinner and watch the sun set from their driveway.
Emma loves watching the sunset
Most amazing sunset
Steve, Amber, Myself and Kevin
After the beautiful sunset we headed back down to the house and cooked up some dinner along with our caprese salad made with all local Maui ingredients.
Another early night to bed to rest up for Day 4 in paradise.