Visiting Boston - Day 3

Today we met with a realtor at noon - we walked 1 mile to meet him. Ady, our Romanian realtor, picked us up and took us apartment hunting. The first couple he showed us seemed like a not-so-nice area, but apparently he is not allowed to tell us how "safe" the area is otherwise he will lose his license. So, we looked anyway and they didn't seem so bad inside, but they were small. Then we went to another area that was nicer and we liked the first one we saw in the building, didn't care too much for the 2nd one, and fell in love with the 3rd one. The 3rd one was in the basement, but was pretty much brand new - only 2 years old, so new paint, huge kitchen (which is unheard of around here) and nice bathroom with granite countertops. One thing though was the lighting wasn't the best since half the windows were covered because we were below the ground. We really like natural light. Anyway, from there we went to quite a few others, some great and some okay.

Around 2:30 we were pretty set on the basement one and went back to see it one more time and the resident was there. We talked to her for a while about the place. She has lived there since August and is also from the West Coast. Safety is a huge deal to her and she said the bums rummage through the dumpster which is right outside her bedroom window and they stand outside and can look inside at her. We never thought about these things! She lived alone, so she felt really uncomfortable because they pretty much could tell when she was and was not home. She also said that in the summer it gets really hot and humid in the basement and because of the bums, she never opened the windows and then mold developed - she had to buy a new mattress because of this! She did have some great things to say about the place too, but we wanted to take into consideration what she said. So, we went and had lunch across the street and talked it over.

Tough and important decisions! We went back to Ady around 4 and asked him about another one we liked. He showed us again where it was located and we decided to go with it. The only thing about this one is that the move in date is June 1 and we wanted August 1, so we were going to have to pay for those 2 months - Ady was working on it for us though. In the meantime he remembered one other place we might like so he took us over to see that one. It was a lot like the apartments back home - big building, super nice entry way with concierge, pool on roof, fitness and business centers, etc. A lot newer, but it wasn't near the subway - we would have to take a bus to get there. Oh, and it was a little more than we wanted to spend. So, we are sticking with the other one we liked. We fill out our applications, but are going back tomorrow at 11 to meet with Ady and finalize everything. It looks like he could postpone the move in a little, but only till July 15 (but we will still be in Europe, so really it will be right when we get back!). Anyway, we are excited. This apartment is walking distance to a few hospitals so we are going to pray (hard!) that I can get a job there!! That would be AMAZING!

From there, we hopped on the subway and headed into downtown Boston!!! First we went towards the mall, but one girl on the subway told us to go to Newbury street, so we made our way over there...

A walk through the park


Downtown buildings

The Public Garden


Us freezing in the Garden


Me in front of a statue of Washington

We just walked down Newbury street and then ate at Tapes restaurant (we had to wait like an hour - we tried walking around, but we decided it was nicer to just stand in the small entry way and stay warm). :P After dinner, we headed back to the hotel, riding on the very crowded "C line". It was fun.