I was up late the next morning and checked out of the hotel. Around 11:30 I called Jen but she wasn't home. I tried again a little after noon, but still no answer. I gave up on her and went in search of lunch. My intended destination was Chinatown. I was hoping to find some dim sum and peruse the tea shops. On my way, though, I passed Legal Seafood -- a Boston landmark that my coworker had mentioned on our first night in the city. A bit on the expensive side, but I figure I deserved to treat myself to the bounty this fine city had to offer.

The menu was amazing. Everything looked good. With the help of my waitress I settled on Boston bluefish pate for an appetizer. While I waited for the next course, the waitress came over and talked for a while. I told her I had a free afternoon and she recommended I take the T (what the locals call the subway system) and visit Harvard. I told her about my experience with beautiful women on the subway and she said, "That's nothing! You should try the orange line." I made a mental note to fit the orange line into my travel itinerary and then dove into the main course: steamed lobster (complete with bib), crab legs, mussels and clams, with corn on the cob and cole slaw. The lobster disappeared in short order, but I had trouble finding room for the rest after my big appetizer. I seem to recall that there was also some clam chowder in there somewhere, too.

Despite being full to capacity, I couldn't leave without dessert. The Boston Cream was an amazing concoction of spongy cake, cream, and heavenly chocolate sauce. The whole lunch cost $60 and was worth every penny. I stumbled out of the restaurant in a chocolate-induced stupor and headed for the subway.

This time around there weren't quite as many beautiful women but I was still struck at just how cool the subway is. It's cheap, convenient, and efficient. Seattle could really use one. After about twenty minutes I found myself in Harvard and went exploring.

Almost immediately I found Tealuxe, a great tea shop in Harvard Square. I'd read it about during my pre-trip research, and I wasn't disappointed. They have over 100 teas to choose from -- all excellent quality, and many very exotic and rare. I cozied up to a pot of gunpowder tea next to the window and perused the catalog. A little while later I'd selected eight teas to take back to Seattle. I went for a short walk before coming back to collect the goods, then did a bit larger stroll around Harvard.

Universities are great places if you're a student. If you're not, they're completely irrelevant. The stores and cafes around the University can be interesting, but the University itself is usually just an introspective collection of miscellaneous buildings. I wandered around a bit, looking for photo ops, but didn't find much in the way of things to see or places to hang out. There's lots of places to visit if you're interested in American History, though. For example, there's a monument marking the spot where George Washington first inspected the Revolutionary Army, and a bunch of plaques marking trail that some people used 300 hundred years ago. There's also the typical (for Boston) old graveyard. Still, these things weren't quite enough to hold my attention.

After meandering for an hour I hopped back on the T and headed for the airport. The trip was pretty uneventful. I boarded the plane around six and got my usual window seat. A few minutes after I sat down a rather gorgeous blond took the aisle seat. This made me happy. A few minutes after that a couple, looking like they were in their fifties, came down and asked her to change seats so they could sit together. The gorgeous blond agreed and headed for the back of the plane.

I could feel a humorous comment coming on so I turned to the man, who had sat down next to me in the middle seat, and said, "No offense, but I'd rather have sat next to the gorgeous blond."

"Thank you! What a nice thing to say!" he replied. He thought I was talking about his wife. I thought it was very cool that it never occurred to him that the gorgeous blond could be someone else, so I smiled and watched the sunset.

We landed in Denver and while waiting for the connection to Seattle I met another woman and we talked for a while. I showed off my new tea acquisitions and we spent some time smelling the leaves. Unfortunately, she was only going to be in Seattle for 24 hours before returning to Boston.

Somewhere in the past 72 hours making friends had become effortless. None of the friendships had lasted longer than 6 hours, but they'd given me a new sense of confidence about myself. That short journey had changed me -- probably not permanently, but enough to know that a traveler's life is the one for me.