We had planned to meet at around 5:30, but I arrived rather early so wandered about a little bit, heading in the direction of Faneuil Hall. I had actually remembered to bring my camera with me, and snapped a couple shots of two mimes dressed all in white in front of Faneuil Hall itself.

I met up with Amy a few minutes later and we headed into the North End to her friend Amanda's apartment. Her brother Ian, a sailor on the one ship in the harbor right now, and two of his friends were visiting. We hung out at Amanda's for a while, eating bratwurst, drinking beer and watching TV.

When we finally headed out, after taking several snapshots, it was about 8:00, much too late to get a seat on the MIT lawn in Cambridge. We ended up in the middle of the Longfellow Bridge at around 9:30. We were too far from either bank of the Charles to hear much of the music (provided by Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops), but there were the occasional strains, and the fireworks - once they started around 10:30 - were spectacular.

The real challenge was after the fireworks display ended. It is an unreal feeling to be walking through a crowd of a gazillion people, everyone going the same direction, trying to get to the same place. You have to just move with the crowd, as if you're floating down a river. Did I mention I hate crowds?? This is precisely why I did not go to the Red Sox celebration party - just can't stand the crowds. I start to get panicky and anxious...

But I lucked out and managed to push my way onto a train heading back to the Alewife T station. In reality I think it took me about an hour to get from the middle of the bridge where we'd been standing to the train, but I was one of the lucky ones, through sheer determination on my part.

Once on the train, I ended up in a casual flirtation with the guy sitting across the aisle from me. It started with a few smiles, and by the time he got off the train, he'd moved across the aisle to sit next to me. I didn't have to do a thing - just give him a few smiles, and suddenly he was chatting me up. Kind of funny. Anyway, his name was Billy and he was a caterer who was looking at just a couple hours sleep before having to get up and get back into Boston at 5 a.m. He got off at Davis Square (the stop before Alewife) hoping that the busses were running, or he was looking at a 25-minute walk home. I wonder if they were?

Anyway, it was a flash of a romance, and I was at my car 5 minutes later and home by about 12:30. Rennie was thrilled to see me, of course, and I was glad I'd not taken her as it was crazy and loud and she would have been a pain. All in all, though, I had a fun evening - even if I had a couple panic-stricken moments while trying to make it back to my car.