Hi Mike,
Hope your Christmas was as nice as the rakkity family’s. Between gifting and talking we did a lot of rambling around town. We had dinner at Artu’s in Little Italy. The North End seems to have been mightily revitalized by the Big Dig and the resulting absence of the old network of highways, so now you can easily walk to it from Government Center. Kathy gave us a tour of Beacon Hill and China Town. We also strolled through Cambridge, toured the Coop, lamented the loss of Bailey’s and their scrumptiously sinful sundaes, then passed by John Harvard’s shiny left foot, and trundled in one side of Memorial Hall and out the other side, stopping to look at the stained glass.
Then the big highlights of Cambridge–We had lunch at the Three Aces, which is still alive and cooking great grinders. But most amazing of all, one of the cooks is still there from the ’70’s! He asked me if I had survived the blizzard of ’78, and I said it was one of my best times in Cambridge. After memorable grinders, we hiked over to Somerville and looked at the old homestead, 318 Beacon St, which is much the worse for wear, paint peeling off from every square inch, with a beat up old bike thrown down by the front porch.  And there’s a car semi-abandoned in the back yard with snow drifts blocking it in, much like the old days. I would think if you’re in the market for a Somerville home, the building would be one of the more affordable houses, but you’d have to want a real fix-me-up.
–rakkity
 
