I admit it. I’m smitten. And it’s partly because, like any good relationship, we’ve learned that we have to make time to cultivate it. In our office we’ve started our own “date night” tradition every February. We invite our hotel friends in a series of small groups to leave their offices behind and join us to explore Boston the way their guests do. In Valentine’s month, romantic thoughts are on everyone’s mind. Why not fall in love all over again with our irresistible city?

Neighborhoods, gas lamps, boot scrapers and byways beckon. Champagne and oysters, treats and hot spiked cider appear in unexpected ways. A costumed “butler” continues the tradition of hospitality in Louisburg Square and materializes with a tray of cookies sporting an American Impressionist scene painted from that very spot. After enjoying an impromptu snack, our intrepid explorers visit the site of the 1945 “Battle of the Bricks” in which the ladies of Beacon Hill brought out their oriental rugs and staged a sit-down strike to protest Mayor Curley’s plans to replace their beloved historic bricks with cement sidewalks. Fie on cement, they protested! Bring back our bricks! If people are tripping on them, let’s see a list of the injured parties and their home towns. Not from Boston? Let them stay home! And the bricks still remain and are still beloved.

A costumed photographer appears and snaps a group photo on the most photographed street in America– Acorn Street. And they learn that the charming cobblestones paving the street have been documented to come from the far corners of the world as ballast on ships visiting Jakarta, Madagascar, Canton and Buenos Aires. Who knew!

Every year it’s a new facet of our beloved Boston that we spotlight. The more we all get to know her and all her nuances, the more we can’t wait to introduce her hidden treasures to all our guests. We invite you to join us in our ongoing, passionate romance with Boston!

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