Day 44: The art of spontaneity, part 2.

I'm Adam Sell and I have two months left before I leave Boston. My challenge? Do something in the city every day. Have ideas for my adventure? Send me an email.

Today was another one of those "walk out the door and see what catches your eye in a particular neighborhood" days. I'd done it once before in Cambridge, and on the recommendation of several friends, I thought I'd give it a try today in Brookline's Coolidge Corner. Not to mention that seeing all the closed storefronts before the hair-band singalong last week made me curious to see just what was behind some of those grates and locks.

It was an entirely different scene from that in Cambridge. While Mass. Ave sported more indie boutiques and clothing stores, Coolidge Corner had several interesting places to eat. And while I would have liked to try more than one, my friend and I chose to stop in the Coolidge Corner arcade at the little cafe there for some homemade sandwiches.

There wasn't really much of a pattern to how we explored the area. It was basically "ooh, that store has an interesting name, what do they have in there?" That strategy isn't always a bad plan — we found this fascinating little Russian bookstore where I tried to find familiar titles with a fading knowledge of the Cyrillic alphabet. This came after our stop at the Brookline Booksmith, where I got lost in the used-books section downstairs, finding several hardcovers and paperbacks I wanted to take with me. (Sadly, I left them there. I'm behind on my reading already.)

We also stuck our heads briefly into the New England Comics store, where my travel buddy's eyes glossed over (he's a comics guy), while mine drooped a bit (I'm not a comics guy). I plead for all English teachers to cover their eyes as they read this, but when it comes to superheroes - I'll wait for the movie.

There was a cute little "toy and school supply" shop down the street where I sang the old Slinky song upon seeing the display of the springs. Yeah, I'm not sure the proprietor appreciated that. We also walked by several delis and Asian food places I would have loved to have tried, but alas, my turkey sandwich and Italian soda was all I could handle.

I've got one more of these little neighborhood excursions planned as I approach the final stretch of this project, but I'd love to know if there's somewhere you're just dying for me to take a look at. Send me an email!