I saw Ellen!!!!! And Portia! It was everything that I expected and more!
Photo via @Kafranklin21
I met my sister at Quincy Market at 11:00 AM, which was a whole hour before Ellen was scheduled to arrive. I wasn’t all that surprised to see so many people waiting for her, but I didn’t expect that many super fans! Holy moly!
My sister and I scored a second row spot behind the barricades and then waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Two hours later, things started to happen.
Channel 5 anchors Ed Harding and Heather Unruh arrived.
As well as a ton of policemen and security.
Another 30 minutes passed and then a Duck Boat arrived outside Faneuil Hall with Ellen and her staff on it. Yay!! At last, the 2.5-hour wait was worth it!
AHHHHH! There she is!!!
Look closely. Ellen is standing on the back of the Duck Boat. She’s wearing a navy blue polo shirt.
Now, Portia (wearing light pink) is standing next to her.
Here they come!!! (You can kind of see the back of Ellen’s head behind the cop’s shoulder.)
When I snapped this photo, Ellen was only about 5 feet from me!
In person, Ellen and Portia looked just like they do on TV. This probably sounds weird, but I’ve seen celebrities who are much shorter or older in person, but these two looked exactly how I expected. They were both happy, comfortable, and glamorous.
Ellen and Portia walked to the front of Quincy Market, where they were greeted by Mayor Thomas Menino. Mayor Menino declared it Ellen DeGeneres Day in Boston today!
Ellen only spoke for a few minutes, but she told the crowd that Boston is now one of her favorite cities and she plans to root for the Red Sox and Patriots from now on. Ellen also congratulated the Bruins on their Stanley Cup win!
Photo via @choll12
Ellen is visiting Boston to promote her show’s new 4:00 PM time slot, so she told the crowd that she needed to leave to do some interviews. I was a little bummed that she didn’t stick around longer, but she’s a busy lady– and I’ll take what I can get. Honestly, I was psyched to see her in person even if it was for a short amount of time.
If you’re a crazy Ellen fan like me, you can see the whole event on video from Channel 5: Uncut: Ellen Greets Fans at Quincy Market.
Lunch
After our Ellen sighting, my sister and I walked to the North End for lunch at Antico Forno. I had an Eversave certificate from months ago, so I decided to cash it in.
As an appetizer, my sister and I shared the “Insalata di Spinaci con Mandorele Pancetta,” which sounded much more exciting than it actually was. It ended up just being baby spinach with pieces of bacon on it. We ate it anyway, but I’m glad that we decided to share the salad instead of ordering two like we almost did.
We had quite a bit of money to spend on the Eversave, so we ordered two pizzas with the plan of taking home lots of leftovers. We ordered a Margherita Pizza (mozzarella, plum tomato sauce, and basil) and a Due Formaggi Pizza (mozzarella, Ricotta, oregano, and garlic). Both were delicious— like, really delicious. I love flatbread pizza with lots of high quality toppings like these ones. If I were in the North End, I’d hit up this place for pizza.
For dessert, my sister and I each enjoyed a cannoli. Mmm! I loved the filling! When in the North End…
I still can’t believe I saw Ellen today! My goal for 2011 is to see her show in person, which I still want to do, but today counts for something, right? I guess it’s just a bonus to my goal!
