normally haymarket is one of boston's busiest and crowded places. but what does haymarket look like now under a coronavirus quarantine and social distancing measures? i wanted to find out for myself, also to see if they had any "ugly fruit" oranges which typically is in season around april-may. after a goat cheese spinach ham omelette for lunch, i set out for boston around 1:30pm.

it was raining earlier this morning, with temperatures in the 50's, but the forecast said it'd get steadily warmer up into the 60's by the afternoon. it's been a while since i been to haymarket (not since the end of january). there's not much to be had during the winter, and there's always the risk of freeze-damaged produce. then the coronavirus outbreak arrived in the US, and coming to haymarket seemed like a very bad idea.

going into boston gave me a chance to use the new handlebar phone mount. it allowed me to tag so many pokestops while riding that my inventory bag already filled up before i even left somerville!

passing by kendall square, i noticed the marriott was closed. i should've realized something was amiss when i didn't see the line of taxis usually parked outside the hotel. actually, when i passed by this way to chinatown a few days ago, it was just as empty. not sure when they closed, probably a while ago. the pandemic has pretty much decimated the hotel industry.

haymarket actually wasn't too bad. they reduced the number of vendors, and tents are spaced far apart from one another. most workers are wearing face masks and gloves. a line separates customers from the produce; you no longer can pick your own, a worker bags it up and hands it to you. it's still cash only, which is probably the weak link in the line of defense. fortunately i had plenty of cash and didn't need to get back any change. selection-wise, i was surprised there wasn't too much variety (though still better than the dead of winter).

since i was in the neighborhood, i decided to bike into faneuil hall and quincy market.

i knew a lot of stores would be closed, i wasn't prepared to see that they were all closed. i figured maybe a few restaurants would still stay open for delivery service only, but all the restaurants were closed too. it was completely empty, felt more like early morning than in the middle of the afternoon. the few people i saw looked to be locals out for a stroll. it was so empty i could hear the echos.

i finally left boston by 2:40pm. feeling ambition, i decided to ride all the way to my parents' place and drop off some of my haymarket haul. taking broadway to harvard square, i passed by mulan, surprised they too were closed, not just the cambridge store, their waltham location as well. after cutting through harvard square, i rode down brattle street to get to belmont.

i arrived in belmont by 3:30pm and left about an hour later.

for dinner i made some more carbonara. i'm not actually a big fan, the sauce tastes too watery to me, not the thick hearty spaghetti meat sauce i'm normally used to. it's a quick "in-a-pinch" kind of meal but for my money i want something more substantial.