My experience at the bar that inspired "Cheers"

I've probably walked by the Bull and Finch Pub at least 1000 times in my life (often ending up in the photos of tourists standing in front of the "Cheers" sign), but I'd never once been inside it.  On the way home from work the other night I was hungry, it was pouring rain, and I figured what the hell, I'll give it a shot.

I ordered a "Coach's Club Sandwich," which was about as good as I expected it to be.  Sitting to my left were a pair of Canadian girls who wanted to known if the bar looked the same as it did in the show.  In the corner were three twenty-something's from Connecticut who sort of acted like they had never been in a city before.  To my right a European couple asked the bartender if he "had any schnapps?"  They didn't appear to care what flavor.

  When I paid my bill with a Red Sox credit card the guy looked at me in disbelief and said "Are you from here?"  He then became very eager to start a conversation with a local about baseball.  I felt a bit sympathetic for him, he probably averages 10% tips.

I went to the bathroom before I left, and was surprised to find a little souvenir store crammed into the hallway.  A women reading a book sat there on the off chance that one of the 12 people in the place might want to buy a "Cheers" t-shirt.

I think I would have really enjoyed the Bull and Finch Pub circa-1980, but today it seems like a sad and lonely place forced to live off the fame of a TV show that went off the air 20 years ago.

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