On Monday afternoon I arrived in Boston a couple hours ahead of my first event at the Enterprise 2.0 conference and I decided to make a pilgrimage to the new Apple store on Boylston Street.

I guess from the hype around the opening and all I had read about this store, I had set the expectations bar a bit high. When I got there, I found a rather nondescript flat glass front that left me thinking perhaps they would been better off leaving the Fenway Park Green Monster-inspired scaffolding in place. The temperatures outside was pushing 100, so I was looking forward to escaping inside to the air conditioned, climate controlled world. I would be disappointed.

A young man opened the door and welcomed me. As I had read, the whole first floor was devoted to computers. I played with the Mac Book Air for a few minutes and tested how heavy it was. It is surprisingly solid for something that thin. Given the number of employees in this place, and there were a lot, I actually found it difficult to get somebody's attention. Nonetheless, as I ventured up the sleek glass spiral stair case to the iPod-laden second floor, I noticed I was sweating. It was hot in the store too.

I found one of the many employees, a nice kid, who helped me purchase some iKleer to give my Mac Book Pro screen that sheen it had when it was new. For $30, I was hoping it would work and I'm happy to report it did.

I decided to ascend to the third floor and test the knowledge of one of the reported 165 employees who are paid to help you get the most from your Apple products. I approached the counter where there were 4 people standing there. One guy was not helping anyone, so I asked if I could ask a question. He seemed put off and said if I made it quick. Well that's friendly. I asked him about my increasingly slow boot time on my Mac Book Pro. He gave me a couple of ideas such as checking how much hard drive space I had left and what programs were loading at startup. Pretty much standard stuff.

At that point, it was time to descend the magic glass spiral stairway and make my way to the conference. I commented to the kid at the door that for all the money Apple had spent on the store, it might have invested in a decent air conditioner. He seemed nonplussed by my comment. In the end I suppose it was impossible for the store to meet the expectations I had set, but you can be sure that I would never have thought that the subway on the way over would be more comfortable than the store.