Jared and I got up early for a FULL day of being tourists :) I had a whole history-filled day in store for him, and we started off by taking the Old Town Trolley tour throughout Boston. All of our tour guides provided informative historical information in a friendly Boston accent. We were able to see many sites that we wouldn't have seen by walking, which included Fenway Park (where the Red Sox play for you non-baseball fans), the Charlestown Navy Yard, the original Cheers bar (where everyone knows your name), Cambridge/M.I.T./Harvard, and many others. Next up on our personal agenda was the Freedom Trail. This is a 2.5-mile walk throughout the city that goes to key revolutionary and colonial-era sites. Of course I was prepared for this outing because I downloaded the audio tour on both my ipod and iphone for Jared and I to listen to while on our trip through history.
A 2.5-mile walk does not seem like much, but it gets quite long in 80-degree heat and 41 stops along the way! As much as I love history, I am not going to put my readers through all the background behind these "stops." I will highlight a few of our favorites instead. The first graveyard on the Freedom Trail was the Granary Burial Ground next to the Park Street Church. This cemetery is home to John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Mother Goose, Benjamin Franklin's parents, Robert Paine, and most importantly, Paul Revere. Bostonians really enjoy memorializing Paul Revere; there are numerous statues, memorials, and street named after him throughout the city. You can even visit his house. An interesting piece of history was that there were about 30 midnight riders during the Revolution, but Paul Revere was the most famous one due to Longfellow's poem entitled "Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." Below is his original tombstone (of course a bigger and better one was later designed for him).
Next on my list of favorites was the Old State House. This was used as a stage for free-speech debates and taxation protests, and it front of it was where the Boston Massacre took place. The museum inside houses many artifacts from the Revolutionary period. It's amazing how this structure stands in the center of all the modern office buildings.
We couldn't leave Boston without getting an Italian cannoli (crunchy pastry filled with cream). Mike's Pastry is one of the most famous pastry shops in the city; the line was out the door! We enjoyed our time in Boston's North End by viewing all the Italian restaurants and shops.
Another favorite was the Old North Church. Prior to his midnight ride, Paul Revere ordered Robert Newman to hang lanterns to indicate whether the British were approaching by land or sea.."One if by land, two if by sea." The top of the steeple can be seen from all over Boston.
The inside of the church was immaculate, and I loved the "booths" that church members could rent in order to stay warm during the services. The church was originally constructed in 1723, but it is still in use today.
We were getting pretty exhausted as we crossed the bridge to Charlestown (stop #35). Here's Jared continuing to follow the red line:
We made it to the Bunker Hill Monument after about three hours. This monument was placed here to commemorate the pivotal battle that took place here in 1775 between the Americans and the British.
Even though I don't have a picture of it, we also went to the Boston Public Gardens to see the Make Way for Ducklings statues. The only other place that these statues are displayed is in Moscow, Russia. We both remembered seeing it in Moscow (we even took pictures by it), but we didn't realize that the matching statue was in Boston. By the end of the day, we decided to head back to the boat to make hot dogs and beans. Morgan was not allowed to go on the Freedom Trail, so she was happy to see us when we got back. I think we were in bed by 9pm that night ;)
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