My husband is a great man;) He surprised me a few months ago with an early birthday present, a trip to Boston. I haven't been to Massachusetts since we moved when I was about 15. So I was excited to go back to possibly visit with friends I haven't seen in a while as well as show Greg around since he has never been to New England.
We flew out of Phoenix March 17th (St Patricks Day). We were hoping for decent weather and a safe flight. The flight was great. We were able to watch satellite TV and keep tabs as to what states/Country (Canada) the plane was flying over. It also told us exactly how many minutes were left on the flight.
We took the Subway to our hotel in Cambridge. We stayed at the Royal Senesta. It was right on the water and directly across from a train station and the Cambridge mall. I don't know that we could of stayed at a nicer hotel. There were always door greeters. Our room had the most comfortable hotel bed Ive ever slept in. We unpacked, starred at the breath taking view of the water from our room, played with the room gadgets, towel warmer, floor warmer, drape opener etc and headed out to a recommended bar to celebrate our first night in Boston and St. Patricks day!
We walked all over the faneuil hall marketplace and decided on Bell in Hand Bar. It was jam packed! All the bars were located in this nostalgic cobblestone area and they were full of St. Patricks Day characters! The Green beer was flowing! Everyone was in good spirits. We hung out upstairs and listened to a live DJ and then headed downstairs for a fun cover band. Pretty much danced like fools until it was time to walk back to catch the T and head to the hotel.
With the three hour time change and celebrating St Pats Day we had a late start on Thursday. We caught a train to Boston Commons (Americas oldest Public Park)and started the Freedom trail tour. If anyone is ever in Boston I highly recommend this. To be surrounded by such dramatic history was really over whelming and strengthen my love for our country. The trail is only about 2 1/2 miles long but it took us a majority of the day with all of the stops.
We toured the Granary burying ground, the last resting place of the patriots.It is the resting place of Ben Franklin's parents, Paul Revere, John Hancock, Sam Adams and victims of the Boston Massacre. They said Mother Goose may also be buried there.
We toured the Kings Chapel, which is still in use today. The chapel also had a burial ground and they said they often ran out of space and sometimes up to four people shared a grave. You can see in some of the pictures how the tombstones are right on top of each other. There were about 2000 tombstones but they estimate there are double the amount buried.
We passed the old City hall and book store and took a tour of the Old State house, where the child Independence was born;) We were able to view the drawing Paul Revere provided of the Boston Massacre and actually visit the site. You do have to feel bad for Ol Caldwell, he was just the innocent stranger from out of town.
We walked back to the Faneuil marketplace (Quincy Market place) and viewed the New England Holocaust Memorial. Etched into the glass walls you will see six million numbers in the memory of the six million Jews who were murdered. The quote was "the Freedom Trail reminds us that the struggle for freedom and human liberties is never-ending".
We took a tour of Paul Reveres house and couldn't believe that he had 16 children! Eight with his first wife and eight with his second. They said that Paul waited 5 months after his first wife died before he remarried. That was a really long time to wait back then, normally they would re marry in one to two days to make sure someone was taking care of the children!In April it will mark the 150th anniversary of the Paul Revere poem "Paul Reveres Ride".
Paul Reveres house is in the "Italian District". It was just full of life and was everything you thought it would be. It seemed that everyone knew everyone as they passed by their shops, people were yelling at one another across the busy streets. It was an incredible experience. We walked into this pastry shop, mikes pastry's and saw some serious heart attack goodies!! With all the walking we had done by this point we could of spoiled ourselves with a treat but we didn't;)
We headed across the bridge to tour the USS Constitution.
We made it just in time for the last 330 touring. The USS constitution is the most celebrated ship in American history. It launched in 1797 and it is still an active commissioned ship today. It is also referred to as Ironsides because cannonballs bounced off of her live oak sides. We had an active duty sailor giving us the tour. The ship was amazing, we wished that we had a little more time to glance around, but the tour was only a half hour and it closed immediately afterwards.
We then headed to the Art Museum to check out the Secrets of the Tomb exibit. They did a wonderful job displaying the artifacts. It was interesting to see the
similarities in our everyday lives, aside from the whole mummification bury your wife with you part;)They had a room built to the actual size of the tomb. I always imagined a HUGE space, but it just wasn't so.It was hard to imagine so many things,so well preserved in such a small space. So now our journey begins. Greg and I had a long day and thought it would be fun and romantic to pick up some dinner and wine and head back to the hotel to relax and talk about our fun vacation so far. Well......we returned back to the hotel around 10pm, so the mall was closed and we found that there were no wallgreens, cvs stores or shops in general within 10 blocks of the hotel by using my phone and searching with google maps. The only business we came across was a petco that accidentally said "Tr eat your pets". Im sure they meant "treat your pets";)We got a little laugh out of that sign everyday. Now we've walked and walked and our feet are killing us, so we walked some more and decided to just head back to the hotel and ask. We were told that there was a Shaws grocery store that we could take a cab or walk to. Taking a cab would of been about 2o dollars and we couldn't see the point in that. So you guessed it, we walked. And as we were finally approaching the store we saw a liquor store on the same corner but thought, no biggie we will get what we need at Shaws. Wrongo...Shaws didn't sell alcohol we had to go to the liquor store which we found just closed as we were walking out of the door. So we had a romantic dinner of chewy chocolate chip cookies, fig newtons and water;) It was fun though and I will say I smile every time I think of our luck that night;)
Friday we stopped at dunkin donuts picked up our coffee and headed to the Aquarium after we were shot down at the Science Museum for Duck tours. Apparently they didn't start until Monday, though we watched two of them go by on the water from our hotel and drive past us in the street.
We hung out with penguins, a couple of sharks and myrtle the green sea turtle that thinks shes queen of the tank. She has been there since 1969. Greg and I were able to watch as the divers jumped in and fed the animals. Every year they rescue between 100-150 sea turtles. The aquarium also has an Imax theatre, so we caught the viewing of the Hubble 3D. My jaw dropped when they showed pictures of orion's belt and we witnessed the birth of a star...I wish I could of somehow captured it on video. We toured the waterfront and headed to Yawkey way to see Fenway Park.
We had front row seats for lunch at the bleachers. Great food, Great view, Great time;)Now we will have to head back so that Greg can experience his first real baseball game:)
Later that evening we met up with one of my best friends from sixth-ninth grade;)It was nice that Jennie and her husband Chad were able to drive up during the week to Boston to have dinner with us. The last time we saw each other was back in 2003 when Jennie was living in L.A. Weve always kept in touch thru email but lately with Facebook its been really easy to stay in touch.
We had a nice dinner at the sail loft which my friend Carrie recommended. Greg had his fresh sea food shrimp platter;) You cant visit Boston and not have seafood! Saturday, our last day in Boston we found ourselves back at the Art museum. Its one of the largest museums Ive been to. I was just taking it all in. They paid so close attention to detail. Each exhibit was in a room that resembled the time period and really helped capture the emotion of the art work. They had an exhibit that was the "hall of the masters"and it was jaw dropping beautiful!
We accomplished so much in just a few days and of course there was so much more we would of liked to done, visit cape cod, see the Boston tea party ship, visit my old home town but in the end we were really happy with everything. We will just have to plan another trip back someday:)
It is definitely one of the most amazing birthdays Ive had. I will cherish these memories and always look back on this trip with a big smile. I am truly blessed with a wonderful husband that did such a great job planning this out. I really feel that he understands how special MA is. The atmosphere does not compare to anywhere else I have been. It is a city with a deep history. The nostalgic buildings and the living history create a strong sense of pride. It felt as though every house we passed or person we sat by had some show of patriotism. It might have been a bruins t shirt or flag in every window but you could sense it was there.
I hope you all enjoy the pictures as much as we do. If your thinking of a vacation spot I would highly recommend Boston! It is very safe and clean, thanks to Harvard;)
