Advertisement
Published: March 19th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Saturday my friend Bernie & I caught the 0830 commuter train into Boston which a round trip is $10.50 which sure beats driving into the city. It took about an hour from Franklin. When we arrived at the train station we purchased the trolley ticket which was a City View one. It was the one with less stops (8) than the other which at first I was dissappointed because we had originally wanted the one with more stops but this one ended up being fine. It also included a harbor cruise. We did that first since the weather was beautiful and sunny and it was supposed to rain later in the day. The last time I was in Boston it was raining & we stayed inside on the boat. It was the 1st stop off the trolley and it was not crowded at this time; 1100. The cruise was narrated and pointed out key areas around the harbor & city. USS Constitution, the Fleet Center, 2 bridges, expensive condos & apartments could be seen from the boat.
After this we walked to FANEUIL HALL MARKETPLACE and QUINCY MARKET. This was pretty crowded & was a big shopping area. We strolled
View of Boston
from the harbor cruise around and there were different groups of teenagers singing. There were tons of places to eat including CHEERS. We almost ate here but a co-worker of mine suggested DURGIN PARK RESTAURANT where the main floor has long tables where you can eat with other people. Since there was only the 2 of us we were put upstairs and the tables were very close. The food here was wonderful as I got the broiled seafood platter which included shrimp, scallops and fish for under $20.
We saw the Samuel Adams Statue & then inquired about the Freedom Trail which the trolley guy told us to skip the escorted tour & save money & walk it on our own. We got off at the USS CONSTITUTION and got in the long line to go through security & then a 2nd long line to tour it. There were 2 separate lines: one for an escorted tour of most of the ship or a self tour of the deck only. We chose the latter since it would only take about 10 minutes. The were a few navy members that would answer any questions. Construction on it started in 1794 & was launched on
Oct. 26, 1797. We also toured the MUSEUM here and then walked to the BUNKER HILL MONUMENT passing some cute houses along the way. We could only view this from a distance because there was construction and it was closed. I would have loved to go inside & see the views of the city but maybe another time.
Then we got off at the public garden & walked past Central Burial Ground & to the "Original" CHEERS building where the inspiration for the setting of the TV series was. Then we walked BEACON HILL & saw the SHAW MEMORIAL at BOSTON COMMON & walked past the STATE HOUSE and KING'S CHAPEL BURIAL GROUND. We visited GRANARY BURYING GROUND that contained the graves of Paul Revere, John Hancock, Ben Franklin's parents, Samuel Adams and the victims of the Boston Massacre and many others. We were still following the Freedom Trail & came to the OLD STATE HOUSE & I was looking for the site of the BOSTON MASSACRE which took place in 1770. This took place when British soldiers fired into a crowd of Bostonians killing 5. I guess we were expecting a big memorial or something else. It took
us about 20 minutes & about 5 tries to find the actual site. When we did, it was rather anti-climatic as it was just a cobblestone marker in the middle of the street! lol We did tour as much as we could of the OLD STATE HOUSE. It was closing in half an hour. This was built in 1713 and is the oldest public building in Boston. This also sits on top of the MBTA subway line and you could feel the vibration when a train went through. After reading the information about the massacre, Bernie & I took the side of the British & we also felt that they were innocent. Since we didn't get to finish, we got tickets to tour again.
We were a little hungry so we found a pub called KITTY O'SHEA'S & ate & had a pint of cider. It was around 6pm & we weren't ready to leave yet so we went to the IMAX theatre by the aquarium & saw "Deep Sea 3D", walked alond the warf & then back to the train station for the trip back home.
I enjoyed Boston & it was a clean city for as
Condos
on Boston harbor crowded as it was. There is still construction going on in parts. We were lucky enough to have a rather warm and beautiful day without rain.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.115s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0555s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb