Freedom Fish

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So today we finally headed into the heart of Boston. We had planned to park out and then take the subway in, but only the few furthest out stops have parking, so we decided to chance driving. I'm glad we did, because it was an absolute breeze! We made it there in about 40 minutes, no traffic, found the Boston Common parking garage easily and headed off. (On a side note, Jeff's decided our next RV should be a class A pulling something small, because driving a truck out here has stunk.)

Our main goal for the day was to walk the Freedom Trail. It was the coolest day we've had since Ohio, which was very nice and made for a comfortable walk. I had the AAA Guidebook with which described the sights, but we easily could have done it just by following the red brick/paint trail on the sidewalk. The boys got such a kick out of walking right on the line. The trail took us past the Massachusetts State House (48/50 that we've seen), two beautiful old cemeteries and two old churches including Park Street Church, at which America was first sung publicly July 4, 1832, etcetera, before we decided to stop at Starbucks for a scone. It's odd, but the boys love scones.

After our very uncaffeinated break (fruit juice with coconut water just tastes weird), we proceeded on to the rest. We passed the former Old Corner Bookstore, which published The Scarlet Letter and the words to "Battle Hymn of the Republic," as well as attracted Emerson, Hawthorne, Longfellow and Beecher Stowe to gather. We walked by the Old South Meeting House and the Old State House, finding it odd that the latter now houses a subway stop. We hurried through the Haymarket, which is a stinkier, louder, less clean version of a farmer's market, before arriving at Paul Revere's house (perhaps the oldest building in Boston) for a quick tour. We also stepped inside Old North Church and visited Copp's Hill Burying Ground in the North End. I was disappointed to see that the Mathers' tomb is in pieces.

Our final Revolutionary era stop was the USS Constitution in Charlestown. We try every vacation to get the boys on a ship, and this seemed like a very important one to do. It is still a commissioned ship in the US Navy, but 212 years old! Our pre-tour guide is a reservist headed to Afghanistan later this year. I forget where our tour guide said he was from, but he joined the Navy to see the world and has been in Illinois and Boston. The boys loved seeing the ship and Cole tells me it was his favorite part of the day. My favorite part of the tour was the guide's story about the August 19, 1812 battle with the HMS Guerriere off Nova Scotia. As he told it, the ships agreed to battle and the Guerriere fired ineffective shots. The Constitution held her fire as the Guerriere sailed closer and closer. They waited until they were 25 yards apart and then fired alternating broadsides until the ship surrendered. The entire battle lasted 35 minutes. The USS Constitution was in 33 naval battles and won each of them.

Rather than retrace our steps, we took Boston's water ferry from Charlestown to Long Wharf, which was cheap and easy. As we were disembarking, Godzilla was getting ready to take off next to us. It looked like a very fast boat, which made us very curious.

Our last stop of the day was the New England Aquarium. AAA lists it as a GEM, but I'm not sure. We waited in line for half an hour and it was packed. Cole's summary: "There were sea creatures, but we didn't get to touch them or they would bite us. Divers are the only people you can talk to." Shortly after we got in there and were watching their penguins, we heard a huge splash and saw an apparent aquarium employee had jumped in regular clothes into the penguin enclosure. Later there were other staff looking for something while staff in wetsuits patrolled the enclosure. It was very strange.

Finally, we did take the subway back to Boston Common. I'm glad it was our only trip. Compared to Washington's, it's old, cramped, hot, smelly and noisy, and that's just the platforms.

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Photos

Cobblestones
My favorite part of this entire trip has been walking streets, floors, etcetera where important people have also walked. How cool is that?

Shark!
Liam loved watching the sharks circle.