Soooo.... I realize I haven't blogged in almost a year. Really not sure why I took such a long break. My sister recently encouraged me to start blogging again and I think our recent trip to Boston is the perfect opportunity to begin again! I know my blogs tend to be on the long side (especially because I like to add tons of photos) so I'll break down our trip into two blogs.
Miguel surprised me with a trip to Boston for my birthday! I've been wanting to visit Boston for soooo long! Neither Miguel or I had ever been and it was such a treat to explore the city for the first time together!
I wanted to visit Boston because of it's rich history. I love all things "history". I love seeing how people lived in the past, how people live differently in different parts of the world/country, and how traditions are created etc. I had some reservations about Boston, mainly the weather and the stereotype of Bostonians being "rough" or "rude". I'm happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised with both the weather and the people! We had really nice weather! Sunny and in the mid-60's. Everyone we met was extremely friendly. =)
We had a really early flight out of Savannah and so we arrived in Boston mid-morning. After we dropped our luggage off at our hotel we headed out to explore the city! First on our itinerary was to grab lunch at America's Oldest Tavern, The Bell In Hand Tavern. However, before we got to lunch we ran into a happy surprise - a farmers market. The market had loads of fresh produce, but the best part was the raw bar! Miguel and I got four, fresh oysters for only $5. They were reallllly tasty - and I'm not a huge raw oyster fan.
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| Oysters! Yum! |
The Bell In Hand Tavern was right around the corner from the farmers market. I loved the area it was situated in. I snapped the photo below because it kinda reminded me of something you might see in Diagon Alley (Harry Potter dorkness).
Lunch was decent. We split some clam chowder which was pretty tasty, but everything else was kinda ordinary. But, it was still really neat to eat and drink in the oldest tavern! We took a photo in the tavern "cheersing" and I instagramed it, but apparently I deleted the one with my eyes opened? I can only find the one below now, haha. Oh well... =)
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| Cheers! |
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| Freedom Trail |
The whole trail is actually lined on the ground either by bricks or red paint... which was very helpful for someone like me who is directionally challenged when using phone maps, haha. Thankfully my Eagle Scout husband is very good with maps!
Each historical site is signified with a marker like the one below. But Miguel and I mostly relied on a free app to follow the trail and learn about each site.
I know that everyone isn't as interested in history as I am, so I will try to keep most of our sightseeing descriptions to a minimum, mostly just photos. Like I said, we started out in the middle of the Freedom Trail which happened to be Faneuil Hall. It's kinda touristy today with lots of restaurants and shops. We kinda passed quickly by it on our first trip but ended up stopping there on the way back to buy Miguel some new shoes! haha! All that walking in old shoes = no bueno.
Next was the site of the Boston Massacre and the Old State House. This was one of the most exciting (not sure if that's even the word I'm searching for) places for me. It felt surreal to stand there in a place with so much significant history.
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| The Declaration of Independence was read from this balcony! |
Next on the stop was the Old South Meeting House which is where the Boston Tea Party was planned. We just peeked inside instead of taking the tour so the only photo I got was of this old, winding staircase. Crazy to imagine who has walked up those steps.
After the Old South Meeting Hall was the sight of the Boston Latin School - The country's oldest public school! Four signers of the Declaration of Independence went to school here including Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin and John Hancock. Benjamin Franklin actually dropped out of the school, but a statue of him is installed where the school used to be. There is also a commemorative street mosaic there.
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| Uncle Ben! Nice statue, but I like his face more when it's in my wallet ;) |
Also near Benjamin Franklin is a statue of a donkey. The donkey is known as the Democratic Donkey. Below the donkey, near it's head are two footprints casts in bronze, each inscribed with a Republican elephant. Near the footprints are the words "Stand In Opposition". In honor of my dad, Miguel posed on the footprints in battle with the donkey. :) I just chose to pose on the donkey.
Next stop on the trail was the Kings Chapel. The chapel is actually built on burial ground because no one would sell the Royal Governor land to build a church that wasn't Puritan. The original church was built in 1688. The existing church was built around the original wooden one.
So I studied soooo many churches getting my degree. However, I had never seen pews like the ones in the churches on the freedom trail. Maybe we covered them and I forgot or maybe I was sick that day? I dunno. I find them really interesting though. The boxed pews were owned by different families, so you always sat in the same place. Which was cool for documenting who sat where throughout history. The box design also helped to keep people warm since there was no central heating. They also would place hot coals under the seats.
Outside the chapel is the King's Chapel Burying Ground. I know cemeteries can kinda be creepy, but I find old ones beautiful... especially with everything just starting to bloom in Boston. Is Boston known for tulips? Because they were everywhere! SO pretty!
Most of the headstones in every cemetery we visited had this skull with wings carving. Creeepy. The King's Chapel Burying ground is actually as old as Boston Proper and served as the city's only burial ground for over 30 years. Some interesting people are buried here including the first woman to step off of the Mayflower, John Winthrop, and the woman who some speculate inspired the Scarlet Letter.
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| Tulips, tulips, tulips everywhere |
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| Boston In bloom |
Next stop, another cemetery! Over 5,000 Bostonians are at rest at Granary Burying Ground. Some notable residents are Benjamin Franklin's parents, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock.
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| This is the headstone of Mary Goose who some say was the original inspiration for the Mother Goose children's tales. |
At the south end of the Freedom Trail is Boston Common and Massachusetts State House. Boston Common is the country's first public park.
We had to back track the trail to get to the north end and see the other sites along the trail. It was a nice stroll back and since we weren't distracted by trying to locate significant sights we were able to enjoy people watching and notice other fun things about the city.
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| I love themed things, so I loved that the trash cans around Faneuil Hall were in barrels. |
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| Psh... he didn't seem to appreciate my kisses. |
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| Tour guides dressed up as colonials... reminded me of Savannah |
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| Look how LITTLE this door is! |
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| Miguel chatting with St. Francis |
Our next stop on the trail was Paul Revere's House. We toured the house and it was really interesting to see how working class people lived in the 18th century. Most old houses you can tour seem to be large estates that belonged to the wealthy, so this was a fun change. I also enjoyed seeing some of his silver smith work since I studied it in college.
Up next was The Old North Church. You know... the church where Paul Revere lit the two lanterns "One if by Land, Two if by sea".
In the courtyard before the church was a film crew. They had these large signs hung up that said if you walked into the filming area (which you had to do if you wanted to see the church) you were giving them permission to use your image. So, we have no idea what they were filming, but Miguel and I may be in the background of some commercial or something. (the guys below dressed up as colonial men where part of it). It was kinda neat, at one point they called "cut" and all these people we thought were tourists turned right around and went back to their "places".
There was also this interesting memorial near the church. Each dog tag is for a solider who has recently sacrificed their lives for our freedom.
To get to our last stops on the Freedom Trail we had to walk over the water, and I'm so glad we did! Such a pretty view!
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| This section was quartered off for the captain and officers |
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| Look how low the ceilings were on the 3rd level! One of the guides on the ship said most of the sailors were well over 6ft tall. I would have gone crazy! |
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| The third level down was were the sailors slept. About 150-200 of the crew slept at one time. The ship carried about 400+ crew. I would have been so claustrophobic! |
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| Beautiful woodwork! |
Our very last stop on the Freedom Trail was the Bunker Hill Monument. We arrived at Bunker Hill around 6 and people were getting home after work, walking their dogs, throwing a football with their kids, and running. It struck me how people were just going about their days, enjoying the park, right where our forefathers fought the first battle of the Revolutionary War. Really crazy. In a good way.
After we walked all of the trail we were really hungry. We headed over to an area packed full with Italian restaurants and got some dinner. Hunger and exhaustion made me forget to take any photos.
Once we had full bellies we took the T over to the Cambridge area to get our drink on. We walked and walked to get to one bar (saw a lot of MIT) but once we got there we didn't feel like waiting the 45 min to an hour wait, so we headed to our next stop an unmarked bar called Brick and Mortar. We knew the general location of the bar but didn't know exactly where the door was, so I accidentally opened the back door to another restaurant and went in their kitchen, haha! They were really cool about it though and told me where I actually needed to go.
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| photo credit |
Brick and Mortar was really cool! I felt a little underdressed still being in my casual denim and TOMS but no one seemed to care. Miguel and I sat at the bar which was great because we got to watch the bar tenders make all the drinks. I swear I have a new appreciation for mixology! Watching these guys create the drinks was like watching a performance or art.
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| photo credit |
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| My drink. It actually had whiskey in it, although it looks really girly |
We were pretty exhausted after being up for almost 20 hours and walking 9 hours straight, so after our drinks we headed back to the hotel to crash. We slept really well! We had to get plenty of rest for the next day! Blog about day 2 to come later =)
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