Disclaimer: I wrote this at a BK in the Cleveland airport and I’m very, very tired. ☺
FOR BOSTON, FOR BOSTON!
There sure was a lot of rain for it being summer time in Boston. Apparently, within the last two weeks Boston received 18 inches of rain. That’s 50% of the ANNUAL precipitation! Or so my row mate on my flight there told me. I was excited all the same. I knew it would clear up eventually. And if not...a little (or lot) of rain wasn’t going to stop me!
This would be an incredibly long blog if I relayed what exactly went on, so I’ll just give the highlights (like sports on TV!).
Thursday night, I was welcomed into Boston. I flew in late, but no biggy. I was still the first girl in. Chris came in next; her flight had been delayed as well. Rachel and Angie came in about 11:30, 12:00. Rachel had worked over night and still managed to function. It was cute, we stayed up till almost 4am chitchatting and catching up with everybody’s lives. It was fantastic! We were loud and giggly.
Friday morning we were introduced to the T (the subway system). We had things pretty well planned out with directions and the like, so we weren’t worried about getting lost. Well, at least I wasn’t! Not necessarily sure if the other girls were as confident about my map reading abilities, but initially, Chris and I were tag-teaming getting around. Rachel and Angie were comfortable with everything very quickly as well. We started our tour out with the Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail goes all over downtown Boston stopping at all the “important” places of history. This would include: Paul Revere’s house, the Old State House, the State House, the North Church, the Old Meeting Place, and a few others that I can’t think of right now. We didn’t do all these on Friday. We spread it out.
The State House is the current State Capital building. The governor wasn’t in (was he out campaigning for Presidency?) and we were given a private tour of the building. It was really nice. Our guide was a super sweet lady and she helped us out by giving the tour without the massive mob of school kids. I thought it was cool how she kept enforcing the fact that we were seeing and learning about Massachusetts history, not the US’s history. Even though they are practically one and the same, it’s MA’s history first, then the US’s. We heard that at a few different places as well.
And I’m breaking my word about being long winded! So…we saw lots of cool old places, you could feel the greatness of the past citizens resonating through the streets (or it was the subway), and we went to a Red Sox game!
The Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers and we didn’t get rained on because we were sitting under a balcony! So yea for us. The fans were great. The field was beautiful. We sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and “Sweet Caroline”. I think “Sweet Caroline” was definitely a high point for me. That was so cool! EVERYBODY was singing! They cut the music out at the “ba ba bas” and everybody fills it in by singing/shouting the part. Super great time. The subway ride home was fun too. Everybody was happy and wet.
Saturday greeted us with a big, wet kiss. It rained literally all day till about 7pm. Saturday took us back to the Freedom Trail to pick up where we had left off the day before. But since it was raining, we were slowed down a bit. And we had to get to the hotel to change for the evening activity, so we didn’t have that much time. All worth it. We went to the Old State House and saw the balcony where the Constitution was read to the people for the first time. We walked through the rooms that John Hancock and Sam Adams worked in. We could see through the windows to the exact spot where the Boston Massacre occurred. My imagination was going crazy seeing all the men there. Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market were also visited that day. Neat places. Basically just large markets. Had the feel of a Farmer’s Market about it, but without the vegetables.
But, like I wrote above, we had to haul it to get back to the hotel and get changed. We had to be at the Mystery Café by 7 or they’d give our seats away. Or so I was told. I got a bit upset because we were running behind schedule, which meant we were still standing in the subway, waiting for a train, after 7 o’clock. Honestly, I was a bit crazed. We got there and our salads were waiting for us. We were good. Obviously, I apologized. I think most of the people reading this know how I get about being on time and doing what I’m told☺. I think we all had a fun night. It was a casual dinner theatre place. There was no stage and the actors walked through the aisles of tables and interacted with the audience. It was more along the lines of loose-improv. They had a script, but deviated at will. I thought they were very funny. Definitely recommend it to people heading out that way. (mysterycafe.com)
Sunday was definitely an easier day. Again, headed to the Freedom Trail to finish that up. Learned some things about Paul Revere’s ride that I’d never heard before. For instance, I was told that the ride was to warn of the British coming (true), but what I didn’t know was that it wasn’t to warn of an attack. It was to warn of the British coming to arrest Hancock and Adams for treason. The ride was successful. The men weren’t arrested. But, Revere and the gentleman who hung the lamp were. They were later released for lack of evidence.
The Museum of Fine Arts was also one of our stops. Nice, but a teensy-bit disappointing. I was just expecting more, better. I think that the museum in Chicago is my favorite so far.
The best part of Sunday was walking across the harbor and seeing the USS Constitution, aka “Old Ironsides”. It’s just incredible that it’s undefeated and that it is still an active vessel in the Navy. This hundreds of years old ship can still go into battle! I think that’s very cool. I’ve seen movies with ships similar to this one, but it was great going onto one. Seeing how cramped the quarters really are and disbelieving that people lived that way for months at a time. Unbelievable.
While in Charlestown we saw part of a parade celebrating Bunker Hill Day; and back walking in Boston we came across a processional for St. Anthony in Little Italy. I really liked Little Italy. It felt like the real Boston. At least more real than what we had been experiencing. We met up with Chris at the Long Wharf (we had separated earlier, on purpose☺) and decided to head into Cambridge and check out Harvard. It was nothing special. They had laundry rooms just like any other dorm. I don’t know if we saw all of campus, but it seemed small. Sadly, the library was closed. It looked huge though.
For dinner we went back to the wharf. Rachel and I each had a 1 lb. lobster. Chris and Angie lived life on the wild side and went with steak and chicken (respectively). Kidding. You don’t like seafood? You don’t like seafood. It was great though trying to eat that crustacean. Rachel and I definitely made the majority of the entertainment that evening. I danced my “staring” lobster over at Angie and Rachel had to break the antennas off of hers. We ate the legs first (I did very well getting the meat out in single pieces) then went to the tail. That’s where the fun really started! I pulled my tail off first and saw it. Green poop. I just started laughing and then Rachel opened hers. I thought she was going to die! She couldn’t believe that there was poop inside her lobster! We were all laughing so hard over her reaction I’m surprised we didn’t pass out or get thrown out. She DID it though! I’m very proud of her. The lobster impressed neither of us and Rachel says she’s sticking with crab legs. It was a priceless experience all the same. Okay, not really. The lobster had a price tag, but her face? Priceless. Loved it. Chris and Angie enjoyed their meals as well.
We couldn’t find a place open that late on a Sunday night for dessert so we headed back to the hotel and called it an early night. Rachel and Angie were passed out by 11. Chris and I had been laughing over the weekend that Rachel and Angie were always the first asleep and the last to wake up. Sleepy girls.
Chris left first. I left about 2. The SD girls left about 6. The three of us headed back toward the Boston Commons for the morning and I was able to make it to the Boston Athenaeum. It’s just the oldest independent library in the nation. My main reason for liking it (besides the library part) was that it was built for everybody. They said that reading was for the masses, not just the rich. Oddly enough, only members are allowed past the first floor. Whatever. It was kinda neat going in there.
And that’s the story. I hopped my plane and headed home. It was a beautiful weekend. Only one question though. Where to next?
The culture buff needs to see a museum, an art gallery, a 16-th century church every day during his holiday. When he travels he is always well prepared. He has read history books, speaks a few words of the lingo, knows about the strange habits the locals have.
