Steve and I just got back from an amazing 15th anniversary trip to Boston. This is going to be photo overload, and I'm only posting some of them. Such an incredible trip - both the history and the sites as well as the time together. We arrived mid-afternoon on the 5th, and after checking into our hotel, The Bostonian (two thumbs up!), we hit the pavement. Our hotel was right near shops, pubs, and many important sites.
View from our balcony at The Bostonian - both day and night views were incredible (even though it was super loud ... constant honking and sirens in the city)!
Sam Adams statue in front of Faneuil Hall
You can see where new bricks have been installed, but many originals remains as well. Not easy to walk on but they sure looked cool!
Site of the Boston Massacre
OLD. On this little "corner" is The Green Dragon Pub, The Bell in Hand Tavern, and The Union Oyster House, all dating back to the 1600's. Incredible.
Our first refreshments of the trip came from Bell in Hand.
We headed to Union Oyster House for dinner on our first night. While waiting for our table, we sat at the bar next to two ladies from England. We laughed about how Boston is so old by our American standards, but not old at all by theirs. We had fun visiting with them. The wait for our table was worth it.
We sat upstairs at UOH. It was really neat, and the food did not disappoint. We had lobster and oysters.
Friday morning we got up and planned to walk the Freedom Trail, which starts at Boston Common, a few blocks from our hotel. A huge market was set up outside our hotel, too. It wasn't there after Friday, so we think maybe it's a monthly deal. But it was huge, and there all day long, and filled with people buying their produce.
The start of the Freedom Trail.
Of course there were many old cemeteries. Sam Adams, Paul Revere, victims of the Boston Massacre ... among the whose who buried here. While we were browsing the cemetery, it began to downpour on us. As luck would have it, we were able to duck into the Beantown Pub just across the street to wait out the storm.
Once the heavy rain stopped, we headed back out onto the Freedom Trail. It's marked by a brick path the entire way. I had to get a photo at the site of the first public school!
The Old South Meeting House - where 5,000 men gathered and ultimately launched the Boston Tea Party. It was incredible to be inside these places where the Founding Fathers, and many important people since them, have made decisions that have been critical to American history.
Paul Revere's House
In front of the Old North Church, where lanterns were lit in the bell tower to announce that the British were coming.
Bunker Hill, the final stop on the trail. The whole Freedom Trail is only about 2.5 miles one way. We crossed the Charles River to get from the Old North Church to Bunker Hill. Now the bell tower of the church is blocked by tall trees.
That evening we ate in the North End, which is Boston's Little Italy. We had received some recommendations of places to go, but we wandered the street looking at menus. Before we knew it, the owner of one of the places stepped out and asked what we were looking for. Steve had seen what he wanted on the menu, but I had not, so I told him what I was in the mood for. He said, "No problem, we make it. Come in, we make it for you." So in we went to this cute open air place, where we had a delicious Italian meal!
Saturday morning we figured out the subway system and headed up to Cambridge to see Harvard.
The campus was packed with tourists. We walked through the undergrad and graduate areas, and then headed to the athletic complexes. The football stadium is so cool - and so original. It literally is a concrete structure that could just be a newer Colosseum.
Charles River again ... this time in Cambridge and not downtown.
The campus was beautiful! We also enjoyed walking around Cambridge, visiting the book store, and watching Croatia beat Russia in an old pub.
Once back in Boston, we hit the original Cheers and sat in the set bar, just around the corner from Norm's spot.
And we took a picture with all of our best friends.
Sunday we headed down to the harbor and walked along the green belt to where the Boston Tea Party took place.
Replica of the BTP ship
We walked through South Boston, which included the financial district, China Town, the theater district, and the Boston Marathon finish line.
Steve on the finish line - of course this is also near the site of the bombing.
We made another swing through the Beantown Pub, where "our table" next to an open window and looking out over the old cemetery was waiting for us!
Unfortunately, I woke up Monday with a sore throat and fever ... so we slept in, and then hit CVS for some meds. Like in any large downtown, convenience stores drug stores, and Starbucks were usually close by. Steve had to do a couple things for work, so I shopped around in the Quincy Market area right by our hotel. That afternoon, we hopped back on the subway to visit Fenway.
Before the game, we went to the Bleacher Bar, which you enter from outside the stadium but is under the bleachers. You could watch batting practice from inside.
It was a neat place! And also PACKED!
When in Rome ... had to get my share of Yuenglings while in the northeast!
We are so used to new, state of the art stadiums, so it was fun to be inside an original. They do a great job of making everything feel very original (and truly, much of it is).
They wouldn't let us on the green monster since we didn't have tickets there, but we got into the section right next to it while the teams were warming up. Lots of people up here hoping to catch fly balls!
Fenway Franks! YUM!
Our seats were literally three rows off the field. So cool (especially once that sun went down in the second inning)!
The Rangers were in town, but the home team won and we were okay with that. It made for a fun, festive environment! Before the game, they play the Cheers theme song, of course they do the regular 7th inning stretch, and in the 8th inning everyone sings "Sweet Caroline". After the win, everyone sang "Dirty Water". If Fenway isn't on your bucket list, it should be!
We were both sad to leave Boston today. We'd been looking forward to this trip for months, and it was everything we could have hoped for. We logged many, many miles on foot (it really is a walking city, which we loved), and just tried to soak up everything we saw. We laughed and reminisced a lot. Tomorrow it's back to work, but the memories of this trip are lasting!
