Boston day 2

Day two of our time in Boston turned out to be a long day! We rolled out of bed around 9:30 and then spent about an hour taking care of work issues back home. So, we finally left the hotel after 11. Since we are leaving at 5am we checked our bags with the bell hop and heading out to see the sights of Boston.  We didn't really have an agenda. I like to wander around and see where the city leads me...sometimes I miss out on the so called "gotta see" things in a city, but I often find hidden jems that cater to the locals and not the tourists.

First stop was The Public Park, which boarders the Commons. It's nice and pretty and if I worked near there I'd probably eat lunch on a bench and watch the swan boats. But, I don't work there, so we just walked through. We did get to see a guy get arrested for shop lifting, so that was exciting! I was taking a picture of an old church and realized I was actually getting a shot of the police just starting to question him. I don't know what he took, but it required four cop cars to handle it. Must have been a slow day for crime!

Across the street from the park is Cheers! The actual bar isn't downstairs like it seems like on the TV show, but it's actually a cool little pub. They had a replica set bar upstairs in a hotel lobby, but I didn't really see the point of looking a replica of a TV bar. The bartender got a good laugh out of my drink of choice...peach schnapps and lemonade. All tough guys drink peach schnapps!

 We then wandered over to a little pizza place called Upper Crust. It's a chain around the Boston area and it was ok. Nothing great, but a neat concept for such a small spot. I'd like to run a little pizza place someday...maybe for my retirement job!

I didn't know they were so open about it!

 After our quick lunch we went to Beacon Hill to head towards the State House and start the freedom trail walk. We stopped and talked to a parking meter lady and she told us to walk up Mt. Vernon so we could see alot of great old Boston homes. John Kerry lives somewhere on that street, but he didn't invite us in for coffee. The homes were great and had definete Boston uniqueness.
Btw...an expired meter ticket in Boston is $25. Remember that next time you cry about one in Muscatine!

 All right...enough play by play, you're probably bored. We made it to the State House, started the freedom trail walk and saw alot of cool old stuff. There were a couple things that really stuck out to me. The granary Burial Ground where Paul Revere is buried was interesting mostly because of some of the Puritan headstones that were there. They had a real grim look on life and apparently skull and cross bones were hip back then too! The next place that really intrigued me was the Kings Church(I think that's what it was called, I should really write this crap down!). The had little, sectioned off pews that you used to have to buy. I've been in alot of old churches and I've never seen that before. The church was in amazingly original shape. The only other thing that really made me think was the Holocaust Memorial. There are glass chambers with smoke rising through them and inside they have quotes from survivors and along the entire outside are the victims number they were given when they were taken to the camps.

  

  

 By the time we were done with the Holocaust thing we were ready for a drink and that's where the freedom trail slowed down for us. There are alot of great pubs right near there and so we took a lot of detours. We grabbed another slice of pizza, for only $1.50, and we did eventually make it down the entire trail, but didn't get to the U.S.S Constitution in time to see it up close. It's a pretty sweet boat though! And we had another slice of pizza near the boat. That slice was $2.50...

After the freedom trail we checked out the North End, which is full of Italian shops and restaurants. It reminded me of Venice a little bit. Then we went back to the Fanuiel Hall area and sat and talked to people in the pubs for a few hours.

Pretty soon it was time to walk back to the hotel and get our bags and head to the airport. It was close to 3am and our flight was at 5:20, so by the time we got checked in we didn't get a chance to sleep. I crashed pretty good once on the flight to Myrtle Beach, but Dave barely slept. It was leading up to a rough day in Charleston.

Overall, I really like Boston. There is really good feeling to the city and the different neighborhoods are awesome. We found nothing but nice people and they were always ready to chat and share stories and those stories sound even better with a proper Boston accent!  I had never really thought about how historic Boston is, and it blew me away how easy it was to get around and actually see all the history there is. I'd say Boston might be in my top 3 U.S. cities...New Orleans and New York are the other two.  Just remember to take alot of money if you're wanting to drink, but if you want to eat cheap I recommend eating slices of pizza all day!