Monday, April 23, we spent the day in Boston, Massachusetts.
We started the day with a walking tour of the city on the Freedom Trail.
Our tour started in the large, public space of Boston Common.
Boston Common is the oldest city park in the United States, dating from 1634. It is 50 acres and is beautiful. It is filled with ponds, playgrounds and memorials, and lined with historical buildings all around its perimeter.
From Boston Common we walked along Tremont Street past Park Street Church.
Next to this church is the Granary Burial Ground.
And as these signs say, within these grounds are buried John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Robert Treat Paine--signers of the Declaration of Independence.
As well as the victims of the Boston Massacre, and Paul Revere.
James Otis was also buried here. He was an early advocate for the American Revolution and was a great orator. His line, "Taxation without representation is tyranny" was a basic catchphrase for the Revolution.
On the outside wall of the burial ground was this little statue. Our tour guide pointed it out and asked us to guess what it meant. Paul was right--"Time flies!"
Our tour continued from Tremont Street to School Street. At the corner of these stands King's Chapel. It houses a large bell that was cracked and then recast by Paul Revere. It's one of the last bells cast by Paul Revere.
Along School Street is Boston's Old City Hall.
In front of this building is a statue of Ben Franklin.
And an old Latin school used to be on this street as well, and there is a Latin Hopscotch on the sidewalk.
Our next stop showed us the Old South Meeting House. Here is where more than 5,000 colonists gathered to make plans for the Boston Tea Party. At the time, it was the largest building in Boston.
We made a slight detour off the official Freedom Trail to head down Spring Lane. As this plaque states, this is where there was a great spring that gave water to the people of Boston.
Also along this short lane is a plaque to Mary Chilton. She was the only Mayflower passenger who left Plymouth to go to Boston, and was the first white woman to settle in Boston.
We caught back up with the trail at the Old State House. It is one of the oldest surviving public buildings in the United States, and is the oldest in Boston. It was built is 1713. Here, James Otis spoke so powerfully that John Adams later wrote about his speech, "Then and there...the child independence was born." This speech contributed to the American Revolution.
The Boston Massacre took place in front of this building.
Our tour guide lead us to one more stop along the Freedom Trail, the statue of Samuel Adams in front of Faneuil Hall. This is the site where Sam Adams and James Otis gave many speeches encouraging independence from Great Britain.
Even though the Freedom Trail continued on throughout the streets of Boston, that was as far as our guide took us. We really enjoyed him and the things he taught us.
On our own, we then saw the Union Oyster House. It claims to be the oldest restaurant in America. The building its housed in is even older than the restaurant, dating back to about 1704, but the restaurant was started in 1826.
Across the street from the Union Oyster House is The Bell in Hand Tavern.
The Bell in Hand Tavern claims to be the oldest tavern in America. This place is famous, and named like it is, for Jimmy Wilson. He was the Boston town crier for 50 years! When he retired from that occupation, he started the tavern.
Across from the Bell in Hand Tavern is another tavern called Green Dragon Tavern. This was named the "Headquarters of the Revolution" because many secrets talks were had here. And from here Paul Revere was sent on his famous ride to Lexington.
About this time in the day we were getting a bit hungry. We took the recommendation from our tour guide to make a stop at Mike's Pastry's in the Italian part of Boston.
Oh boy, did it ever have a lot of delicious-looking pastries to choose from!
It was hard to choose just one each, but we finally did.
And they not only looked delicious, they tasted delicious too!!
As we were about to leave, Sarah wanted to thank them for the yummy cookie and treats. It was so fun to go up to these truly Italian ladies and thank them. They thought the kids were "so cute!" They wanted to come from the back to say hi and to give them some more cookies!
It was a great place to eat something, although it wasn't healthy. But it was also fun to hear people come in, speaking Italian and being very typical Italian.
After our dessert-in-the-middle-of-the-day break, we followed the Freedom Trail to Paul Revere's home.
We weren't allowed to take photos inside, but it was cool to see where he had lived.
Heading back over to Hanover Street--Mike's Pastry's was on Hanover--we saw the Paul Revere statue. Behind him stands the Old North Church. At this church the signal lanterns were hung to warn the patriots of the march of the British troops to Lexington and Concord.
Inside the church
After the church, we headed down Salem Street--it looked so quaint and old--and grabbed a large slice of pizza each at Ernesto's Pizzeria.
Sarah had fallen asleep, so we let her nap in the stroller while Glenn played at the playground back at Boston Common.
After that, we headed east to the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum.
This was a really fun experience! We got to each play a role in the Boston tea party. They asked for volunteers to have a speaking part during the reenactment of a colonial town meeting and Glenn raised his hand.
We then got to go onto a ship, learn about the tea and shipss and then throw it overboard into the harbor!
Last pictures on the ship.
After that fun, interactive experience, we walked back to Boston Common and over to Boston Public Garden. Spring was just beginning and the trees were just started to bud. It was pretty, but I only imagine how much more pretty it looks in full spring or summer...or even fall!
And really, the real reason for walking that extra bit to the garden was to see the Make Way for Duckling sculpture. Robert McCloskey's story about the ducklings made this garden familiar to children all over the world. We have the book, so it's fun to see it in person!
And that was our day in Boston!
(Haha, side note. We saw this shirt at one of the tourist shops along the trail. I thought it was funny. I should've bought it for Glenn...)
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