Summer Break - Boston

After our big commute from Kankakee to Chicago, we decided that rather than repeat our mistake in trying to get the train from Plymouth to Boston, which is meant to be only a little over an hour, we would stay in Boston.  This was a good move, as we only had two days in Boston, but could make them big days as we were so close.  We stayed by the Charlestown Navy Yard, so got a ferry across to the main part of Boston each day.  It is only about 15 minutes, and this was the view of the city we got.

Boston has heaps of history, which Phil was really interested in (and has to teach this semester).  Most of this is included in a 2 1/2 mile walking trail through the city, known as the Boston Freedom Trail.  It tells the story of people, places and events which sparked the American Revolution against England.  I learnt quite a lot!

 We started at the Markets - there are streets of them with the North Market, South Market and Quincy Market.  They are mostly food stalls, but really good, and really busy.  We had our lunch here in the Feneuil Hall Marketplace, which was just outside the Cheers bar below.  Apparently this is a replica of the bar which was the inspiration for the TV series Cheers.  The original is on Boston Common, but we did not make it to that one!

Below is a picture of Feneuil Hall.  During the time of the Revolution it was Boston's town meeting hall, with the market place down below.  Boston has a lot of historic buildings, which are all very well preserved.

 Just outside of here were buskers, who had a huge crowd gathered to watch them jump over people.  The boys were pretty interested, then fascinated in that they got people to hand them money at the end of the show!

 This is a picture of our next stop, the Old South Meeting House.  During the Revolutionary times, it was the biggest building in Boston, and people went to church here.  It was quite a hot day, so this was nice and cool to go inside and look around.  It told the story of the Boston Tea Party. They also had an activity sheet for the boys to complete, and they then got a prize - which kept their focus for a little longer!

 It was a very well preserved old building, and the photo below shows a picture of the Sounding Board, which would help the minister's voice to be heard throughout the building.  Pretty clever!

 You can see in the photo below, the red line to the left of Luke's foot - the was the mark for the Freedom Trail, which made finding your way around the city a lot easier for someone with my sense of direction!

We followed the Freedom Trail all the way up to Boston Common, which is a huge park, in the middle of the city.  It was lovely to walk around, and then we found the 'Frog Pond', where a lot of the kids were swimming.  We weren't really dressed for it, but it was really hot, so the boys were happy to go for a swim, and it was a nice shady spot for Phil and I to take a break!

 We then walked across the road to the Boston Public Garden.  It was Saturday, and we saw a couple of bridal parties having photos.  There are also the Swan Boats, which were fun to sit and watch.  There is a person at the back who pedals, to move the boat around the lake.  We saw at least five or six of them on the lake at a time, so it is quite busy, and a big tourist attraction.  It must have been this poor girl's first day, and she had her boat load of people stuck under the trees, and they weren't going anywhere!  Eventually, someone who seemed to be in charge has to call out to her to give instructions, and they got moving again.

 The Boston Public Gardens was America's first public garden, and has some really nice lawns and flowers.  The statue you can see in the picture below, behind Phil and the boys, is George Washington. Someone had put a Boston Bruin's jersey on him, as the Bruins are the city's Ice Hockey team, and they had made the play offs.  Unfortunately, they did not win - they went down to the Chicago Red Hawks, which didn't matter to us much, except that we watched the finals in Plymouth, which was in Massachusetts, and big Bruins supporters territory!

There are lots of parks and fountains in Boston, and a big line of parks which line the harbour, called the Rose Kennedy Greenway.  It really makes walking through the city pretty, and gave us heaps of places to stop and rest those little legs.  Below is one of the pretty parks with a fountain in it, and Quinn was more than happy to cool off, much to the amusement of everyone else who was trying to stay dry!  There were quite a few people 'sleeping rough' on the park benches in these nice cool places, so we got lots of questions as to why these people didn't have homes - all part of the learning experience I guess.

 On Sunday morning, Phil wanted to go to the Bunker Hill Monument, which was only a short walk from our accommodation.  It is a 220 foot granite monument, which commemorates the soldiers who fought in the 1775 battle.  It also has 294 stairs to the top.  Luke is always up for a challenge, and he and Phil went to the monument, and said it was a great view at the top.  They also commented that there was some guy doing laps up and down the stairs, as part of his Sunday morning exercise routine - if you are into that sort of thing!  Ryan, Quinn and I went for a swim at the YMCA pool, which was attached to our hotel.   As Ryan took off in the pool, the lifeguard on duty (which still is a bit foreign to have life guards at the pools!) told him to stop, and if he wanted to swim where he couldn't stand, he would have to pass a test.  He had to swim the length of the pool, 25 metres freestyle, and then tread water for 1 minute.  He then got a band to wear, to say he had passed, and the lifeguard was very impressed, commenting that he thought he was the youngest to ever have passed.  Ryan was really proud of himself, and couldn't wait to tell Luke.  Of course, we had to go to the pool in the afternoon, so that Luke could do the test, to prove he could pass as well!

 Phil wanted to have a look at the Old North Church, so we decided if we were going to go and have a look, we might as well attend a service. We went to the 11am service, and everyone was very welcoming.  Above is a picture of the inside of the church - it was founded in 1723, and is the oldest church building in Boston, and an example of Georgian architecture.  It is also where lanterns were hung in the steeple in 1775, to notify people that the British soldiers were walking out of town, signaling the 'birth of the American nation, and the beginnings of freedom' .  Inside, you can kind of see  in the photo above, there are little cubicles, which contain a pew.  Each of these used to be rented out annually by families, and there is an upstairs you can see, above the lower row of windows. It was a very hot humid day, and all the windows were wide open, which was really nice.  The cubicles were good to, as the boys could colour in, or play with their toys on the floor, and not be noticed, as long as they were quiet!  The boys were excited that there was 'coffee hour' after church, where they served lemonade and cookies. We spoke to some of the congregation, and one of the guys serving there had spent some time in Newcastle, in Australia.  It is a small world.

 The next place we visited was The Printing Office.  They have historians who operate historic printing equipment, and give a running commentary on the history of Boston.  This guy above was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about his work, and has appeared a couple of times on the History channel.  He was interested to hear that Phil is a Hancock, and is holding up a photo of John Hancock above, looking for any similar features!  John Hancock was one of Boston's leaders, in the times just prior to the American Revolution, and was the first signature on the Declaration of Independence. 

 We walked a little way down the Mall, and came across this lady who was playing the glass harmonica.  She got Quinn to turn the wheel, while she played Waltzing Matilda.  She was pretty good - well, the best I have heard (and the only one!) and it was interesting to talk to her about the instrument and how she came to play it.  And, of course she required a donation at the end of it.

By this time, we were ready for lunch.  We were in 'North End' of Boston, which is known as Little Italy, so were looking for somewhere nice for lunch.  We stopped at a little cafe, which served up the yummiest bread rolls, and the boys had pizza.  It was nothing special, but just really good, fresh ingredients.  It was full of Italians, who were all sitting and watching Italy play Uruguay in the Confederations Cup.  It went to a penalty shoot out, and the boys were happy to sit and watch, and it was a great atmosphere.  It was also air conditioned, so we were happy to stay until the end.
We stopped at Mike's Pastry, which was only a few doors up from where we had lunch. It is a bit of an institution, and we had seen lots of people walking around with white boxes from Mike's Pastries.  They are famous for their pastries, and in particular a huge variety of different flavoured cannoli's.  So I go t a selection of these, along with Boston bun for us to try for dessert, and they were all very yummy!

 Our final stop was at John Hancock's house, which is a National Historical Landmark, pictured above. We were ready to go back to the hotel for a swim, and the boys watched the final of the Confederation's Cup - though nothing like the atmosphere in the cafe, and off to bed.