Today we went back to the Old State House and walked the rest of the Freedom Trail. Even with all the tall skyscrapers and paved roads, it wasn't hard to go back and imagine the events of the day. The museums, old buildings, and occasional cobblestone streets could take you back to a time when the Sons of LIberty planned and plotted against the King. When we went back to the Old State House, we toured the museum and saw Revolutionary War relics and clothing worn by John Hancock. Next we visited Faneuil Hall, a meeting and market place of its time that has been turned into a market place of today. Quincy Market (one of the buildings in the Faneuil Hall complex) is crowded with food court style stalls with everything from Mexican to Italian to Thai to Boston seafood. If you couldn't find food there you liked, you couldn't find it anywhere. (For you foodies--lunch there was clam chowda and a lobstah roll--deeelicious.)
From Faneuil, we walked down Hanover Street, where many of the taverns built in the late 16, early 1700s still stand. The Green Dragon Tavern, built in 1657, was deemed "the headquarters of the Revolution" by Samuel Adams, Daniel Webster, and Paul Revere. I can just imagine these men hunkered down at the table with a glass of ale and an intense look making plans for the Revolution. Next was Paul Revere's house--much smaller and more unassuming than so many others we have toured. Revere was part of the middle class--his house was small and almost primative. On display there, were several of his works as a silversmith. We spent time in the Old North Church, where Paul Revere sent the groundskeeper of the church up to the steeple with lanterns to alert the colonists, "One if by land, two if by sea." From there, we walked to Copp's burial ground, where Cotton Mather and others are buried. We made the hike up Breed's Hill, where the Battle of Bunker Hill took place. This is where the famous words, "Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes," was uttered. (Even after asking Tim, I don't know why the Battle of Bunker Hill took place at Breed's Hill.) There stood a large monument (at least 20 stories high), shaped like the Washington Monument. (This monument was built many years before the Washington Monument.) I asked Tim if he wanted to walk up the almost 300 steps, thankfully he said, "No." Although I certainly gave him the option of doing it by himself, he still declined.
At this point, we had walked and seen all of the Freedom Trail. It put us back on the Charlestown side of the river by a few of the tall ships. We took a ferry back to downtown Boston and ate at the Green Dragon Tavern for a little piece of history. While the tavern may not have been Irish when it originally open, it is now. Tim had bangers and mash; I had fish and chips--both very tasty. After dinner, we walked much of the boardwalk all the way up to the World Trade Center, viewing many of the tall ships in the process. There was a 4 mast tall ship docked there that we wanted to see. We walked half way down the pier only to be told that the viewing area was closed...grrr...they could have at least let us know before we walked the quarter mile half way down the pier. From there, we took the T back to the airport where the shuttle picked us up and took us back to the hotel.
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