Boston Trip - Day 5 - Prudential Tower, Sunset Cruise

We took it easy on our last full day in Boston and watched a World Cup game in the morning. Afterwards, we stopped by the harbor to get some cruise tickets, then went to the Boylston Street area. We were headed for the Prudential Tower observation deck, but stopped first to see Old North Church and Trinity Church.

This street is also the location of the Boston Marathon finish line (and of the 2013 bombing).

After looking at the churches, we rode the elevator up to the 50th floor of Prudential Tower to get a panoramic view of Boston, complete with audio tour.

It's a great view of the area and the tour was pretty good, too.

We tried to get a lobster roll for dinner, but the restaurant we chose had a long wait time. We waited for a while in a local park, but ended up getting some hummus-pita sandwiches which we ate by the harbor while waiting for our cruise.

The cruise left before sunset and took us out into the harbor.

We got some great views of the city and the sunset.

It was a nice way to spend the last bit of our vacation.

We had joked that we had to try every Boston specialty, and had to laugh when we found these "Boston" baked beans in a 7-11 that night.

We thought we'd missed out on the lobster roll when we didn't make it into that restaurant, but we found a Legal Seafood at our airport gate the next morning, so we checked the last food off the list before we flew home.

 

Boston Trip - Day 4 - Freedom Trail

Friday was my first free day, so after switching to our hotel in Boston, we decided to walk the Freedom Trail.

It starts at the information kiosk in Boston Common, where you follow an inlayed brick line.

The first stop is the State House, with its distinctive gold dome.

Next we passed the Park Street Church, and visited the Granary Burial Ground, where Paul Revere, John Hancock, Mother Goose, and others are buried.

Next along the trail was King's Chapel and its next door graveyard.

One of the things Amber wanted to do while we were in Boston was try all the Boston foods. We had already had oysters, lobsters, and clam chowder, so when we walked by Parker House Hotel, birthplace of the Boston cream pie, we had to stop by and get one (along with some famous Parker rolls).

We got back on the trail which led us to Old City Hall, where we found a statue of Benjamin Franklin, and a statue of a donkey, with footprints where you could "stand in opposition".

The following stop was one we'd accidentally found several times already, the Old State House, site of the Boston Massacre.

We found some redcoats there, but thankfully no massacre.

We walked through Faneuil Hall Marketplace, where a Samuel Adams statue hangs out, then took the tour of Paul Revere's house across the street from our favorite Italian restaurant. We found Paul Revere himself, in statue form, at the Old North Church, where the two lanterns were hung.

From there we crossed the river into Charlestown, where two of the more fun parts of trail are located. The first is the Bunker Hill Monument.

We got passes and climbed up all 294 steps to see the view from the top.

The second is the USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides".

We got to climb all over the ship. We fired some cannons from the deck.

And inspected the bigger cannons a level below.

And checked out our sleeping quarters the level below that.

I eventually worked my way up to helmsman.

While Amber became captain of her own Navy destroyer.

After our tour of the Constitution, we wandered the docks. The USS Cassin Young was closed, so we couldn't tour that, but we found some guns to play with.

And found some nice views of Boston.

The Freedom Trail was at an end, so we walked back to Boston, stuffed ourselves at Falafel King, then crashed at the hotel.

Boston Trip - Day 3 - Fenway, Chinatown, Italian food

It was the last day of the conference. After I finished up, we walked across the river to Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox.

We were hoping to take one of the last tours of the day, but because of a concert they had already stopped giving tours that day. Instead we walked around the stadium and stopped in the fan shop to buy a magnet.

With some time on our hands, we wandered through the community gardens, then to the fen for which Fenway is named.

The fen is now mostly a picturesque park.

When we ran out of park, we took the train from the Museum of Fine Arts back to downtown Boston. We ended up wandering through Chinatown, but we weren't in the mood for Chinese food.

We eventually decided on Italian food. A quick glance at google maps showed a very high concentration of Italian restaurants in one area, which we assumed was some kind of Little Italy. We passed restaurant after restaurant full of people, before turning down a side street and finding one that was completely empty. With the exception of another group that came in later that appeared to know the owners, we were the only diners. Despite our fears it was a mob front, the food was delicious.

Afterwards we found it was across the street from Paul Revere's house, which we toured the next day, but we had fun exploring the neighborhood before heading back to the hotel.

Boston Trip - Day 2 - Cambridge, Harvard, Birthday!

On the second day of the conference, Amber explored some sites of literary significance she figured I wouldn't be interested in. When I was done for the day, we set off north to explore Cambridge. We walked along the river until we got to Harvard. We explored the streets around until we found the gates to Harvard Yard.

The inner campus is very nice and we enjoyed seeing the old buildings and even Mr. Harvard himself.

We even wandered into an open Annenberg Hall, where I managed to get this picture before we were kicked out because of an event.

Since it was my birthday, and the company was paying for my dinner, I decided to have lobster. We found a cozy little place near Harvard where I tucked into this little guy (along with a few more oysters).

Boston Trip - Day 1 - Boston

I got to attend a 3-day conference in Boston this year, and invited Amber to come with me. Grandma Anne passed away right before the trip and her funeral was held on the weekend we were planning on sightseeing together. Getting Amber to California didn't end up working out, but Amber's mom had come to watch the kids, so she took our kids to the funeral and a week of hanging out with their grandparents while we toured Boston.

The conference was actually across the Charles River in Cambridge, where we had this view of Boston.

Amber went exploring while I attended the conference, then I joined her for a quick tour of downtown Boston. It's a pretty small place and we stumbled on lots of famous locations, like the site of the Boston Massacre.

We checked out the Boston Tea Party Museum to see if it was worth doing later (too expensive).

And wandered around Boston Common, where we found this monument.

We were planning on seeing these places later anyway, but one place I was pleasantly surprised to bump into unexpectedly was the bar that was the inspiration for Cheers.

Since I had a meal budget through work, we went to a fancy schmancy oyster bar for dinner. It was crowded enough on a Tuesday night that we had to wait a half hour a table.

Amber got clam chowder and I got fluke, and we each got an oyster. It was pretty good.