Shippin' Up to Boston, Whoa-oah-oah!

Day 4

It's Wednesday, July 2nd, and we're heading into BOSTON for the day! We leave the cottage at 7:00 a.m. and Grandma drives us into Portsmouth to catch the coach that will take us right into downtown. The bus ride into Boston takes about an hour and a half, so we arrive in Boston at roughly 9:30 a.m. Perfect time to figure out our plan for the day!

I call Lew, who is the father of one of my coworkers, and who lives in Boston. Lew recommends that we take the trolley tour of the city. We inquire about said tour and decide that this is the way to go! We buy our tickets, hop outside, and away we go.

The trolley tour is an all day, hop-on, hop-off trolley bus that runs a circuit all around and through the historic areas of Boston. You can get on or off where ever you want, all day long. The trolley tour also includes an hour long harbor cruise. Being about 10:00 in the morning, we decide to do the harbor cruise now, as to avoid as much potential for sunburn as possible. We board the boat, make our way to the topmost deck, and away we go!

On the harbor cruise, we see the Logan Int'l Airport (or at least we see the planes taking off and landing just at the edge of the harbor), we see the old historic piers, we get a fantastic view of Boston disappearing behind us, and lastly, we pull up along "Old Ironsides." This is the U.S.S> Constitution; the oldest active duty military ship in the country. Old Ironsides is called this because the hull of the ship is 21" of solid oak, and in battle, other ship's canons would just about bounce off the sides of the ship. The other battle ships were convinced that the U.S.S. Constitution must be made of iron.

We do not get off the cruise at the Constitution, but rather make our way back to the boat launch where we first caught the cruise. We get back on the Trolley and ride it over to near Faneul Hall ad Quincy Market at the north side of town. We walk around Faneul Hall and through the market place looking for a restaurant that Clint ate at the last time he was in Boston a couple of years ago. Clint remembers this restaurant as having the best prime rib that he has ever eaten! We walk and walk and walk, and we cannot find this said restaurant. We leave the Quincy marketplace and start walking toward little Italy in search of lunch and canoli.

We find a great trattoria with outdoor seating and decide that this looks promising. Part way through our meal, the skies get dark and a wind comes through that just about pulls the umbrellas right out of the tables! A few minuets later, though, the sun reappears and we are comfortable enough to finish eating out lunch. Afterwards, we find Modern Pastry with the most amazing canolis I have ever seen. I must break my diet, and Clint and I share a canoli. Holy canoli, this canoli is amazing!

Minutes later, we are walking past some of the points of interest on the Freedom trail, such as Paul Revere's House and the bronze statue of Mr. Revere. As we are in the plaza with the statue, I tell Clint that I want to buy a hoodie from Boston, and we find a vendor just a few feet away. As we walk up, we notice that the guy is gathering up all of his products and covering everything with plastic bags. Hmmm, strange. Clint and I each find a cool hoodie, pay the guy and walk away.

BOOM! CRASH! Not thirty seconds after purchasing our hoodies, the sky opens up and thunder and lightning crash down on top us. Literally RIGHT on top of us. IT starts pouring rain, and we run like crazy to find cover. The closest place that we find is the Old North Church. This is the church that Paul Revere allegedly rode from, where the lanterns were hung to notify the army that the British were coming by land or by sea. "One if by land, two if by sea." This meant that in the steeple of the church, they would hang one lantern if the armies were coming by land, two lanterns if they were approaching from the sea. From this point, the story of Paul Revere's Midnight Ride appears. In actuality, it was not Paul Revere who rode to alert the armies, but it makes for a good story.

We listen to the story about the Old North Church, Paul Revere's ride, etc. When the presentation is over, we check out the front door, and, well, it's still pouring rain. Being from Seattle, we shrug our shoulders and decide to head out regardless. After no more than five minutes, we realize that this was a BAD idea, as we are soaked to the bone. Oh well, too late now.

We take shelter in some brink archways in the buildings, but this is little help. We find our closest trolley stop, board with the other damp and soggy riders, and return to the bus station where we decide that we've had enough fun for one day, and head home.