Day21 – 6/10/2019 – Around and About Boston

So…we decided not to go to the ballgame. Basically, we ran out of time. But after all it’s just the Red Sox so it’s not like it’s a big deal. And that way I can update the blog tonight. I know you’re anxiously waiting.

The morning started with breakfast on the deck.

Then it was off to “do Boston.”

Here’s the warning. The first part of this post will chronicle our walk along the Freedom Trail. If you’ve been there/done that, feel free to skip to the afternoon section.

If you’re still with me our adventure started as we trooped down the street (8 blocks) to the T stop. We boarded our blue line train and got off 3 stops later – very convenient. From there Chris left us to check out a gallery he was particularly interested in and the rest of us headed to Faneuil Hall to check in at the visitor center and pick up the Freedom Trail.

Faneuil Hall is undergoing some rehab work. They need to take a lesson from the Germans who have learned the value of covering the project with cloth imprinted with an image of the building they are working on.

From there we backtracked to the Old Statehouse and the site of the Boston Massacre.

Then it was “follow the red brick path” as we trekked thru history.

The next stop was the Paul Revere house where we learned about his life and about the famous ride that Longfellow so ably romanticised.

After that we headed to Old North Church.

We didn’t pay to go inside but we did get a peak thru the doors and we got to talk about the pew boxes and such.

From there it was just a short walk up the hill to the Copps Hill Burying Ground where Jesse was interested in the skull engravings on many of the headstones.

Next we took a short cut back to Faneuil Hall (I’m convinced we kept focusing on Faneuil Hall so I’d learn how to spell it.) where we met Kim’s good friend Rebecca

Rebecca has the honor of being the person who introduced Kim and Chris to each other.

She is a fellow ethnomusicologist teaching at Northeastern and she came into town to join us for lunch. We wandered a bit around the Quincy Marketplace

and eventually settled on a Japanese Fusion kind of restaurant. Just as we got there Chris joined us and we had a great lunch and Kim, Chris, and Rebecca had fun catching up with each other.

After lunch we made a quick stop at the Ghirardelli store for Ice cream

With all due respect to Ben and Jerry’s, this is what ice cream is supposed to taste like.

Before walking over to the New England Aquarium.

It should be noted that by this time S was asleep in his stroller. But that’s OK. He was comfortable and peacefully sleeping so we wheeled him in and got about the business of enjoying this most excellent aquarium. We split up and agreed to meet in an hour. Here’s a bit of what we saw:

There was a large section devoted to Penguins – several different species.

Here it was feeding time. They keep careful records of who eats how much.

Penguins carefully inspecting the work of one of their rock cleaners.

I was particularly interested in their display of “prehistoric fish” – fish that look pretty much the same as those in the fossil record. This is a rope fish.

Sea Dragon – a relative of the sea horse

Lobster coming out of his cave to say “Hi.”

They also have a massive 4 story Ocean tank – with several sea turtles

It was feeding time and they put on a show of feeding especially the larger fish by hand.

The rays, in particular, were all over the diver.

So right about the designated meet-up time S woke up. And wanted to see the fish. And the penguins. And such. So Cheryl, Jesse, and I hung out while Spencer toured the aquarium. Cheryl and Jesse read. I slept.

S did get to see a seal training session at their mammal training facility.

Both boys enjoyed the ray and shark petting tank.

Eventually it was time to go. Unfortunately it was too early for dinner, and there was nothing to eat out by our apartment (including in our refrigerator). So we hopped the T and made our way downtown to the Boston Common.

Where we got our 6th and final state capitol photo

Complete with the obligatory frolicking in the lawn.

Apparently there’s some big hockey tournament going on and a team from Boston is involved.

Dinner was at a boutique pizza place, followed by a walk thru Chinatown and a stop at a rolled ice cream shop.

Then it was back to the T and our journey to the apartment. Along the way we noticed an interesting sculpture.

Arriving at the apartment we spent a bit of time discussing tomorrow. Since our flight home leaves at 0-dark:30 on Wednesday we will move to an airport hotel tomorrow. That adds some logistical interest to the day as we pack up, get all our stuff to the hotel in time for our apartment check-out and then proceed to our final day in Boston. It’s gonna be interesting.

So for now we rest our weary bones (The phone says we walked just over 8 miles today.) and get ready for the final day of our adventure.

Nite all, R