Boston

I had the opportunity to go to Boston for a work trip recently.  I took some time I had to walk the "Freedom Trail" which normally is about 1 mile, but can be extended to 2.5 miles.  Of course, I did the extended walk.  There are many sights along the trail - cemeteries, buildings, houses, museums, churches and monuments that relate back to the history of the United States.  

I was trying to beat a storm that was coming in, so I was walking fast and almost stopped the walk twice because it started to rain.  I kept going, and the rain stopped......until the last 1/2 mile..then it poured!

I got to know the excellent subway system in Boston - there is no need to have a car in the greater downtown area, or near any of the 6+ Universities there.  The subway system is reliable, fast and super easy, and I learned it very well!

Map of the subway system.  My hotel was right about in the middle where the green and orange lines are closest

View out my hotel window...I was on the 34th floor, in the downtown area

This is the Massachusetts State House (Capital) and is the first stop on the Freedom Walk.  It was completed in 1798,  John Hancock owned the land and he was the first Governor of Massachusetts.  Paul Revere and his Sons were commissioned in 1802 to cover the wooden dome with copper, and in 1874 that was replaced with 23-karat gold leaf.  

As you can imagine, the inside of the State House is beautiful and extremely ornate.  You can do a self guided walking tour

House of Representatives, of course

There was brief window of time that a school group was coming out on their tour, and I got to go in behind them to see.  When I left, the doors were promptly locked and only opened on a guided tour!

This is a one of a kind iron railing and only exists here.  Once the cast was made, and railing made, the cast was destroyed so no other building would have the same decorative railing

Look at the top of the light - there is a fish -  the "sacred cod".  This fish hangs in all of the rooms or is on the wall somewhere in the official rooms.  It's a reminder of the booming fishing trade that started Massachusetts and brought prosperity to the people there.

Better look at the fish

The brick path.  This path runs the entire 2.5 miles of the Freedom Walk and guides you so you won't get lost.  Just follow the red brick path.  Ok, in some places where there was construction and stuff, it was gone..but only for a very short time.

This is the most visited burying ground in Boston - Granary Burying Ground, because it was very close to Boston's first granary.  Some of those buried here are John Hancock, Samuel Adams, many governors, Paul Revere, Ben Franklin's parents and possibly Mother Goose!

Most of the tombstones are so weathered, you can't even see any of the writing on them anymore

Along the sidewalk at the sight of Boston's first school

Paul Revere's house - had to pay money to go inside

Paul Revere Square and monument representing his ride. The church in the background is where he hung the lanterns.....one if by land...two if by sea....

He would have hung the lanterns in the top of the steeple

Along my walk, I passed this "Skinny House" -  it's only 10 feet wide and 30 feet long.  There is no mention of it on the Freedom Trail map though, so I had to look it up.  Seems that there were two brothers around the time of the Civil War.  One of the brothers returned from the war to find his sibling built a large house on land they inherited from  their father.  The brother felt like his brother's house was too large and unfairly took up most of the land that was supposed to be divided equally.  So the house-less brother, built this smaller house the rest of the land and purposely built it here to block the sunlight of his brothers house and ruin the view for him.  It's also called the "Spite House"

It's now privately owned and sits among many apartments.

The weather is getting colder and windy......I now had to cross the river for the last two sights on the trail, which was almost still a mile away.  I walked faster.

Crossing the river was along a bridge with cars going over, and the "road" and walkway was this metal mesh - you could see down to the water

I finally made it to the 2nd to last thing to see - the Bunker Hill Monument.  Notice the brick path on the left of the photo.  The Battle of Bunker Hill was one of the bloodiest battles of the American Revolution.  "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!".  This 221 foot granite obelisk sits on a hill where this first battle took place.  It's actually a National Monument, and is free and you can walk up to the top.  

It was starting to sprinkle....I walked faster!

It was very cold inside the stairwell.  Much colder than it was outside.  In the winter, the stairs are often closed because they are icy.  It was a lot of climbing!!!

Wow.. climbing 22 stories was much harder than I thought it would be.  After a lot of rests, I finally made it to the top!!

I hurried back down, as the sprinkles were turning into rain but I still had one more stop...the USS Constitution which was about 1/2 mile away.  Well, I wasn't able to beat the rain. It poured...and I was very wet......I skipped the ship and thought I would come back the next day just for that...as the weather was supposed to be ok for a brief window of time that I could squeeze in.

After walking the 2.5 miles, the only way to get back, was to either walk all the way back, or walk back a mile to the subway, or take a short 7 minute ferry ride.  Since I had a subway pass, and it worked on the ferry, that was my choice.  It only came every 30 minutes, and there were about 5 of us waiting, in the pouring rain for it to arrive.  The other suckers, being visitors too, were not too smart and just stood there in the rain, getting soaked.  But me, a little smarter, walked a short ways off and found a little spot under an awning and didn't get rained on any more.

Riding the ferry back.

The next day, (my birthday!) after some morning classes, I had some free time so I thought I would try go visit the ship again.  I walked a short distance from the hotel to the subway for a few stops....then got off and got on the ferry going over to the area I was at the day before.

This too was a free site, and you only had to show a photo ID for security reasons

The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. (There were six of them) It was launched in Boston in 1797 and played an important role in the War of 1812.  British cannonballs appeared to bounce off the impenetrable hull and the sailors gave the ship the nickname of an iron ship - Old Ironsides.

I had to duck walking in here.  Maybe the sailors back then were short??

Looking in to the Captain's Quarters

The rest of the men slept on these hanging hammocks

Leaving the shipyard provided a good view of the Bunker Hill Monument.   You can see the weather was much better....but that didn't last, as it turned rainy, extremely rainy, about 1 hour later

Then it was back to  my conference!