Actual Boston Vacation Day 1 - The Freedom Trail pt 1

[Eds. Note: Apologies for the dearth of pictures associated with the first few days of the vacation wrap-up. Sweetie normally takes the majority of the still pictures whilst I man the video camera. She had a memory card go bad, and we lost the photos from these first few days.]

It being Boston, we decided to do the Freedom Trail, a 2 1/2 mile trail through Boston (physically marked in the city by a brick path or a painted red line) that passes by sites with historical significance, many of them from the late-Colonial/Revolutionary War period, but also some from more recent times. The whole thing is now part of a public/private partnership between the NPS and the private groups that had previously been preserving and sharing these sites with the public.

We decided to do the Charlestown section on Sunday, since the USS Constitution was only open to tours Thu-Sun. It was also Father's Day, so there was an extended breakfast at which much family was present (five fathers and nine children with mothers as well). So we got a bit of a late start. We took the T from Cambridge (where we were staying) to the Boston Common.

The visitor's center there in the park was under construction, which made the start of the trail less impressive - plastic sheeting and scaffolding and all. Since we were doing the Charlestown bit, we walked directly to the NPS office to pick up Jr. Ranger booklets. While there, Grandpa bought tri-cornered hats for the Things. Thing 1 immediately put on his hat and wore it the rest of the trip. Thing 2 insisted on wearing his Boston Redsox hat. [Turns out, when you're in Boston, complete strangers will comment on the quality of the Redsox if you are wearing their cap. Curiously, it seems like equal portions of comments are for and against the Sox. Damn Yankees.]  From there, we walked down towards Long Wharf to catch a ferry over to the Charlestown Navy Yard. Since it was lunchtime, we stopped at Quincy (pronounced "Quinzy" locally) Market and had a bite a a local establishment. There was a "living statue" street performer there who drew quite a crowd.

After lunch, we had a bit of walking around all over Long Wharf (due to bad signage and bad directions), we finally discovered which dock we were supposed to be on to catch the ferry. After a lovely ride with nice views of the city, we arrived at the Navy Yard and strode over to the Constitution complex.

The USS Constitution is actually an active ship-of-the-line - the oldest active warship in the world - so it is in a Naval installation and the tours are run by active duty sailors. (Good gig if you can get it.) After going through security, and looking around the visitor's center displays, we waited for the guided tour. The tour of the ship was very interesting. We learned why she was called 'Old Ironsides', what a scuttlebutt was, and to duck your head pretty much all the time when below decks.

From there, we walked over to Bunker Hill. There is an enormous obelisk at the site of the battle, which at one time you could climb up like the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., but right now it's under repair. We saw the statues of William Prescott and Dr. Joseph Warren, and heard a Ranger talk about the battle. Across the street from the monument is a small museum, which we stopped by to see the diorama of the battle and buy some water.

That concluded our visit to that section of the Freedom Trail, so we headed home. The Things were pretty worn out. (I think Grandpa was, too.) We returned via T from the Community College stop, which is at the college where some scenes from Good Will Hunting were filmed (you like apples?).

A successful day one, ended with more good times with family. Vacation is good for the soul.