Boston

Whew!!! So, I am a little behind. We were 10 days gone - 4 to Brunswick and 6 to Boston. Of course I would like to share my pictures from Boston - but before I go there, let me just tell you that we took 171 pictures (and that was after editing/deleting pictures) and 3 videos from Boston - enough to fill up a 1 GB memory card. Guess how many of those pictures actually had people in them? Less than half of them and only one with the three of us. We did see lots of old and historic things. Our hotel was in Beacon Hill - which is a very expensive neighborhood (in fact, John Kerry lives there). We estimated that it would cost us over $1 million to have our same house (by square feet) in this neighborhood (and it's not near that in reality - thank goodness!). Lots of cool brownstones/townhomes and brick sidewalks and cobblestone streets. It was also the home to the Bull & Finch, which is now named after the sitcom that used the bar's entrance for its opening credits, Cheers. We took the Freedom Trail, which is a red line (either brick or painted) on the sidewalks throughout the downtown of Boston that connects all the old, important sites - from a few cemeteries where a lot of important people (like Mother Goose .. . and some other big names, you might have heard of - John Hancock, Sam Adams - there was a keg at his gravesite) are buried to Paul Revere's house to Bunker Hill. And guess where Daphne had the most fun? At the playgrounds, and luckily, there were a few along the way. I don't think she got much from all the history lessons.

Let's see, we also saw Harvard, Longfellow's (the author's) house, the USS Constitution - the oldest war boat still floating, Chinatown, Fenway Park, and we went to a St. Anthony's Feast - kind of like a Taste of Cincinnati - except it was all Italian and no alcohol. It reminded us more of a scene from the Godfather. A whole bunch of Italian men were carrying a statue of St. Anthony on their soldiers and several bands played. And we got to sample a Quahog dish. I went to Cape Cod several years ago and had Quahog chowder - of which, nobody has heard. It does exist and it tastes great. The list goes on - we like to cram as much as possible into our vacations. If you do decide to go to Boston with a stroller, just be advised that the Freedom Trail and some subway stations are not ADA compliant - meaning no elevator. Because we are tightwads, we decided to only use a subway around Boston. Getting off the airplane at 9:00am (after being awake from 4:30am to get to the airport and take the plane), we looked for the subway to take us to our hotel. Kevin had written down the station we needed to get to and we knew the hotel was 0.25 miles from the subway station. What we didn't know and anybody failed to tell us was that this subway station did not have an elevator. Picture this - 2 weary adults with 2 backpacks (one on each back) and another carry on stuffed in the stroller, 2 suitcases and a heavy duffle bag and a stroller with a 2 year old - carting all their crap up several flights of stairs to the middle of downtown Boston!!! What a sight we were. Good thing it was Sunday morning - I can't imagine what it would have been like during rush hour. Daphne in her throne/stroller was carried up and down too many stairs to count. Needless to say, we got some exercise on this trip. Hey! For all those people who recommended the DUKW tour - it was great! Thanks!

All right, have a good night! And if you really want to see all the Boston pictures - drop me a comment and I'll gladly send them all to you. And for those who are really lucky, I'll send Kevin's narration of the Freedom Trail too.

Cheers.

Make Way for the Ducklings - a famous book (Has anybody heard of it?)

A well-liked mayor of Boston.

Longfellow's house.

This was intended to be a picture in front of a Paul Revere statue - but isn't she just too cute!

John Harvard - who actually didn't start Harvard, just gave them a lot of money. You are supposed to rub his foot for luck. But Kevin said that people pee on the foot. Either way, we didn't touch it.

Frog Pond in the middle of Boston Common right before getting yelled at by some 12 year old with braces because Daphne wasn't allowed to be in it without a Swimmer diaper.

Ted Williams in front of Fenway Park.

Our DUKW boat. (And it is spelled that way - look it up!)

Mother Goose's gravesite.