Boston! Part 2

We spent the day in Downtown Boston yesterday.
We started out the day by taking the wrong exit and ended up getting very lost in the heart of Boston ("Lost in Boston" sounds like a title, no?) but also got a very nice view of all the buildings! Boston is very unique. The buildings are all squished together with zigzagging streets. The buildings are a mixture of old buildings (from the 1700's) and new, modern, skyscrapers.
Here are some pictures I took:

After finally finding the suggested parking lot, we went on a 60 minute walking tour which led us to some historical sites.
One of the sites was this cemetery:

In the 1700's (I believe) this cemetery was downsized to make room for a church. The bodies were dug up and re-buried. Most of the gravestones don't actually go to the bodies that lay beneath! The tour guide said that there were about 6-8 bodies for each gravestone.

After the walking tour, we went to Starbucks for lunch. Yum yum. Made me think of home.

Then we took a picture of the location of the Boston Massacre. Tintin was taking it a little too seriously.

Hee hee... See the people staring in the background? I got a lot of strange looks. It was fun.

Then we headed to Paul Revere's house. No pictures were aloud inside the building. Too bad, it was a very interesting house. You walk in (we came in the back door) and the first room we found ourselves in was the kitchen. In Revolutionary War times only the rich could afford servants or slaves so Paul Revere's wife and daughters did all the cooking.

The next room was a dining room of sorts. It had a fainting couch in the corner and huge fireplace.

Then you head upstairs (passing the front door and the door to the basement). The room opening up from the staircase in the master bedroom/parlor. In those days, you would do all your entertaining in your bedroom! Don't ask me why. (Bill Cosby would say, "Stay vertical!")

The last room was a guest bedroom where Paul Revere's mother and one or two children would have slept. On the wall hung a sampler made by Paul Revere's granddaughter in the early 1800's. It was very beautiful! There was also a doll resembling Felicity and Elizabeth's dolls from the American Girl Doll collection (sadly, they are now retired. Dumb American Girl... *mutters* Although maybe I shouldn't say that because I'm going there tomorrow!).

There used to be a third level on the Revere house where the rest of the children would sleep (he had 14!) but it was taken down.

After the Revere house, we headed to the Old North Church. It is still an active place of worship as a Episcopal church.

Before we went in, we got some lemon ice:

This man was playing the guitar. He had brought an amplifier along. Smart!

Then as we walked towards the entrance of the church, we came across this memorial.

Although the dog tags were blank, each one represented a soldier killed in Afghanistan or Iraq. It was very nice. (except for the public school kids walking behind it, not knowing what it was or bothering to read the sign, running their hands through the tags making them jingle. I thought it was very disrespectful.)

Inside was beautiful. And very interesting! They had box seats.

There was also a beautiful old pipe organ.

Next we took a 20 minute walk to The Battle of Bunker Hill Memorial.

AKA, this building that I showed you last night:

All this time, we had been following "The Freedom Trail" which is a line of red brick (sometimes paint) that leads you to all the historical sites.

Here is Tintin sitting on it:

Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill (which were next to each other) were wanted both by the British and the colonists. The colonists stealthily took the two hills, but later lost them to the British.

There is a grassy hill surrounding the tower in the above picture. Across the street is a museum dedicated to the battle.

In the monument, there are 294 steps. You are able to climb them. My mom and I did it. We nearly died.

It is a very narrow, steep, spiral staircase. It didn't help that there was a group of middle schoolers rushing up and down the stairs. We had to stop and rest frequently. Mom said, "This is the only time I wish your Dad was here. Then he could have taken you up!" It was Mom's least favorite part of the day and my favorite. Hee hee.

From the top you could see everywhere!

Oh, and Tintin has ANOTHER new place! Squished underneath the camera.... Poor Tintin.

Then we walked over to the Bunker Hill Museum. They had some old swords..

This sword reminded me of Narsil, Aragorn's sword from Lord of the Rings.
"I did not know," he answered, "But I am Aragorn, and those verses go with that name." He drew out his sword, and they saw that the blade was indeed broken a foot below the hilt. "Not much use is it, Sam?" said Strider. "But the time is near when it shall be forged anew."
Sam said nothing.

Look at the miniatures on this diagram of the Battle of Bunker Hill!

Next we walked to the waterfront and took an impromptu tour of the U.S.S. Constitution. The Constitution is the oldest living battleship still afloat (there is another ship 30 years older than the Constitution but it is in permanent dry dock).

Our tour guide "Rod." This was her last tour before becoming a higher officer in the navy!

Cannons on the gun deck.

A cannon's view of life:

After the Constitution tour, we passed a ship in dry dock. Very interesting! Especially since this ship was from World War 2!

Then we caught a water taxi back to the car because we were exhausted and could not walk all the way back to the car on Shanks Ponies.

The Boston skyline:

Tomorrow we head into New York City. Please pray for us, as my mom does not like big cities.

I hope you are all having a great week!