Thursday April 25, Boston

A short walk from my hotel to the railway station and I was there in plenty of time to catch the train onto Boston South. I met Peeka in the station and so we started out on the Freedom Trail in reverse order as the restaurant was nearer the beginning than the end.

First stop, the Boston Tea Party, and I remember learning about it so long ago at school! Already I am seeing that Boston is such a mix of the very old and the new. We then caught the ferry across to the Charlestown Shipyard and visited the USS Constitution, or Old Ironsides. She is kept in superb condition and is still in commission as she is used on various special days such as Independence Day. We were just in time for a guided tour of the ship and it is free! It was very interesting as we went down one deck to the Gun deck, where in addition to housing the guns, the food was also cooked. Below that was the sleeping and eating deck. A mess of about ten or so sailors would eat at a time and the food was brought down to them from above. The officers’ quarters and mess was separated from the ordinary sailors’ area. Sailors slept for about four or five hours in shifts until woken by the next person who was due for some sleep. There was a fresh water allocation from the scuttlebutt and a tot was also handed out, these had to be drunk straight away to stop sailors selling their tot.

From here we walked back round towards the city itself passing fairly close to Bunker Hill. We walked through the Italian quarter and how different it is to the rest of Boston, full of little shops, cafes and restaurants as well as a few people sitting in front of their house in the sun chatting. It was all very quaint! We shared a pizza for lunch from one of the better pizza places.  We passed the House where Paul Revere lived but did not go in. Old City Hall has so much more character then the replacement! We spent a few minutes browsing a market and went into a souvenir place where I purchased a few bits and pieces to take back to New Zealand with me. We visited the North End Church where the planning took place to thwart a British plan.

We then visited the two oldest graveyards in Boston, dating back to the 1860s including the one where Paul Revere is buried. We walked through a beautiful Park that has the Swan boats and this was taking us towards the end of our walk. One of the things I had forgotten was that Boston is Kennedy country and we saw Trinity Church where JFK was married. This then took us into the area where the Boston Marathon ends.

The bombing took place a wee bit before the end of the race and it was sobering to see a couple of places boarded up as well as a memorial in coronet of a shop window. This area had only been opened up to the public the day before. So finally on to the restaurant, Island Bay Oyster Box, and quite a walk it was! We arrived right on time!! By this time I was feeling a bit walked out! The service was excellent and the food was very good but just when we were set to leave no one was around to give us our bill. Finally, we got it and it held us up just enough that, together with quite a walk to the railway station meant I missed my train by 7 minutes. So it was taxi or wait another one and a quarter hours for the next train. The taxi won out so I accompanied Peeka on the metro to her stop as it would be nearer to my destination. Still $40.00+ later it was an expensive miss!! I was very tired but happy after a wonderful day with a very informative guide but did manage to finish my packing and get to bed before midnight.