Tuesday, June 9, 2009

A Day in Boston

I LOVE Boston! It's one of my very favorite cities. Some cities have a "feel" about them. Boston is one of those cities.

I love the people, I love the feel of it, I love all there is to do.
I love the geeky Harvard stuff.
I love the Boston sports stuff. I love the crazy Boston sports fans.
I love the historical stuff.
I love how it's right by the ocean.
I love the metro system.
I love the restaurants.
I love the TV stuff (Cheers).
I love that it's not terribly far from Plymouth, Newport, Lexington, Concord, or even NYC or DC or Philly.
I love how it has different parts with different feels, much like New York, but a more intimate feel.
I love the Boston accent (yes, mine shows through at times).
I love that people say "wicked good" and "wicked awww-some."
I love that I used to hang out there with my friends growing up.
I love that Boston hosts a "Scooper Bowl" every July that boasts a HUGE tent of over 40 different ice cream vendors--pay a small fee, go in, and scarf on ice cream and drink lots of water (I've met Ben and Jerry there!).
I love that I know my way around there fairly well.
I love that I grew up right near there.
I LOVE that I get to share it with my East Coast-loving husband and kids!


Riding the T


This is half the fun of visiting cities for kids


Eating at The Border Cafe
in Harvard Square


I LOVE taking my family here to eat! GREAT food. GREAT prices. And our server was an awesome Brazilian woman who spoke to us in Portuguese the entire time.


Visiting Harvard

Because why not? It's fun.
It's a gorgeous campus.



Doing the Freedom Trail

This was really fun and goes along with our study of American History. The kids also got to do the Junior Ranger program as part of it -- that's why they're holding booklets.

See the brick trail?

Visiting the Old South Meeting House

Then the cold got to us (yes, cold. In May. I know, but it's Boston, so what do you expect?) so Mark and I bought ourselves sweatshirts from a street vendor and the kids wore them to stay warm (the adult shirts cost a couple of dollars more than the kids' shirts and kids outgrow them so easily, so . . . )

In front of the Old State House -- also the site of the Boston Massacre
(did you know that started with a thrown snowball?)


Following the Freedom Trail

In front of Faneuil Hall and the statue of Samuel Adams

Inside Faneuil Hall is a working post office, numerous shops, and you can also go upstairs to the room where they'd have important meetings that lead to America's independence from the British, and the 4th floor has all kinds of artillery memorabilia.

We stopped in to see the shops and found a little something for Mark:


And a little something for me:


We then watched some CRAZY funny street performers-that was a lot of fun (though we've done a lot of reminding since then -- "Remember how they said NOT to try that at home?") outside of Quincy Market (another AWESOME place to browse--one of my favorites since it involves lots and lots of FOOD)

Walking the Freedom Trail

Mark and kids in front of Boston Garden
(in the background)

Our family visiting Paul Revere's House

The kids in front of Paul Revere's House-
I seriously love Boston.
This is also right near Little Italy, so we stopped at Mike's Pastry for some of their famous cannoli, too!

Paul Revere Statue
(and behind it is the Old North Church, but it's a bit overcast)
Mark and I have a picture of us here when we were freshmen in college

This was a really cool memorial set up on the grounds near
The Old North Church -- very moving

The Old North Church is still a place of worship today (can you imagine attending there? Getting married there??) and is reallllllly beautiful inside. This is a picture of a "3rd lantern" that still burns. Gerald Ford lit it in 1975 to represent America's 3rd century of freedom.

We RAN (boy did we run) back to the visitor's center (there was some misinformation - we thought we could do this at the Old North Church, but no) and the kids got sworn in as Junior Rangers (the college co-ed ranger was already out of uniform getting ready for her next job). The kids got badges and certificates. At 4:59 PM. Did I mention that we ran?

Delicious Cannolis


Tired, happy kids goofing around together

7 comments:

Dr. Mark said...

That was a really fun day! I love seeing the kids' faces as they enjoy the big city. And I agree--Boston is a great city with a great feel.

Emily said...

I've never been to Boston, it looks awesome! I would LOVE to visit Harvard sometime.

My parents went to Boston for the 4th of July a few years ago and they went crazy for it. Bought "Make Way for Ducklings" and saw the Boston Pops and everything. I would love that.

J Fo said...

What an amazing place. That looks like so much fun. I probably wouldn't see all of the amazing things that you guys do because I'm sure that I would get distracted byt the shopping!

Gary Foley said...

I a some vague recollection of doing a similar tour with you and Mark. What a great day that was. Thanks for the memories.

Jillo said...

Boston looks totally awesome! I need to add it to my list of places to see for sure.
Did you take home to life sized cardboard Obama? Or was it the shirt. I am kinda hoping it was Obama and you are going to put him in the lobby of your practise to greet everyone when they walk in. Wouldn't that be awesome?

April (Thorup) Oaks said...

This looks like such a great trip. I would love to go there.

Boquinha said...

No, we didn't buy any sports OR Obama stuff. We just took pictures with it all. :) If Obama hung out in our waiting room, he'd have to wear a business T-shirt advertising for us.