A walk on the Freedom Trail

Saturday, June 30 (Day 5) — You quickly discover the folly of trying to pack too much adventure into too short a time when you encounter a city such as Boston. We knew a little of what to expect from having driven through it on I-93 yesterday, but seeing it from the freeway at 60 mph is a far different thing than trying to navigate its busy streets and figuring out how to hit all the historical sites you have to choose from. That was the challenge we faced today in trying to see it all and do it all in less than eight hours.

We didn't help our cause any by getting out of bed after 9 a.m. Once we'd showered and packed up the gear we wanted to take with us, then stopped for gas in Lowell, we were well on the way to 11:30 by the time we drove the 42 miles or thereabouts back to Boston. Once there, my powers of getting lost came into play as I took a wrong turn on I-93, in the middle of the tunnel, and found the Logan Airport. It seems like you have to work very hard to find your way to the things you want to see, but it is a simple matter to find the things you don't want to see, including air terminals and industrial zones. The price of my little detour was $3, which they assessed me as I entered a tunnel on the Masssachusetts Turnpike.

The good news was that the tunnel took us right into downtown Boston, also known as Government Center. We found a parking garage located near the Hard Rock Café  and let our eyes pop at the $29 fare for all-day parking. Then we ventured down onto State Street to check out the action along the city's Freedom Trail. What an incredible place! Boston has done an amazing job preserving its history amid towering skyscrapers and modern traffic congestion. It is much more pedestrian friendly than some cities, with the Freedom Trail linking all the popular tourist destinations in a roughly six-mile loop. One could easily spend a couple of days walking the entire trail, but by staying in the heart of the city we were able to see a good portion of the main attractions.

We started at Faneuil Hall, a stately red brick building that was constructed in 1742 and served as a commercial center and eventually a meeting hall prior to the Revolutionary War. The hall today is still used for commerce — in the form of vendors hawking a diverse number of souvenirs and other trinkets. We perused the selection until we heard the sounds of a fife and drum corps somewhere out in the square near Congress Street. A group of reenactors dressed as American patriots were entertaining a large crowd with music and military demonstrations. Being that the city is in the midst of its annual Harbor Fest celebration, there were plenty of reenactments on hand, and many attractions offered discounts on admission.

We finished looking about the Faneuil Hall and then crossed over into the Quincy Market, which is a block-long enclosed food bazaar. Outside the building are other shops selling merchandise, including the Cheers store dedicated to merchandise from the TV series of the same name. Somehow we managed not to buy anything there, but we did take some cheesy photos of ourselves next to cardboard cutouts of the main characters.

We followed State Street out to the Long Wharf that overlooks Boston Harbor. This took us up to lunch time, so when we returned to the Quincy Market we picked up some clam chowder, lobster bisque, and a codfish pie that Roni and I split. It sounds sort of gross, but it was excellent. They really know how to do fish here.

After lunch we followed the Freedom Trail as far as Boston Common. The trail is literally marked in red paint on the asphalt in the streets. When it meets the curb, the line is indicated in bricks embedded in the sidewalk. We investigated the Old State House, the Old South Meeting House, and the King's Chapel with its famous Pioneer cemetery. There is another cemetery, the Old Granary Burial Ground, located behind the Park Street Church on Tremont Street where John Hancock and Paul Revere are buried, as are the parents of Benjamin Franklin. The grave markers are made from slate and carved with interesting pictures — winged skulls symbolizing death. The Puritans had a thing against graven images, but because the cemeteries were located on mostly public lands they were administered by secular authorities who considered adornments of headstones art. Thus, the grave markers were not specifically a religious expression, which is how they got away with the carvings of skulls and angels.

By the time we reached Boston Common it was already coming up on 4 p.m. and we were tired from a long but interesting walk. We checked out the monument to the Boston Massacre and decided to head back toward the car. On the way there we returned to the marketplace and picked up some postcards and a few other souvenir items. Ben was delighted to find a stand devoted to selling items having to do with cats. He bought a couple of signs to hang in his room when we get home.

Before getting back in the car, we checked out the farmers market that had been going on close to the parking garage. The vendors were tearing down for the day and offering a number of bargains. Ben, the fruit lover in our family, picked up 15 plums for a buck. We can't get them at our local grocery store for under $4 a pound. He also bought some nectarines before Roni told him not to buy anymore fruit because we have no way to keep it fresh. I was tempted by the offer of cheese bricks for $2 each, but for the same reason as the fruit I decided against it.

Our final stop in Boston was the Bunker Hill Monument, which is part of the Freedom Trail but at the north side of town across the Charles River. We drove down narrow Hanover Street, which early in the evening is jammed with cars and folks heading to the restaurants. We saw the U.S.S. Constitution as we crossed the Charlestown Bridge, but we didn't stop to look about. Bunker Hill was easy to get to because there was available curb parking and it was free. I took many, many photos — almost 400 images — just of Boston.

It was just about 7 p.m. and we were back to Lowell with a little time to spare (we thought) once we found dinner. It would have been great to get back to the hotel room before dark. Of course, that was before we wound up driving all over creation looking for a family restaurant that we never found. We wound up eating at the 99 Bar & Grill a mile from our hotel. The food was decent and I had worked up an appetite from the walk, so we all ordered ice cream sundaes to wash down our dinners. Ben struck up a rapport with our waiter and spent most of the meal watching the Texas Rangers/Boston Red Sox game that was on every TV in the place.

I'm pretty zonked tonight, as I have been every day this trip. I don't foresee that changing tomorrow when we tackle the NASCAR race at New Hampshire International Speedway. That's another early day out the door and it's 1 a.m. now, so I'm outta here for tonight.