Freedom Trail - Part 2

Paul Revere's House

Paul Revere lived in this house for 30 years. He married once to Sarah and had 8 children and when Sarah died, he married again and had 8 more children (of the 16, 5 of the children died in infancy).

It was a typical middle class house in the 1700's and had 3 floors originally.
Just a short walk down the Freedom Trail is the Old North Church. Still open and having Sunday services.
The Old North Church is historical because it is where the signal from Paul Revere was sent to the Patriots that the British were coming. One lantern by land and two if by sea. Two lanterns were held up for less than 1 minute. During that time, the Patriots saw the signal, but so did the British. At that time, the land was under Marshall Law and no one was to be out after dark. The British soldiers marched to the church and by the time they were at the front door, the signalman who was the church sexton, Robert Newman, was just reaching the ground floor. As the soldiers banged on the door, the signalman escaped out a back window. Read the full story here.
Back in the day, there was no heating in the church, so they built these boxed pews to help keep the warmth in. You had to buy these pews and the closer to the front you were, the more your pew costs. In the 1700's the front pew cost 70 english pounds, the equivalent today of $25,000. Yikes!!! I usually try to dodge the front and sit somewhere in the middle, I guess I should appreciate those free front seats!
The pews came empty. You had to build your own seats and you could fix it up any way you chose. The owners used to put wallpaper up and pictures, bring chairs and foot warmers.

The Freedom Trail - part one

If you want to see the main historical sites in Boston, you would follow the Freedom Trail. This is an easy walk of about 90 minutes. We cheated and took the hop on, hop off Trolley between stops, but always found the Freedom Trail at every major site.

It looks like this and is very easy to follow because it is so clearly marked.

On our walk to Bunker Hill, which is a slight incline, an ice cream truck was waiting displaying this sign: Ice Kold Watta. No Rs in Boston, but I don't know why the word cold is spelled with a K.
HH in front of the Bunker Hill Monument. It is really located on Breeder's Hill, but the history books got it wrong long ago and the name stuck. Bunker Hill is down the road. We lost this battle, but it was significant because we really wounded them and probably would have won if we hadn't run out of ammunition.

This is a beautiful view of the Customs House. We could see this building from our hotel.

Quincy Market, now a food hall surrounded by uptown, chic shopping. By the time we reached here it was lunch time and as we were walking through, everything smelled delicious. We had a slice of pizza and Indian Food. They both smelled so good and we couldn't make up our mind, so we shared and it turned out to be really good.

The dome inside Quincy Market.

Faneuil Hall

Now a touristy shopping place downstairs, but upstairs, are the meeting rooms where great speeches and plans were made by our Founding Fathers.

This is inside Boston Public Garden. I don't know the name of the church that is on that corner, but it sure is pretty.

The statue of George Washington in BPG.

This is the pretty little lake in BPG. The wind was blowing really hard on that day, so the lake looks a little choppy and the famous Swan Boats were not running.

A nice passerby offered to take our picture. Turned out pretty good even though the wind is blowing so hard.

U.S.S. Constitution - Old Ironsides

USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat in the world. Launched in 1797, Constitution was one of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794.

Sailor in his uniform. The girls and the guys wear this uniform.

The USS Constitution is most famous for her actions during the War of 1812 against Great Britain, when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships: HMS Guerriere, Java, Pictou, Cyane and Levant. The battle with Guerriere earned her the nickname of "Old Ironsides" and public adoration that has repeatedly saved her from scrapping. When in battle with Guerriere, the captain of the Constitution waited until they were 25 yards away from the HMS Guerriere before giving the order to fire. The battle lasted 30 minutes and the Constitution was the winner. She is undefeated in battle. She is made of two types of Oak and the canon balls from the HMS Guerriere either stuck in her side or bounced off her sides, thus earning her the nickname "Old Ironsides".
When we got to this deck, the third deck down, the tour guide asked us to close our eyes and that pitch black darkness is what the sailors would see when they came down here. There were no port holes, no electricity and the sailors couldn't see anything. They slept in these hammocks, only 4 hours at a time. Sailors with senority got the outer hammocks because they had more room around them. The newbies got only 18 inches in width of space.
This was the grandiose Captain's quarters on the second deck down. Man, he had it made. Not only did he get this nice bed, but he had a nice living room, his own cook, and dining room.

The tour was very interesting and took only 30 minutes. The Navy is currently working on restoring her masts. She will sail in 2013 to commemorate her anniversary.

The Boston Inter-Continental/Waterfront

Boston Inter-Continental, Waterfront

The Handsome Husband had a convention to attend from Sunday to Wednesday afternoon in Boston. I flew in late Tuesday night and joined him at the Marriot Copley Plaza. The Marriott may be a great convention hotel, but it was in great need of updating. The rooms were basic. The bathroom was so small you had to go around the door to use the toilet and there was only 2 feet of space to primp in the mirror. I hated this hotel room. We changed on Wednesday to the Inter Continental on the waterfront (this was pre-planned). HH was glad to get away from all the business and retire to a more anonymous hotel. Needless to say, this hotel was FANTASTIC!

This is what our hotel faced. Beautiful park like strip running down the middle of the street.

The lobby was chic and comfortable. The bar down at the end of this corridor was rockin' every night.

Great seating areas in the lobby.

Our room. Very comfortable, loved the little chaise lounge. We had a view of the harbor. The bathroom was gigantic. I loved the little reading lamps on both sides of the bed.

Our view.

This was the outside patio along the river front. I totally recommend this hotel. It was not in the middle of the city, but was within walking distance or $5.00 cab ride. It was a five minute walk from the Aquarium and where you caught all the trolley's for sight-seeing.

Spring in Boston

You're looking at my new screensaver. I just love the bright colors of this photo. It makes me happy when I look at it! Boston was filled with tulips! Every flower bed had rows and rows of them. They are so colorful and perky.
These dazzling yellow and orange ones were in the Boston Public Garden, which was a beautiful public park. So soothing and graceful. I could spend hours there. I wish we had a space like this. The trees were majestic and there was so much shady space to lounge and picnic. Southern California just doesn't have parks like this.
These beauties were outside the Trinity Church and across from the Boston Public Library.

This little flower bed was in Revere Square in front of Paul Revere's house.

They are all so different. This one had shredded edges.

This pretty little doorway reflected a trend that I saw all along the doorways: Urns planted with low plants and filled with pussy willows to give height and texture. Loved it.

This pretty little garden caught my eye.

There were cherry blossoms everywhere.

This pretty little planter was outside out hotel on the water front. Loved the little umbrella/weeping tree.

Boston was the most amazing city. Big skyscrapers and intimate, ornate buildings. SO CLEAN, SO SAFE!!! It had an open yet cozy feel. I loved it. Greenery and flowers everywhere. So much character. Easy to navigate and so filled with history. If I were to pick a favorite big city in the US, I would have to say Boston (sorry, Rachel).

So I learned something on my trip to Boston...

In the 1700's when a man dressed in this style: velvet coat, silk stockings, polished buttons, braided cord, ruffled shirt, etc. it was called macaroni. The style was over the top, not every day wear for most. We saw a beautiful outfit owned by John Hancock (who by the way, was way smaller than me) and they called it macaroni. The Handsome Husband connected a dot for me...

Yankee Doodle went to town,

Riding on a pony,

Stuck a feather in his hat

and called it MACARONI!!!

Ahhh, it all makes sense now!

I just thought the songwriter was off his noodle, until now!