Couples Trip Day 2

Day 2 saw a lot of walking and a lot of history in Boston. Boston has a two and a half mile long path they call the Freedom Trail



which begins in the oldest public park in the U.S. (Boston Common) and ends on top of Bunker Hill National Monument. The trail is an easy to follow red brick line going two and half miles (one way) through some really cool and historic parts of Boston.



Most of the stops on the way have significance to the revolutionary war. The first stop of the morning was at Kings Chapel.



The church was very cool with its old pews. Families (Like Paul Revere's) would purchase the pews for their own and decorate them with their own furniture. Very interesting to see how people used to worship.



The pulpit in this church is the oldest in the country.



Next stop was Feneuil Hall. This is the place where the Sons of Liberty (Samuel Adams) decided to take action against the British, like dumping hundreds of pounds of tea in the ocean.



Inside the hall. We heard a cool jazz band play inside the hall for a while and it gave a chance to defrost (as it was snowing outside at the time) and take a break.



Outside Feneuil Hall was a fun street entertainer. He did things I never thought possible with 5 gallon buckets.

Check out the video below





Also outside was a mock up of the Cheers bar, like the one from t.v. The real cheers bar is a few blocks away near Beacon Hill. I'm not sure why a bunch of LDS people thought this was so cool, but here it is.



Along the way, we came across a farmers market area where Robb and Elizabeth found a vendor selling fresh, raw oysters. Robb's face describes what the experience was like. Needless to say, Jennifer and I didn't try oysters.






The temperature was like 38 degrees with the wind blowing. Cold man! We had to stop off to buy a couple of scarves.



Of course we made some time to eat the best cannoli I have ever tasted (and prior to this trip the only cannoli I ever tasted as well)





I'm not sure why we took this picture. Must have been all the sugar. You'll notice that I'm the only one doing all the work with the other guys kicking back. Typical. (believe it or not it really was pretty heavy)




Next stop on the trail was the Paul Revere house. Paul Revere, you know the, "Listen my children and you will hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere", "One if by land, two if by sea" guy. Very old home, built in 1670.




His home was actually quite close the Old North Church, which hung the lanterns on the night that the British invaded. That's the steeple where the lanterns (2) were hung above us.



Inside the Old North Church.




Above the church at Copps Hill graveyard. Some of the graves date back to the 1600's



The graveyard was very cool, like something you picture in an old scary movie




Robb is pointing to some bullet holes where during the revolutionary war some British soldiers shot at the grave for someone who opposed the crown prior to death. I'm not sure why he is sticking out his tongue. I guess he just really wanted to lick it.




Check out the skull and crossbones on all the graves. It reminded me of some of those fake graves you buy at Target for your front yard at halloween.



We ended up the tour at Bunker Hill. This was of course the site of the famous revolutionary battle where 1000 British soldiers were killed or wounded.
You can see this structure from almost any point in the city of Boston




They built a staircase leading to the top of the monument, 294 stairs all the way up. We were all feeling the burn, except Kari who was first to the top.



There are small windows at the top where you can see the whole city



With views like this



We then made our way down the hill by walking through some cool historic neighborhoods. The girls took their scarves and hoods off for a minute to take this picture. Prior to this they looked like a colony of lepers.




Next we caught the Subway (they call it the T) back to downtown where we headed to the North End for a great Italian dinner and, more great pastries.