Hello all once again from the USA,
After three fantastic weeks in Canada, we are back in the USA for the final section of our trip. We were up at 3.20am this morning which was awful, but our taxi arrived smoothly and we headed to Quebec airport to board our first flight of the day to Montreal. After some maintenance issues that held us up for half an hour, we took off on our 29 minute flight which we both agreed was the shortest domestic or international flight we’ve ever been on.
The maintenance issues meant we had 35 minutes to get through USA customs and board our next flight in Montreal to Boston, and thanks to an express transit corridor we made it with 10 minutes to spare. We ran through the airport like we were on ‘The Amazing Race’ and were proud of ourselves when people younger than us had to stop due to being out of breath while we ran past them.
Our second flight left smoothly and we arrived in Boston around 9.30am. We caught a free bus from the airport to South Station and then walked to our hostel. It was a beautiful sunny day today, and it was so nice to have some of that weather back again. In the shade it was cool, but in the sun it was nice and warm.
Once we arrived at the hostel, the man on reception was really rude and abrupt to a few others around us and then to Rob, and we were pretty put off. This was ironic as we had been warned people would be rude in Quebec but didn’t experience that at all. I stayed at this same Boston hostel back in January 2017 when I visited and remembered it being great. However, the girls in my dorm in Boston that time put me off hostel dorms forever from that point on as they were loud and kept lights on ‘til all hours! We have a private room this stay, and we left our bags here today and luckily once we returned later in the day, the new staff on reception were more helpful and friendly.
We set off along the Freedom Trail. Now clearly because I’ve been here before I’ve done long and detailed historic posts back then in early January 2017, so if you’re looking for that those are there. Whilst we are here this time I’ll more be briefly summarising what we do each day with bits of history too. The Freedom Trail is a trail around Boston highlighting important revolutionary buildings and sights that was laid out in 1951. I remember Nan and Pa telling me about it as a little girl “you follow the red brick path”. It’s so well laid out, you walk around with ease following the line made of red bricks around the city. These days you can access information on your phone about each stop, too. I was impressed with it last time and enjoyed it again today.
We went to Boston Common, the beautiful park here, which is the first stop. Then we went past the Massachusetts State House and on to the Granary Burial Ground where many revolutionaries such as John Hancock, Sam Adams and Paul Revere are buried. I’m a big American revolution nerd due to studying it in Year 12, so I asked Rob to let me know whenever he wanted more information or if he had any questions, and enjoyed explaining to him throughout today who certain people were, why they were important, and how they were linked to revolutionary events in Boston. I actually used my blogs from last time in certain parts too. It was fun literally retracing my steps along the exact trail.
Afterwards we went past a number of meeting places where revolutionary meetings were held, then we stopped for lunch at Shake Shack. When last here I had been into all the museums along the Freedom Trail for free due to being a teacher, so today I was also able to show Rob photos of what was inside. He was pretty content with that and said he didn’t need to go into every single one. However, it was interesting that a couple of these places were shut today that had been open last time in off season.
So we kept going past the site of the Boston Massacre, then past Faneuil Hall where a cute market was occurring out the back. All day I found it so interesting like in Toronto comparing what it had been like here in winter last time versus here now in May. In winter last time it had been a top of -4 degrees some days, and I experienced blizzards and a winter storm warning on the east coast. The trade off was hardly anyone was around while I walked around the city. Today Boston was pretty full, apparently the tourist season starts in mid April here and you could really notice the difference. We agreed we hadn’t seen this many people in a city/town since Banff or maybe even Las Vegas. But the market we walked through here had a lovely summer vibe, and we agreed to likely have lunch there tomorrow.
We then continued on to the north end past Paul Revere’s House and the church atop which lanterns were lit to warn the people of Boston that the regulars (British) were coming to start the Battle of Lexington Concord. Then we checked out another burial ground before crossing a bridge by foot and going to the Bunker Hill Monument. We both climbed the 294 steps in one go, and boy was it hard work! But the views up top were sunny and nice. Not bad for a free tower. It made me happy that all their Covid regulation signs were shoved towards a back room here, starting to become a relic from the past that is no longer required.
Our final stop along the Freedom Trail was then the USS Constitution and the naval docks. This area was closed during winter when I last visited, and it was free to visit. We got to descend to two levels below deck and see the types of conditions the sailors would have lived in. The ceiling was very low, but I'm so short I didn't have to duck - just! Today, 85% of the boat is a restoration, but it still allows you to imagine what it would have been like. The navy yard here in the Charlestown part of Boston was the oldest in the USA, and operated for 175 years before shutting in 1974. They manufactured rope and chains here and also had a dry dock in which they would build and repair ships. Today 30 acres of the area remains and is operated by the National Park Service.
We were tired at this point, but we still walked all the way back. All up we walked 11km today after leaving the hostel, so that combined with four or five hours sleep last night has us feeling pretty wrecked. I hope we sleep better tonight!
We’ve done some washing in the machines at the hostel and are having a microwave meal and some vegetables for dinner.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
I think I’d like Boston.
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