Boston 1



Friday 10 June We decided to walk The Freedom Trail, or as much of it as Les could manage. Our hotel was very close to Boston Common, so we walked across The Common to the start. The first stop was Massachusetts State House. Like all the public buildings we've come across in the USA, once you're through the airport-style security at the front door, you can go anywhere, and all staff are happy to talk to you. A bonus was talking to Nick Boldyga, a Member of the House of Representatives. He was showing a party of schoolchildren around the building, but was happy to chat to us - don't think any of our MPs would be like that! Another interesting find was in the Governor's outer office. A portrait of former Governor (1991-97) William Weld. He seems to be a distant part of the Weld family that own Lulworth Castle - we think we can see a likeness.

After this we went to the Granary Burial Ground (Samuel Adams and Paul Revere), then King's Chapel. In the chapel we found a small display of an army chaplain's communion set from WW1. The chaplain was a Lt Chenoweth. Possibly a distant relation of Barry & Nancy in Australia? From King's Chapel went to Old City Hall and Old South Meeting House. Then it was the Old State House and the Boston Massacre site before reaching Faneuil Hall (which was closed for restoration) and Quincy Market.

Started to head up the next stretch for Paul Revere’s House. Through some narrow streets (past the Green Dragon Tavern - significant to us for those who know Winchmore Hill) and an extensive open air fruit market. At this point we realised we were on the Rose Kennedy Greenway (the linear park built over the road tunnels). Les was struggling by now so we decided that rather than carry on we would walk back most of the way to our hotel along the Greenway. After we’d been going a short while we realised we were by the Boston Harbor Islands Ferry Dock so we walked across to look at Boston Inner Harbor. We returned to the Greenway and walked down past the Aquarium and then realised that we were very close to Seaport and could see across to where we’d stayed on our first visit. It was all a lot smarter now and it was difficult to realise that we were standing on the linear parkway there had been a viaduct on our last visit. A few yards further on we spotted a bar - The Times - and went inside and sat at the bar and had a Sam Adams. After a relaxing 20 minutes or so we carried on with the final leg of the walk going past Chinatown as we returned along Kneeland and Stuart Streets.

Got back very tired around 5.30pm. Les fell asleep while Anne did some bits and pieces. We went out around 7.30pm but before we did so we emailed the Chenoweth pictures to Barry and Nancy. Went out and ate at Rock Bottom just around the corner by the food court. Seems very popular - slightly noisy for our taste but otherwise fine. Anne had calamari and Les had roasted cod with asparagus and rice. Disaster - they don’t do Sam Adams regular. They did do an amazing range of beers - one was 9.8%!