New England and Canada Cruise: Boston and the Freedom Trail

Colonials on the
Boston Commons

Today we visited and toured Boston, Massachusetts on foot, as much as can be seen in a single morning and afternoon from a cruise ship! Anne had plotted out the day for us, and it turned out to be “wicked smaht!” Frank used to do work in the Boston area at Raytheon Corp. as a young engineer for the Navy back in the 1970’s and hadn’t returned in almost 40 years. What a treat for him to see busy Boston once again.

Mix of colonial and modern
architecture

Boston is a city of contrasts with little colonial buildings tucked here and there among imposing skyscrapers.

Boston Commons Welcome Center
and the start of the Freedom Trail

We took a cab from the cruise ship to Boston Commons, one of the oldest parks in the USA. It is also the start of the Freedom Trail which begins in front of the Boston Commons Welcome Center and ends somewhere up near the Charlestown Navy Yard.

Anne points to the brick-lined Freedom Trail
that we followed thru the city

We walked part of the trail, a well-defined path easily identified by a double-brick line in the sidewalk, that took us thru the streets of Boston past most of the key historical sites.

Massachusetts State House with gleaming
23-karat gold leaf dome

Former US House representative
Gabby Giffords

We strolled along, following the red brick pathway, we encountered a political rally right in front of the Massachusetts State House with its gleaming 23-karat gold leaf dome. Wow, included in this rally was Gabrielle (Gabby) Giffords, stumping for Hillary Clinton’s gun control reforms. Gabby was an Arizona US House representative back in January of 2011 when some 22-year old nutcase walked up to her and shot her pointblank at a political speech near Tucson, Arizona. Although Gabby was noticeably debilitated, she made a short but poignant speech for more effective gun control and then disappeared into the crowds. We felt so sorry for her; poor lady is only 46 years old. And that makes her tragedy even more personal, as we have a 46-year-old daughter!

Paul Revere's grave in the
Granary Burial Grounds

As we strolled the Freedom Trail, we bopped into the Granary Burial Grounds to see the burial sites of John Hancock and Paul Revere. The trail covered many other stops as well, including other old cemeteries, churches, and various historical buildings.

Sam Lagrassa'a pastrami heaven

Somewhere around the noon hour, we hit a famous pastrami house here in Boston known as “Sam Lagrassa’s.” Frank has been crying to Anne for years about finding a pastrami sandwich as delicious as the kind he always bought for lunch when he was working up here in Boston years ago.

Pastrami anyone?

Well, Anne knowing that we were scheduled to dock and tour here in Boston, did some research and found a “Class A” pastrami place, and we went! Wowie Zowie! Sam served up some incredible “Romanian pastrami.” There is no question in Frank’s mind anymore; Boston does indeed have the most tasty, succulent, massive pastrami sandwiches of anywhere on this planet!!

Skull and angel wings are prominent on
gravestones at King's Chapel cemetery

It was a bit hard to move around after downing those large and absolutely delectable pastrami sandwiches, but somehow we managed to waddle our way back onto the Freedom Trail. We continued on to the Old South Meeting House (famous for a protest that started here and then moved to the harbor becoming known as The Boston Tea Party) and to King’s Chapel Church with the oldest cemetery in Boston. Nobody especially important in this cemetery, but there is always an odd fascination for us in reading the old engraved tombstones. These tombstones were particularly intriguing with a common motif of a skeleton head surrounded by angel wings, representing the mortality of the body and the immortality of the soul.

Balcony of the Old State House

Then, it was on to the Old State House, which was a center of political activity in the 1700’s and 1800’s. The Declaration of Independence was read for the 1^st time in Boston from the balcony of this building.

Trump or Hillary (ha, ha)?

Today, the main attraction at the State House was a beggar with a sign that read, “Give me one dollar or I’m voting Trump.” If that didn’t work, he turned the sign around, and it read, “Give me one dollar or I’m voting Hillary.” Pretty clever! Frank gave him a dollar just for his innovative thinking.

Faneuil Hall

We ended our walk at the popular, pedestrian-only area surrounding Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. Faneuil Hall has mostly arts & crafts, while Quincy Market has exclusively foods and food courts. Lots of fun stuff there, and we even found some good buys including these favorite souvenirs: