Day Twelve … exploring Boston

Today we were out and about in Boston. It is our last day here so we wanted to make the most of the time we had. Ian had tickets booked for a tour of Fenway Park at 9.00 am so we were up and on the road just after 8.00 am and arrived at Fenway with time to complete a quick Ad Lab about some of the most notable  Boston Red Sox (baseball) players before our tour.

Fenway Park is the oldest baseball field in Major League Baseball in the US, having been built in 1912. Whilst I know nothing about baseball (sorry Doug and Annie) the tour was really interesting. Our guide Dave led us (and our fellow tourers … all 68 of them) on an hour long tour where we got to see different parts of the field including close to the catchers mound, various stands in the stadium including the historic seats, the Green Monster (a large green wall at the back of the field), the press room, the ‘red seat’ and the museum. Dave provided detailed commentary about the history of the stadium, the Boston Red Sox, the owners of the team and certain memorable moments in the game play on the field. I’m sure Ian can provide a better commentary on this tour (Yeah, I could, but why bore you) … at times Dave was speaking a foreign language for me!

After our stadium tour we walked to Kenmore Station to catch the subway into the city. The underground subway here is quite small but very efficient. We were surprised that the “trains” were in fact trams or a light rail, but running underground. Each station has a Station Ambassador who can assist you with getting your tickets and helping you with what train you needed to catch.

We popped out of the subway system in the heart of Boston. Our plan was to walk the Freedom Trail, a 2.5 km trail that takes in the most significant historical buildings and monuments that mark the history of the United States and the American Revolution as they forged their way towards independence. We did this by completing 8 Ad Labs (thank you to the Ad Lab creators for this fabulous set as they helped us learn more about the history without having to take one of the numerous guided tours that were more limiting in where you went).

On our way to the Freedom Trail we came across the New England Holocaust Memorial. Founded by Stephan Ross, a Holocaust survivor, and erected in 1995, the memorial consists of six glass towers under which visitors may walk - each tower represents a different major extermination camp. Engraved on the outside walls of each tower are groups of numbers representing the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Inscribed on the inner walls are quotes from survivors of each camp. Underneath the towers, as you walk through them, steam rises up through metal grates from a dark floor with twinkling lights on it. This was an incredible memorial, very somber and emotionally challenging … as it should be … whilst also being a poignant reminder of the epic tragedies of the Holocaust.

Our first Ad Lab we almost didn’t complete as it was No 8 in the series and seemed to be a bit of a hike to get there. Then when we talked it through we thought you can’t do the history justice if you don’t do it all, so we decided to make the walk and headed over to the North End to the Copps Hill Burying Ground, the Old North Church where the clergy used lights in the churches tower to signal to a Paul Revere that the British were coming, to the statue of Paul Revere and his house (the oldest house in Boston built in c. 1680). 

The North End is also the Italian part of town so we wandered past Italian restaurants and bakeries. We stopped in at one bakery to marvel at the displays in the cabinets and bought a cannoli to share. It was somewhat ironic that this bakery is family owned and operated since 1926 and is committed to bringing the true Italian bakery experience is currently operated by an Indian family. The cannoli was delicious though … and if kilojoules didn’t = more fat, I’d have bought some other delights as well.

Continuing on our journey we headed back to Faneuil Hall which is where Samuel Adams would make speeches on the steps to the people encouraging independence from the British. Today it is a museum and tourist site (lots of souvenir shops). We were able to get a map to mark all our Ad Lab locations on to make the journey onwards a little easier. We also used the bathrooms … and here I must make the comment that every single female reader will understand and appreciate. Why … oh why … must architects always put in insufficient toilets for females! Every single restroom we have used I have had to queue for whilst Ian has gone and in with no wait and then had to hang around for me to reappear! 

At this stage of our day we passed for lunch, stopping at the Samuel Adams Tap Room and Brewhouse. If you are a drinker of beers and ales this would be the place for you. They have 20 different beers and IPAs on tap and you can by a paddle of selections to try (4 per paddle). For Ian and I it was water and a Pepsi along with a delicious lunch of a roast beef panini and some chicken tenders, on the balcony looking over the Dock Square. The food was delicious and watching the people wander about was lovely. An added bonus was the music they were playing was fantastic.

And so on we wandered, completing each Ad Lab and gradually making our way through to Boston Common, the oldest public park in the US. The Ad Labs took us to The Old State House (which is an historic building with a subway station on the ground floor), the birthplace of Benjamin Franklin, the site of the Boston Massacre, the Old South Meeting Place, Kings Chapel, the Massachusetts State Building and many other monuments and memorials. It was a great way to see the city and also learn more about the history.

Our final Ad Lab was to walk through the Public Gardens. These gardens are lovely and rambling with massive trees, green lawn and sadly for us today, a large but empty pond! The pond is having some work done to it so it has been drained and just looks like a big mud flat. 

Almost done for the day … we walked down the lovely green rectangles, Commonwealth Avenue Mall, that sit between the two one way streets of Commonwealth Avenue. We came across a monument to 9 firefighters that lost their lives in 1972 when a building collapsed … a beautiful memorial, however our ultimate destination was the Boston Public Library. 

This library, which incorporates two buildings, is both a State library … huge, historic, filled with art and murals, grand marble staircases, an inner courtyard with a pond, engraved brass doors, and wood lined reading rooms with desk lamps with green shades; and a public library  … modern, contemporary, filled with fiction and non-fiction, DVDs, CDs, places to read, study and work, with two entire shelves of books of “holds” waiting for their reader to collect them. The contrast was fabulous! Both spaces were packed … libraries are alive and well!

And so we ended our day by catching the metro back to Fenway where we had left our car, and then a drive back to our hotel. We stopped for petrol as tomorrow we head on to our next adventure … heading further north to see the autumn leaves, mountains and smaller towns. We had a small picnic dinner … Ian checked his emails and followed up on some tasks whilst I wrote the blog. 

Tomorrow is another day!

Today’s tally …

Photos - 454

Steps - 22,007

Kms walked - 16.85 km

Kms driven - probably only about 15 miles (plus the 1 mile extra when we took a wrong exit).

Ad labs completed - 10