Boston; Saturday, 31 March, 2018

After another overly filling breakfast I headed out of the hotel and walked down to Boston Common and then on over to the Public Park. These are two large open spaced in the heart of the city that make it feel much more liveable that some other American cities. The Park is one of the oldest public gardens in the country, though in early April – after a long and late winter, it was still in the process of being prepared for the summer with the lake drained and being dredged in preparation for the summer boating season.

Just opposite one of the entrances to the park is one of the most famous buildings in the city – the Bull and Finch Pub, more famously known as Cheers. I joined the other tourists in taking a few photos before crossing back over the road onto the Common and over to the start point of the Freedom Trail.

The trail is a 2.5 mile long walk that runs through the heart of Boston and across the Charles river to Bunker Hill, running past many of the key sites associated with the start of the American War of Independence including the burial grounds housing the graves of many of the key players, the Old South Meeting House – where the plan to destroy a tea shipment, that became known as the Boston Tea Party, was started; and the house of Paul Revere – he of the midnight ride.

I did the first part of the trail from the Common up past the Massachusetts State House and the Granary and Kings Chapel burial grounds before following the trail down into the harbour.

Though the route of the tour is only 2.5 miles, by the time you keep diverting off the route to visit a burial ground, chapel or other site it rapidly extends the walk and by the time I had gotten back down to the Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market it was into the early afternoon and my feet were aching so I stopped off for a late lunch and a bit of a relax.

Rejuvenated I diverted away from the main route of the trail and instead headed over to the harbour and the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum. This is an interactive and AV heavy museum/tour that takes you through the events of the act from the initial meeting in the Old South Meeting Hall through to the locals heading down to the harbourside disguised as members of the local Native American tribe to board the ships and throw all the tea into the harbour and then in the AV elements of the museum the aftermath and into the start of the war. Along the way there is the opportunity to experience throwing tea into the harbour – or as the describe it for British tourists a spot of petty treason.

Having done a tour of the museum I headed back over to North Boston and re-joined the Freedom Trail continuing past the oldest restaurant in the US and up into North Boston and Paul Revere’s house which I just about had time to look around before it closed for the evening.

I continued on a bit further along the trail to the Old North Church, where the lanterns that informed Paul Revere as he started on his midnight ride that the British were coming by water, but by the time I got there it had closed for the evening, and a quick check online showed that the rest of the key sights along the route were either already closed or would be closed by the time I got to them, so I decided to pick up the tour again in the morning and instead headed back into town to the hotel to freshen up before popping out for a well-deserved dinner.