The Freedom Trail - Part Two

After lunch we found the red line marking the Freedom trail and continued our trek through history. This part of our journey was all on our own.

As we headed for our next stop we passed by a pretty view of Boston's skyline. I had to stop and take a picture. We also headed into some pretty neighborhoods that boast some beautiful architecture.

Our first stop was the Paul Revere house. It is the oldest building in downtown Boston. The home is rather large, especially for a home from that era.

As we learned earlier in the day, on our tour, Paul Revere was very talented and did many different jobs, but he was primarily a silversmith by trade. In the courtyard of the Revere house sits one of the bells he made. Trevor had charge of one of the cameras at this point in the day. He watched to see what I would take pictures of and then he would take one also. So when I walked over to take a picture of the bell, Trevor was right next to me. I like how you can see Trevor's reflection in the bell!

After leaving the Revere house we followed the red line to a beautiful garden with a statue of Paul Revere's midnight ride. As we got closer, the trees behind the statue opened up to reveal the Old North Church. It was spectacular. This is the place that Robert Newman signaled with lanterns that the British were coming. You may recall the code - "One if by land, and two, if by sea". Paul Revere rode through the night to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that the British, or regulars, were coming to arrest them. Along the way Revere also alerted each house of who was coming.

As we continued through the garden we saw a beautiful fountain. It must have made the boys thirsty because while I was taking pictures the boys headed over to the drinking fountain to fill up our water reservoir!

It is funny to note that after getting their drinks, Trevor and Devon, went right over to the fountain and started taking pictures!

After the water break Kaden tried his hand at making a wish. I'm not sure if it has come true or not - you'll have to ask Kaden!

At the end of the garden, possibly on the church grounds, sat a memorial for the men and women who have lost their lives in the recent Afghanistan and Iraq wars. It was amazing. I am thankful that those soldiers are remembered for their sacrifice for our country.

We did step inside the Old North Church for several minutes. We sat and listened to a guide tell about the midnight ride. The pews are situated in boxes. The boys thought the boxes were pretty cool.

This picture was taken especially for Shannon!

Just up the street from the Old North Church sits another cemetery, Copp's Hill Burying Ground. It is the second oldest cemetery. It was named after a shoemaker named William Copp. Many people are buried there. Some of the more notable names are Robert Newman (mentioned above) and Shem Drowne who created the grasshopper weathervane located atop Faneuil Hall. As in the other burial ground we saw several headstones bearing skulls. It was very interesting.

As we were about to leave the cemetery we passed by a tour group. I overheard the tour guide telling a story about a tall skinny house opposite the cemetery. They say the house is only 10 feet across. The story is a little sketchy in my mind, but it goes something like this. According to legend, there were two brothers who inherited some land from their deceased father. While one brother was off to war the other brother built a large house on the land, leaving little land for his brother. When the soldier returned home he became mad and out of spite decided to build a house on the remaining land. By so doing his house blocked the light from his brother's house and ruined his view. Other legends say it was two neighbors. Either way, I thought it was a funny story!

The Freedom Trail took us next over a bridge to the to the USS Constitution. I loved seeing all the sailboats as we walked over the bridge.

The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. The ship and part of the shipyard are preserved by the National Park Service. The ship has been beautifully restored (in 1927 by the school children of the United States - amazing!). The city of Boston's website says that "the ship's greatest glory came during the war of 1812 when she defeated four british frigates which earned her the nickname "Old Ironside," because cannon balls glanced off her thick hull."

We all really enjoyed exploring the ship. The woodwork was beautiful. The boys liked the cannons and barrels in the belly of the ship. We talked to some of the sailors and we found out that they are active military personnel. I believe they are stationed there for a year.

The ship also offered pretty views of Boston.

After leaving the shipyard we made our way uphill to the last stop on the Freedom Trail, Bunker Hill.

This is the site of the first major battle of the Revolutionary war. The monument is very similar to the Washington Monument in Washington D.C., only on a smaller scale. Even with that said the monument is 221 feet tall. Outside of the monument is a statue of Colonel William Prescott, who led the colonists against the British.

We arrived at the monument just before closing time. The boys all wanted to climb to the top of the monument. It was still open, so we decided to give it a try. Even after walking all day the boys were up to the challenge, in fact they were begging us to go. The boys all started running up the steps. Austin and I were the last ones to enter the monument. It would have taken Austin forever to walk all the way up, so I picked him up and began to climb the 294 steps. It was wasn't that bad at first, but then I started feeling it. I was getting pretty tired and it was pretty hot in the monument. I carried him most of the way up, but then Chad saw how tired I was getting and he offered to carry Austin the rest of the way up. I was grateful to have my load lightened. When we reached the top we were rewarded with beautiful views of the city (and a nice rest!).

In the room at the top of the monument there is a grate covering a hole that goes all the way down the monument. Trevor got a good picture of the hole. The light at the bottom is from the door at the bottom of the monument.

After a couple of minutes at the top we started our descent and once again I carried Austin. Somewhere around three quarters 0f the way down my legs started to shake and I was getting nervous that they might give out. Visions of Austin and me rolling down the stairs picking up each family member as we went flashed before my eyes. I opted for handing Austin over to Chad for the remaining steps down. When we exited the monument a Ranger saw us and was so impressed that the boys made the trek up and down without whining that she gave them a Junior Ranger badge. Then when she realized the five boys were all mine, she gave me a badge as well. What an honor - I wore it with pride!!

Outside the monument there is a nice expanse of lawn . . . that we collapsed on! While sitting there our friendly boys made friends with a nice couple sitting on a nearby bench. Actually they talked their ears off! Luckily, the couple were good sports. The boys told them that we were on our way to Acadia National Park. Oddly enough the couple had actually been there and gave us some good advice for our trip.

It took us the good part of the day, but we finished the Freedom Trail. I was amazed with how well each of the boys did. They all walked the entire length of the trail (even Austin).

After we finished the trail we walked down the street to catch the bus back into downtown Boston. I think this was Austin's favorite part of the day. Austin loves buses, so he was in heaven. The bus let us off near several restaurants. We were all ready for a nice meal after our trek. We tried a couple of places and finally found a place that could seat us immediately. We ate at an italian restaurant named Floretine Cafe.

I loved the atmosphere. It was very quaint. The walls were made of brick and grapes hung from the ceiling.

While waiting for our meals to arrive Austin began to feel the effects of walking all day. We watched him as he slowly fell asleep. He's a pretty cute little guy!

After enjoying a great meal we headed across the street to a well known Boston establishment, Mike's Pastry. They are famous for their cannoli's. The line is usually out the door and down the street. Luckily for us, the line wasn't very far down the street.

When we made it into the store we saw that we still had to wait a little longer. The line separated into seven more lines. They were very efficient, but if you didn't know what you wanted they weren't very happy. Chad commented that it reminded him of the "Soup Nazi" (a character on the show Seinfeld). We tried to figure out what we wanted before we got to the counter, but there were so many people it was hard to see what was available. Chad decided to get a variety of treats. They put our treats in a box and then they used a piece of string, that was hanging from the ceiling, to secure the box. It's a simple, but efficient system.

There was no place to sit and eat the pastries, so we started walking down the street. Chad had promised the boys earlier in the day that we would get a Gelato, so we stopped before we got to the end of the block. We usually don't get this many treats in one night, but hey, we were on vacation! The boys loved the Gelato and didn't complain about having to eat more treats later!

We walked back to Quincy Market where we had lunch and had our treats. They were delicious! We will definitely be visiting there on our next visit to Boston.

As we walked back to our car I enjoyed seeing the city all lit up. Again, I loved seeing the old and the new all mixed together.

We had a wonderful day. We did a lot of walking, but no one seemed to mind. It was fun to be together and learn something new about the history of our country.