Historic Boston

After some heavy duty shopping it was time to give the credit card a rest and see the sights of Boston. Saturday turned out to be a little better than the first 2 days, more of a drizzle and into double digits!! As it was still raining, we decided to book on of those hop on hop off tours of the city.

Our first stop was at Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market Place, one of the stops on the Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail is a red (mostly brick) path through downtown Boston which leads to sixteen significant historic sites. It is a 2.5 mile (4 km) walk from the Boston Common to the Bunker Hill Monument. Faneuil Hall has been a marketplace and meeting hall since the 1700's. It was the site of several well known speeches encouraging independence from Great Britain. Quincy Market is a historic building located right behind Faneuil Hall, originally constructed in honour of the Mayor in the early 1800's. It now serves as a well known market and food hall... a great place for some brunch.

Next we walked up to Boston Common, which is the oldest city park in the United States. The Common's purpose has changed over the years, originally as a camp by the British before the Revolutionary War. Following this it was used for cattle grazing, public hangings and was the site of a city riot, but today it serves as a public park. Back onto the sight seeing bus, and our tour ventured to the edge of town to visit Fenway Park - the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club. This park is the oldest of all Major League Baseball stadiums still in use, and the current 2007 season marks it's 95th birthday.

Our final stop on the tour was The Massachusetts State House, the state capitol of Massachusetts. This building houses the Massachusetts General Court (for state legislature) and the offices of the Governor of Massachusetts. The staircase and gates in front of the building that lead to Beacon Street are only opened on two occasions:-

1) When the President of the United States or a foreign head of state visits and;
2) When the Governor exits the building on his last day in office. This tradition is known as the Long Walk.

Being in the Beacon Hill district, what better way to finish off our day but with some drinks with local Bostonians at the Beacon Hill Pub.