Boston Day 3

Boston Public Gardens/Boston Commons: I had decided to take advantage of waking up predawn every morning on my third day. I’d been wanting to check out Boston Common and Boston Public Gardens but they were free activities. So I didn’t want to use prime hours to visit them, when I could be using those hours for things that came with my Go Pass. But I’d been waking up very early every morning and I decided to Uber into the city hours before all the other attractions opened. This was a great idea. I was dropped off at the Boston Public Gardens at 6:30am. The sun was up and it was a great day. The park was empty with the exception of a few joggers and dog walkers. I was able to get beautiful photos without a thousand people in them. During the day, Boston Public Gardens and Boston Commons is very populated. I love love love how Bostonians truly appreciate and utilize their green spaces. There were lots of other green spaces I saw throughout my time in Boston and they were all heavily populated. However, they make it difficult to take good photos and 6:30am made that possible.

Limbo: So Boston Public Gardens Boston Common aren’t nearly as big as they look during the day when they are full of people. I’m able to walk both pretty throughly in a little over an hour. I’ve taken pics of the old cemeteries on the outskirts of the Commons, I’m able to take photos of the statues and the carousel and the Frog Pond. I look up Cheers and see that its just where I just was on the far corner of the Gardens, so I walk back up there and they aren’t open for breakfast. I walk Beacon Hill. I’m starting to get hungry. Originally I was going to jump on the Hop Bus from here, but I didn’t time this out well. So, I go looking for food. I walk back to Quincy Market and hope something is open for breakfast. I stop by the statues for the victims of the Irish Potato Famine. Really beautiful memorial. Turns out Boston is having a big bike race today and the streets are filling up with bikers the closer I get to Faneiul Hall. The starting line is just down the road and they are working them in corrals just like big running races are done. I shoot past Faneuil Hall and check out the Holocaust Memorial. It is incredibly thoughtful and well done. I get goose bumps walking through it. Six glass towers, representing the six major death camps. Each tower is engraved with the serial numbers of ever person that was killed there. It was really moving. Finally back to Quincy Market and NOTHING IS OPEN. I’m forced to bite the bullet and get Starbucks. There is nothing with crab or lobster at starbucks and I feel sad eating my croissant. But they have a public restroom, which I also really need, so I considered it worth it. Chomped down m breakfast and the Hop Bus doesn’t start for awhile yet and I Google Paul Reveres House and realize I can walk there faster than I can bus there. So off to Paul Reveres House.

Paul Reveres House: I was the first one in the door and got to drill the guides will all the questions I wanted. Just in case you are wondering: The house wasn’t considered a historical artifact to be preserved until the early 1900s. Buy that time, there were numerous structural changes along the way. So they hired a historical architect to help restore the building to how they thought it should have been at the time Paul Revere lived there. The architect did pretty good, but he discovered while demolishing the third floor, that the third floor was probably there during Paul Reveres stay. Oh well. It happens. The artifacts inside the house are historical pieces of that time, but the majority aren’t actually Paul Reveres. 

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Gardens: Another beautiful green space, right on the water. There is a fountain and an elongated trellis and a rose garden. The rose garden contains one rose bush for every year Rose Kennedy lived. For those of you that haven’t watched the documentary on Rose Kennedy, you should.

USS Constitution cruise: Ok, making excellent time. Belly is full, its still very early and I’ve already done lots of stuff. I only have two more things left on my to-do list and it looks like I might do them. Both are big activities, so timing will be important. I walk from the Rose Garden to the docks to figure out which one of the cruises (there are many) will take me to the USS Constitution. You don’t have to take the boat over, you can drive there, walk there or take the Hop on bus there. But I can a tour of the harbor and some bad jokes, so I’m taking the cruise. It gives you a tour of the harbor and then those that wish can hop off the boat and explore the Charlestown Naval Yard, home of the USS Cassin Young and the USS Constitution (aka Old Ironside). I had one hour before the boat came back and although you can see USS Cassin right off the boat, in order to walk around USS Constitution you have to go through a security check point. There is also a educational area and gift shop, for those looking for a little more. I wandered around both ships and took the cruise back to down town Boston. Just in time, to catch the Hop Bus the the North Station train station. Took some maneuvering, but found the train station, found the ticket booth and got myself a ticket to Salem.

Salem, MA: The train ride to Salem was really nice, there were some ugly areas, but also a lot of waterside beautiful areas as well. The Salem Witch Museum was about a mile from the train station and a nice walk. The museum doesn’t allow photos on the inside, so I only have the exterior shots. Its broken into two parts, the first is an automated history of the witch trials with scenes around the room that would light up when there part of the story came up. It was very old school and a bit cheesy, but the information itself was somewhat interesting. The second part of the museum included a walk through with some taped audio and a timeline of witch history...not just in the US, but in Europe too. The information they provide is interesting...the presentation...questionable. After I left the Museum, I walked over to a house called The House of Seven Gables...which happened to close early due to a special event. I was a bit irked, but what can you do. So I wandered back towards town and came across the Salem Witch Trials Memorial and the old cemetery. Really interesting. By now I’m hungry but I’m saving my appetite for lobster. There are lobster rolls all over Boston and I’ve decided I wanted one. So...time to take the train back to Boston. But the train is broken. I gather with a bunch of others that need to get back to Boston and we take a bus to another train station and manage to get back to where we need to be. Got myself a huge lobster roll at Quincy market and then headed back. The end of my Boston adventure. I definitely made use of my Go Pass and probably did $300 worth of attractions in my 3 days. I don’t always like to travel at this pace, but with only 3 days and a big goal list, it was worth it.