July 5 - Day 5, 2011

Oval Office for a press conference

We only had a couple of hours in our last morning so we took the subway to the JFK Presidential Library on the campus of the University of Massachusetts for a quick visit. It was simply breathtaking in its beauty and simplicity. To our surprise, we were able to see the entire Library and make it back to the hotel by subway and even take the subway to the airport, saving a lot of money.

The subway system in Boston is, in our view, the best of any city we have been to in the United States.

Barb at the Library

What a special trip – and we met some people who really made our trip a very extra special one.

Jim and his family at the Boston Pops will always be remembered. The people of Boston were wonderful to us – very friendly and helpful.

This trip was probably the best trip we have taken on the 4th and the fireworks while they were fun were not the best, but it still was the best trip.



Barb sleeping at the subway

 And then when we boarded our AirTran flight from Boston to Atlanta, we immediately recognized a flight attendant who we had flow with before and she recognized us – surprise!!

I shouldn’t say her name on the blog, but if you saw it, you would think that she was a former nun!! It starts with Mary------. What a fun time we had with her on another flight or two and she was just as delightful this flight. Unfortunately there were no upgrades to business class so we didn’t get to spend a lot of time with her. We hope that when she comes to Bloomington for an overnight stay that she will give us a call. That’s one of the reason we fly AirTran is because its people are so great and the service so pleasant.

Going Home

Thanks AirTran for allowing us to finish our trip with a smile.

Next year – Philadelphia??

July 4, 2011 – Day 4

What a beautiful day it was and we first took the subway to Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Sox. We had a great 1 ½ hour tour of the park just as they were getting it ready for a game.

Fenway Park

Then it was a short subway ride to the Otis Mansion, one of the oldest mansions in Boston and a tour of that home.

We then walked across the old section of town to see the Colonial Theater but it was closed
By this time in the afternoon, it was time to take the subway to the docks and watch Catamaran races, which were fun but it was very hot so we walked over the our hotel and changed for the fireworks.

Catamaran Races

We arrived at the Community Boat Docks at about 6 and found seats along the dock and again met new friends for the evening. The Community Boat Docks is a non-profit organization that has docks for sail boats and also teaches a wide range of sailing and they use their dock space for a VIP July 4th party. We were very lucky to find this organization because the rest of the areas along the river were very packed and it would not have been fun.

While we had all the food, soda, water, fruit smoothies that we could consume, we watched thousands flock into the rest of the land to see the Boston Pops and watch the fireworks.

The seating, food, etc. was one of the best we have ever had for a fireworks show; however, we have seen better fireworks.

Sitting on the Dock

They announced that 500,000 were in the park and thousands more lined the river banks!

We only had to walk about 4 blocks and we got lucky and found a cab to take us back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we leave after having a wonderful July 4th vacation. Boston has been the best town and we wish we had a couple more days but we will be home tomorrow.
We hope to go to the JFK Library before the plane so good night from Boston.

Food at the fireworks

July 3, 2011 – Day 3

The Trolley

We were up and out of the hotel by 9 and caught the trolley to the first stop which was a 1 hour tour of Boston Harbor.

We sat with a couple who were from Switzerland and enjoyed the start of the morning on the water sightseeing and talking with new friends.

After the boat ride, we took the trolley to see the USS Constitution in the Charleston Navy Yard. This 3-masted sailing ship is still an operational ship in the US Navy and it was fun to tour it.

Then it was on to Trinity Church for a tour. The church is built on thousands of trees that are buried in the ground vertically to form the foundation. As most of Boston is on man-made land, that is how the older building were built.



The Boston Skline



We then took the subway to Fenway Park to tour the home of the Boston Red Socks but it was raining when we got there so we took the subway back into town to Quincy Market which is a huge downtown market made up of lots of food stands and lots of shops.

We ate lobster and shrimp again at a really neat restaurant.

Back to the hotel to change for the dress rehearsal of the Boston Pops.

We had purchased special VIP seats so we only needed to arrive about 2 hours before the start of the concert, which we did and there were supposedly already 100,000 people there.



USS Constitution

When we tried to find our seats, they kept sending us to different gates until at a backstage gate the police office said that we had been a victim of a $200 scam and there were no VIP tickets!!

Were we crushed; however, we went back to a special seating area and met a really nice guy named Jim who was operating the gate.  Jim called one of the organizers staff over to get the information from our tickets, which we bought on line. I later called AMX and the canceled the charge so we haven’t lost any money.

To make a long story short, we ended up sitting in the 10th row with Jim, his wife Tanya and daughter Sophia and had a wonderful concert and what started out so badly ended up fantastic thanks to the generosity of one person who just happened to be controlling the gate that we went to for help.  What an amazing thing they did for us.

Boiling Lobster for dinner

Tomorrow is the fireworks and early on we will to make sure that our tickets for July 4th are valid.  Night - Night



The Boston Pops







Thanks Jim, Tanya and Sophie for making our trip so special!!!

July 2, 2011 – Day 2

Cheers

We may have caught up on the sleep we had been lacking the past couple of weeks and then were out of the hotel by 9am to catch the Trolley for a guided trip around the city. The trolley makes 21 stops in its 21 mile trip and the total trip took 2 ½ hours. You can get on and off at any stop; however, we decided to see the entire city first before making a choice on what to see.

As the trolley tour is a two day ticket, tomorrow we will get off at a number of places.

We finished the tour at 9:30am and took a cab from our hotel to Haymarket Square in the North End, which is home to the largest market in the city. We found a neat pizza place in the market selling pizza by the slice and split a vegetable slice.

North Church - we climbed the bell tower

Then it was on to a 90 minute walking tour of the North End, which is Boston’s oldest neighborhood and it includes Paul Reveres home and the North Church. The guide book said “it is a delightful labyrinth of narrow streets and exotic market places” – which it is and filled with wonderful looking restaurants. It is also a very Italian neighborhood.

We then took the subway to a restaurant called the Barking Crab, which was named one of the top 10 restaurants in Boston. Ed promised Barb that she would have all the sea food she could eat this trip and for the second day, we ate a lot of sea food. Barb had crab cakes and Ed had about 40 – 50 cold boiled shrimp and were we stuffed.

Our last stop for the evening was the old court house to listen to a 1 ½ hour concert by the Middlesex County Volunteers Fife and Drum unit and the were really entertaining to hear an see in their original style uniforms.



A snack!!



Then it was the subway back to the hotel to rest up for tomorrow – which will be full dress rehearsal of the Boston Pops.

Sleep tight!!

Fife & Drum Concert

July 1, 2011 – Day 1

The bedroom area

The view from our room

 Boston – Both of us have read about the city but neither of us have been there so it was this years Fourth of July trip.

We left Illinois under a heat advisory and we arrived in Boston to 70 degree, wonderful weather.

We checked into the Renaissance by Marriott and it is a beautiful hotel. It is the first time we have stayed at a Renaissance, and won’t be the last. Very upscale and we have a room that is 365 sq ft with a great view of downtown and the harbor.



Lunch

For lunch we went to a local restaurant/wholesale fish market call Yankee Lobster and ate ourselves silly. We had a lobster roll, fries, cold slaw and 21 cold boiled shrimp.

After lunch, we walked along the dock area by our hotel seeing what was there – a lot of docks, fishing boats restraurants and water!



Then we took the subway to Boston Commons. We visited a very old church and then walked about 20 minutes through that area to Trinity Church were we met our guide from the Boston Society of Architects for a 5:30pm tour of the sites and homes of Beacon Hill – a very exclusive area of almost all expensive row houses. It was a 90 minute tour and a lot of fun. In the entire area of Beacon Hill, the street lights are the old fashioned gas light.


Beacon Hill house

After the tour, we took a cab back to the hotel and went to a local restaurant on the dock of the major fish market called “No Name Restaurant” which opened there in 1917.

Then back to the hotel were Barb has crashed already. Se is out like a light and really needs her sleep as she has been working virtually day and night since Bloomington Gold getting the house ready after the kitchen remodeling.

I am tired also, so good night from Boston