Friday November 14 - last day in Boston

It’s hard to believe we’ve been gone three months and it’s time to come home, but we had some great adventures and had a really good trip.  So as to make the most of our last few weeks, we've been out visiting all the important historical sites in and around Boston. 

Not to be missed, we went to the Boston Brewing Company, brewer of Sam Adams beer  - which should be, but is not, on the Freedom Trail.  It was a pretty good tour, but the best part was sampling the beer at the end.  We had three glasses of beer as part of the price of admission - which was FREE - which makes this one of the best deals in town.  

We also found that the Boston Brewing Company supports various good causes, including upkeep for the Old Granary Burial Ground.  Founded in 1630, it is Boston’s third oldest cemetery but boasts such famous dead people as Paul Revere, John Hancock, Peter Faneuil, (of Faneuil Hall fame) and, of course, Samuel Adams – who as it turns out was also a brewer.  You can read more about it at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granary_Burying_Ground.

We took a day trip to Plymouth to see the rock, the Mayflower and Plimouth Plantation – a recreation of the place where the Pilgrims lived.  The Plantation had a lot of “role-players” who were dressed and acted like they were in the year 1627.  Some were interesting but most were just plain old fashioned hokey.  You can find more at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower and http://www.plimoth.org/what-see-do.  Here are some of the things we saw:

 It's hard to believe that 102 Pilgrims and about 30 crew spent 66 days crossing the ocean on this small ship.  Here's part of the living arrangements.

Here's the 1627  English village...

 and a role player

We also did a few photo trips.  Here is the Boston skyline from the BU bridge.

 

Here it is at night (it was dark!)

 

And the famous Zakim bridge, which is the background used in many shots of Boston.

 

Here’s Commonwealth Ave mall where we liked to walk and sit and read.

 

And after all the time we spent in Vermont and the Berkshires looking at foliage, we found some of the best color in Mount Auburn Cemetary in Cambridge – who’d a thunk it!

 

We also used the time to get together with family.  Karol spent a day with her sister going back to the places they lived and visiting their grandmother’s farm.  Last night, we had dinner with my brother and wife.

The weather in Boston has been mixed since we've been here.  Some days it's sunny and in the 60s - 70s.  Other days it's rainy and has even snowed.  When it's nice we go for walks by the Charles River or ride our bikes (carrying them down and back up three flights of stairs each time).  When it's not so nice we've been to the Museum of Science and Museum of Fine Arts. 

Appeal to the Great Spirit is a 1909 equestrian statue by Cyrus Dallin, in front of the MFA.  When I was a kid, every time we went by the museum, my uncle Wally would point to the statue and say, "You know, that Indian gets down from there one day a year to go pee." Every Time!

We also went over to East Boston and out to the new Fan Pier to see the Boston skyline.  It's a lot different than when I lived here in the 1960s.  Here are some views.

Here's the replica of the HMS Beaver - the ship where the Boston Tea Party took place.  Today, you can take a tour, put on a fake head dress and throw boxes of "tea" overboard to re-enact that auspicious event.  (The boxes are attached to ropes so they pull them back in after the tour and use them over and over - very environment friendly!)

I don't know if it's because we are in the heart of the city or amidst a bunch of colleges, but Halloween was sure an interesting experience here in Beantown.  There were people everywhere in costumes capped off by a bicycle parade of more that 700 bicyclists who rode a 10 mile course  through Boston and Cambridge.  Some of them (both people and bikes) were pretty creative. 

Then when we got up today, it is SNOWING!!!  It was rain turned to snow so it didn't accumulate but still ...