Thursday in Boston

Refreshed by sleep and breakfast, we set off this morning (Thursday) to explore Boston, and particularly the 'Freedom Trail." It was actually raining but not heavily and the cool was lovely. We got a bus to Sullivan Square, and then another down to the naval dockyard for a visit to the warship, the USS Constitution, launched on 21 October 1797. She still sails two or three times a year.

Rookie sailor, seaman Bishop showed us the ropes, tackle, guns, etc. and told us loads of stuff about this ship, nicknamed 'Old Ironsides.' (She doesn't have armour plating, but the combination of two kinds of oak in the 2' thick hull made her very resistant to cannonballs.)

She was better armed than the English navy's best, and bested them in battle.

Worth reading up on her on the web.

After this, we plodded up Bunker Hill, the site of a major battle with the British during the Revolutionary War of 1812.

From there, we followed the "Freedom Trail" into the centre of Boston, visiting various historical sites along the way. These included...

Copp's Hill Burying Ground, where lie interred the mortal remains of 17th century Puritans Cotton and his father Increase Mather.

The Old North (Episcopal) Church, where Charles Wesley preached in 1736.

The Paul Revere house (here he is with the Old North Church in the background):

See http://www.legallanguage.com/resources/poems/midnightride/ for Longfellow's poem that made Paul famous.

We reckon we walked about 8 km today so there were lots of other historical buildings and sites that we saw including the Old State House 

and the New One:

In the Granary Burying Ground, with graves going back to 1660, we found the resting place of Paul Revere, and even that of Mother Goose!

Nestled among surrounding city buildings, it's a place of tranquility, even beauty.

A bit further along he street, we came upon Boston Common, set apart centuries ago as America's oldest public park. The donor expressly provided that "cattel" were free to graze there, but instead we saw squirrels and birds:

After this we got a red-line train back to Harvard, and wandered for a while amongst the red-brick icons of academia, including Harvard Divinity Hall. (I'm pretty sure the founders would not recognise it as the school they started. The notice-board was full of 'religions' including meditation, and Buddhism, but nothing resembling biblical Christianity.

From there we walked another mile, back to Union Square and the Macchu Picchu Peruvian restaurant, where we enjoyed a scrumptious steak with beans, rice and onions. Staggering back up the hill to Bill's BnB, we were glad to shower, blog and bed. Early start tomorrow, with taxi at 6am, and plane to England.

PS We edited yesterday's blog, if you'd like to check it.