Last Day in Boston

Saturday, April 12, 2014
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
One last day in Boston. We have a few things to see and do before we head home tomorrow.

We started with a 2 mile walk from our hotel through Boston Commons, along Boylston street to Fenway Park . Along the way we passed the finish line for the Boston Marathon which will be run in another week. They are making final preparations. We also passed a light post that is wrapped in knitted hearts marking the site of one of the bombs that was set off at last years marathon. There are numerous runners running the marathon route practicing for next week.

At Fenway we bought tickets to tour the ballpark. After buying the tickets we were told to wait in the gift shop across the street for the tour to start. We browsed and waited. A couple minutes after out tour time I asked one of the store employees about our tour and they said that the tour starts in the adjoining room. We missed the start of our tour. Fortunately the Fenway tour guides were great and took and a couple others that also were misinformed on a private tour for the first portion and then caught us up with the rest of our group.

Fenway park is the 2nd oldest ballpark in the MLB . Fenway opened in 1912. The oldest is Wrigley Field in Chicago, then Fenway in Boston, and 3rd oldest is Dodger Stadium in LA. The ball park is painted a trademarked green color. We toured the visiting locker room, the "Green Monster" wall in left field, the press box, a private suite, and right field. It is a beautiful old ballpark.

After our tour we made one more stop at the gift shop and then began our walk balk towards our hotel. Along the way we passed shops and restaurants along Boylston and Newbury Streets. Lots of nice shops and restaurants. Today is the nicest day Boston has had this spring and everyone is out to enjoy it. Sunny and nearly 70 degrees (f). Boston Commons park is packed with people.

At the hotel we grabbed a quick lunch and then retrieved our minivan to return it to the airport. We made the short drive under Boston harbor to the airport, cleaned everything out of the minivan and turned in the keys . We had traveled 1,104 miles since we picked it up a week ago. We took the airport shuttle to the water taxi docks and hailed a boat. The water taxi transported us across Boston Harbor to a dock adjacent to the Boston Tea Party Museum.

The Boston Tea Party Museum is an interactive, high tech multimedia presentation about the Boston Tea Party and the start of the Revolutionary War with Great Britian. You start in a room modeled after the old south meeting house where "Samuel Adams" convinces you that we need to throw the British tea overboard tonight. After everyone yells their "Fies" and "Hazzaus" (No and Yes) we board a "British" ship to throw the tea overboard and then go below deck to see what the quarters would be like. Below deck it is very cramped and small. The "tea" is fairly light and tied with rope so you can pull it back aboard and throw it again if you like. You the return to the dock and learn more about the individuals who participated in the tea party . One guy got hit on the head by a tea create and we thought to be dead. His friends laid him aside planning to collect his body the next day. They found he had woken up with a headache but was very much alive.

Inside the museum they have several high tech holograms of characters from the tea party and revolutionary war. They are very well done and well worth a visit. Most interesting is the one and only wooden box that was saved from the actual Boston Tea Party from December 1773. The day after the tea party a crate washed ashore nearby. A young man collected it and took it home and hid it under the basement stairs. The family passed the treasured crate down over the generations. For a time it was on display in Philadelphia and also occasionally toured the US for special events. It is now permanently on display in the Boston Tea Party Museum.

We walked a mile or so to Quincy Market. The place is packed with locals and tourists . A Boston Bruins hockey game just finished at nearby TD Garden arena and the fans are out at the restaurants and bars. Boston is an easy city to walk and again we are walking back to our hotel. We make a stop at the Teapot Starbucks for something cool to drink.

Back at the hotel we enjoy a light dinner and then retire to our room to begin the packing process. Tomorrow morning we have an early flight home.

Final thoughts - Jack enjoyed Vermont best, Lauralee, Grace, and myself enjoyed Boston best. We would love to see Vermont in the fall with the maple trees in color. We would also like to see a Red Sox game at Fenway. I had some friends comment that Delaware does have some beautiful areas - we just did not get to see them. Maybe another trip we will explore Delaware and find them.

Next trip is this summer. See you then.
Jon, Lauralee, Jack & Grace

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