Freedom Trail

Ok, who was it that said it only takes 3-4 hours to walk the Freedom Trail? I roll my eyes in your general direction and call your description a SILLY thing. Or maybe I am a silly thing. It took me ALL DAY. Well, from the time I set out (10:30 am) to the time when I had to turn back because it was going to be getting dark soon (5:00 pm). I hadn't even made it to the end yet.

But still, it was overall a VERY cool and interesting day. I feel like I've been living the American Revolution all day. Of course it was a subject that I was very fascinated by in junior high and high school, so I've been waiting a long time to go out there and see everything. I paid for admission to the three museums (Old South Meeting House, Old State House, and the Paul Revere House) and it was well worth it. The Old State House was probably the best. In there you're assaulted with descriptions of the Boston Massacre, which happened right outside the building. I did get to see the actual engraving Paul Revere did of the event which I've seen in history books countless times. And speaking of him, his house was pretty neat. Not too much to see though, just recreations of 18th century rooms.

I think the high point, though, was my little stop for lunch: I had lunch at the Green Dragon Tavern, which is right along the trail on a narrow little street. Very cool little place. It dates back to the Revolution; in fact it says that patriots met there to plot their uprisings against the British. So I found that very cool and fascinating. I ordered a drink and jumbo shrimp. Mmmm, I love eating seafood near a coast. They were HUGE and oh so good. I sat and did postcards while eating. Across the street was a tavern called the Bell in Hand and it had a sign posted outside saying it was the oldest tavern in America (est. 1795.) The Green Dragon stated in its information that it was founded in 1657. So uh... didn't 1657 come before 1795?? I don't understand. Then my guide book says there's a pub called Warren's Tavern that also tries to proclaim itself the oldest tavern in America (est. 1780.) Sounds like to me that the Green Dragon has it. Oh well. Anyways, I highly recommend it.

I saw three really old cemetaries too: King's Chapel, Granary Burying Ground, and Copp's Burying Hill. Some famous graves I saw among those included: Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, the victims of the Boston Massacre, and Robert Newman, the guy who hung the lanterns in the Old North Church ("one if by land, two if by sea"). Very interesting.

Like I said, I turned back before making it to Bunker Hill. My guide book says that the Battle of Bunker Hill wasn't actually fought there in the first place, so I figured why bother. I could see it from the point where I turned around, so I took a picture of it. I had stopped right after getting a good shot of the U.S.S. Constitution. Then I high-tailed it back to the nearest subway station (about a half hour brisk walk) and came home. Er, back to my hostel. Now I'm fairly sore, because that brisk walk involved hills and such, and I know I'm going to be even more sore tomorrow. Gonna need some Advil.

So tomorrow I'm gonna try to do Salem. Hurricane Wilma is headed out to sea so I should be ok. Although it's still supposed to rain tomorrow. Oh well. It's been raining the whole time practically anyways. Well today wasn't so bad, just occasional misting. The only downpour happened while I was in Green Dragon, so I lucked out there. Tomorrow's going to be worse though. Oh well. But you know what, the weather on this trip has always done the OPPOSITE of what the weathermen forecast. It was supposed to be sunny Fri and Sat and it rained, and it was supposed to be rainy on Sunday and it was sunny. So we'll see. I guess it could go either way.

More later! Good night!