We decided since we would be so close to the city we should take a day or so to look around. We stayed in Foxborough, MA which is only 25 miles (as the crow flies) from downtown Boston. It is also where the New England Patriots (Tom Brady) play their home games at the Gillette Stadium. The campground we were staying at was less than 3 miles from the stadium. We happened to be there Thursday night when the NE Patriots played their season opening game. We could hear the fireworks from the campground, but there were a lot of fans in the campground cheering, so we couldn't hear the fans in the stadium.
We received instructions from the campground office on how to get to the subway/train station to go into Boston. From the campground we had to drive over an hour to get to the subway/train station in Newton, MA (which is 25 miles from campground in a westerly direction). The traffic was stop and go the whole trip. Once on the train, it took 40 minutes to go 9 miles (in an easterly direction) due to all the stops we had to make to pick up or let off passengers along the way. So, it took us almost 2 hours to go 35 miles. We finally arrived at Boston Commons where the map said there would be a visitor center. It had closed and a new one was across the street. Therefore, once in the city it only took us another 20 minutes to find the visitor center and a bathroom! :(
We had hoped to take a "Duck Tour" of the city and harbor....unfortunately, when we got to the ticket stand, they had already sold out for the day. We opted for (you guessed it) a boat cruise of the harbor.
It was a gorgeous view of the city from the boat. We cruised around the harbor for approximately 45 minutes. Our tour guide pointed out places of interest and talked about the old harbor history.
Our tour guide narrator.
We cruised by the Boston Logan Airport and it looks like a Jet Blue plane on the tarmac.
The USS Constitution is the U.S. Navy's oldest commissioned warship and is currently in dry dock for a three year renovation. We were not able to see the entire ship from our tour boat, however we could see the three distinctive masts on the ship.
You can see the masts on the USS Constitution just above the woman's head in the picture below.
The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge was designed after the ships masts. This bridge was part of the Big Dig Project in Boston and it is the widest cable-stayed bridge in the world.
There is not a lot of residential property along the Boston waterfront, but you can pick up a nice condominium on the water for a little over 3 million dollars. See picture below. The good thing about these apartments is that they come with their own parking space. It is said that you are really buying a parking space with a condo thrown in.
Below are some of the buildings we passed along our walk through the city.
We walked through the famous Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall.
So many wonderful smells!
The Kilvert and Forbes Bakeshop was originally created in 1976 when Quincy Market first opened it's doors as the famous food colonnade. At the time, John Kerry was practicing law, which he found to be "quite predictable and very boring". So the chocolate lover and his friend and business partner K. Dunn Gifford opened the bakery and named it after their mothers. They later sold the business, but John still goes back for one of his famous cookies.
Lots of people (tourists) in the city. Boston was in the middle of a September heat wave when we were there. The temperature in the city reached 97 the day we were there. That broke a 32 year record for that date.
It was really unbearable! I almost got sick. We stopped to eat lunch, then walked around a little more and headed back to the train station. We did see a lot more than I have to report on my blog. Just wasn't up to documenting more. :(
The people in the picture below knew the right way to tour the city....... Looked like fun.....and cooler!
We decided that we will have to come back to this great city. I suggest flying and staying in the city! What fun!
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