Today, I decided to be a tourist in Boston by doing some of the tours originating from the
Boston Common.
The first tour I went on was the
Freedom Trail one from the
Boston Town Crier, starting at 9.30a.m. in the morning. While waiting in front of the Boston Common Visitor Center for the tour to start, I decided to take a few pictures of the statues here.
Our tour guide professed himself to be the patriot James Otis, and started off the tour by heading up to the Massachusetts State House.
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| "James Otis" |
He talked about the coming of the Puritans and how they restricted religious freedom, exiling anyone else who did not believe in the faith, and even hanging those that tried to come back, including
Mary Dyer, whose statue sits on the side of the State House
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| Mary Dyer |
The church where they practiced their faith was the present
Park Street Congregational Church, which we passed by next.
Next, we went to the
Granary Burying Ground, where he showed us the resting places of many of the patriots during the
American Revolution, including that of our "tour guide" himself. Pictures follow.
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| Franklin Family Obelisk |
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| John Hancock |
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| Robert Treat Paine |
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| James Otis |
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| Paul Revere |
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| Samuel Adams |
From here, we headed to
King's Chapel, the first Anglican church in New England and the
Old City Hall, where on the floor is a spot commemorating the first public school in America was sited.
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| Old City Hall |
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| Benjamin Franklin |
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| Josiah Quincy |
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| Democratic Donkey |
Next, we headed to the
Old South Meeting House, where the
Boston Tea Party meetings took place, the result of which was the dumping of the tea sitting in the
Boston Harbor in defiance of paying taxes for it.
Next, we headed to the
Old State House, where the
Declaration of Independence was read from, and the site of the
Boston Massacre is also here, which foreshadowed the coming of the Revolutionary War a few years later.
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| Old State House |
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| Boston Massacre Site |
Our tour finally ended at
Faneuil Hall, the grasshopper atop of which was the subject of a quiz question to distinguish between patriots and British spies during the Revolutionary War. Here he told us that we would have to pay more for an extended tour to the end of the Freedom Trail in Charlestown, so I felt a little shortchanged to say the least, since I had expected to be able to walk the entire trail. Oh well, thankfully it was a Livingsocial deal I used.
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| Samuel Adams |
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| Mayor Kevin White |
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| Faneuil Hall |
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| Grasshopper atop Faneuil Hall |
I decided to have lunch at
Quincy Market nearby, taking pictures of the performers in front and other monuments before heading to
Cheers for lunch.
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| Quincy Market |
Performers in Front of Quincy Market
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| Giant Macaroni |
This place is somewhat similar to the original bar on Beacon Street that was the inspiration of the popular
TV series by the same name.
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| Cheers at Faneuil Hall |
I decided to try the Boston Baked Beans and The Giant Norm Burger. The baked beans came in a mug, and they were really delicious. The burger was extremely large, and was pretty good too.
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| Boston Baked Beans |
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| Giant Norm Burger |
With that, I walked back to the Boston Common where my next tour would begin. On the way back, I took some pictures of the buildings around me.
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| Giant Kettle outside Starbucks near City Hall |
I still had some time, so I decided to visit the
Boston Public Garden, taking pictures of the flowers and monuments there.
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| Thomas Cass |
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| Edward Everett Hale |
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| Swan Boats |
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| Wendell Phillips |
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| Ether Monument |
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| Fountain in front of George Washington |
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| Charles Sumner |
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| Tadeusz Kosciuszko |
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| Duck and Duckling Statues |
With that, it was time for my next tour of
Beacon Hill by
Boston by Foot Guided Tours, which was a meetup event. After meeting with the tour guide at the steps of the Massachusetts State House, we started our tour.
After explaining the
Federal Style Architecture that we would be seeing on our tour to us, and how the Massachusetts State House was an excellent example of that,we walked around to the back of the State House where the Ashburton Park is, and told us why Beacon Hill was named as such, for a warning beacon that used to be on top of the hill, and that the State House was a mishmash of different colors, being red in front, yellow behind, white on the side, and golden on top.
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| Ashburton Park behind the Massachusetts State House |
With that we went into the residential areas, where she explained the various real estate players involved in the development of the area, and pointing out to us unique things about the architecture, including the windowsill planter boxes, the beautiful side gardens, street gas lamps that were perpetually on 24 hours, and Acorn Street the last cobblestone road in Massachusetts.
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| Window Planter Boxes |
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| Gas Lamps |
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| Cobblestone Covered Acorn Street |
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| Beautiful gardens |
After the tour, which was pretty boring to me actually overall because it was just about Federal architecture, the group first headed to the original
Cheers Bar on Beacon Street, but as it was crowded, we decided to head to
Scholars on School Street instead for drinks and conversation. Having been there once, I decided to try out a dessert, the School Street Sundae, which was delicious with ice cream and rice krispie squares among other things.
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| Original Cheers Bar |
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| School Street Sundae |
I had to leave early for my last tour of the day, done by
Boston Civil War Tours, starting at the Boston Common Visitor Center. We visited places like the
Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, which commemorates the first black regiment in America, the
Tremont Temple Baptist Church, the first integrated church in America, and the Irish Famine Memorial in front of the Old South Meeting House, which is in honor of the Irish Immigrants who were outcasts in society then but still fought for the integrity of the American Union.
Irish Famine Memorial
Once again, I felt that the tour was actually pretty similar to the Freedom Trail tour in terms of route, so to be honest, I was not satisfied at all with my day of touring. At this point, I decided to leave and head towards Waltham where I would use one of my Livingsocial deals for dinner, but as the day was still young, I decided to do some sightseeing in Brookline first. I headed first to
Hall's Pond Sanctuary, located at the junction of Amory Street and Freeman Street. After parking at the
Amory Park parking lot, the path I took here is highlighted below in pink.
I first headed to the gazebo in the Amory Woods area.
I then took a stroll around the pond on a wooden boardwalk, where there was a Great Blue Heron looking for food in the pond
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| Great Blue Heron |
From the pond, I headed to the Central Garden, where I took some pictures of the flowers there.
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| The Central Garden |
With that, I headed back to my car, and visited several other places in Brookline before heading to Waltham for dinner.
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Old St. Mark's Methodist Church,
90 Park Street |
Finally, it was time for dinner at
Baan Thai in Waltham, where I had a $30 Livingsocial deal. This place actually
reminds me of Tom Can Cook, which is also in the same town.
I decided to go with a Tom Kha Gai soup, the Beef Rendang, which I have not seen before at a Thai restaurant, and the Villager's Pad Thai, which was also another unique dish.
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| Tom Kha Gai Soup |
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| Beef Rendang |
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| Villager's Pad Thai |
All three dishes were actually pretty good, although I have to say that the rendang cannot compare to ones I have back home in Singapore. With that, I was done with my day of being a tourist in Boston.
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