Whirlwind Boston Tour

With only one more day to see Boston, we had to do a whirlwind tour Saturday. We started our walk on the Freedom Trail again and visited the Old State House first. 

Then we joined the parade of tourists, dutifully following the red bricks, to the Old South Meeting House.

Along the way to King's Chapel, we stopped to say "Hello" to Ben Franklin then continued around the corner to the burying ground.

The cemetery behind King's Chapel was very interesting to me. While doing genealogy work in California and the midwest, I visited lots of cemeteries., but I'd never seen tombstones like these. Nearly every one of them had a skull on it! As a Halloween decoration aficionado, I've seen a few tombstones in my day, and I always wondered where the skull thing came from. Well, New England must have been the inspiration.

We then headed south to the Park Street Church and Boston Commons.

One of Boston's famous things is these swan boats at Boston Commons. I had no idea they were pedal powered, but the driver was pedaling away, making a little paddle wheel power the boat.

We also saw the State House and had a nice chat with a guide at the Robert Gould Shaw 5th Regiment Memorial. We had seen a version of the sculpture in Washington DC.

This bronze sculpture commemorates the story "Make Way For Ducklings" and was a very popular spot for kiddie photos.

We then walked by Cheers, which was mobbed, and then wandered along the quiet, leafy streets of Beacon Hill.

We found a pub (imagine that!) for lunch, walked by the Church of the Advent, and ended up at Whole Foods. That's where we lost the other tourists because they all eat out; we mainly cook and eat aboard our boat.

We enjoyed our whirlwind tour of Boston, but today we will sail out of its famous Harbor and up to Marblehead for the 4th if July.