Boston

The day after our Rhode Island adventures we spent a day in Boston (which was not nearly enough time to take it all in!).  We all loved Boston and hope to some day get back there and see the sights we missed.  I personally am a huge history fan, especially the Revolutionary War period so visiting Boston was a real treat.  One of my favorite parts of Boston was Boston Commons, the large park in the middle of the city.  It has a fascinating history to it and today is just a beautiful park with a large pond called Frog Pond where kids can splash and play (it is very shallow), a neat play structure and fountains, and many other interesting things going on.



This frog had water coming out of its mouth which the littlest ones loved!  The older boys were more into the bigger fountains that were spraying water right by this frog.

Park Street Church right across the street from Boston Commons

Right beside Park Street Church is Granery Burying Ground where many patriots are buried.  Here is a memorial for John Hancock

Paul Revere's tombstone

Statue of Ben Franklin in front of Boston's old City Hall

Old South Meeting House where many important meetings leading up to the war took place, including the decisions about the Tea Party.

The Old State House, right outside this building the Boston Massacre took place.

For those who have not been there, this is what much of Boston looks like

We took a ferry from Long Wharf to the Navy Yard where the U.S.S. Constitution is located.  This was a pier by the Navy Yard

Here is the U.S.S. Constitution, the oldest floating warship in the world and also know as "Old Ironsides" We took a free guided tour of the ship which was a highlight for all of us

We got to go on two decks below, this was the first, the gun deck

As you walk around Boston on the Freedom Trail, you follow a red line that is brick like this or painted red so it is generally easy to know where you are going and the boys had fun figuring out where the red line was all the time

This is harder to see due to the light but it is Old North Church where the lanterns were hung when Paul Revere and William Dawes made their ride 

It was well over 90 degrees and sunny the whole day we were in Boston.  Hot!  So by the end of the day we were all worn down and very hot.  We found these fountains on the way back to our vehicle after supper and the boys had a great tiem running through them and getting soaked!