Memorial Day, 2017-  a day to remember all who have served and died to preserve our freedom.  Thank You!

Surprisingly cool and windy this morning (mid 50s) and showers likely later in the day. We came prepared with sweaters and rain jackets. We will not be deterred from our exploration today! Stan arranged for tickets for the Old Town Trolley Tour of Boston; their version of the hop-on, hop-off  bus tour, only on an old fashioned trolley.

We hopped a cab to the starting spot as the hotel did not know when they would likely be stopping near our hotel. They had the side plastic shades lowered because of the cold weather so I am not sure how good my pictures would be as I was shooting through plastic rather than glass. Surprisingly there were quite a few other brave souls on the trolley with us. We stayed on the bus for the entire narrated two hour tour as it wound its way through the various areas of Boston and Cambridge. It was simply too cold and windy  to walk around. Boston is a lovely city that has successfully merged the great historical aspects of the area with the new modern city it has become. It ranks right up there with the great coastal cities of the world. We were last here when the “big dig (elimination of an elevated highway through downtown)”  was still in progress and it was nice seeing the finished product. We can only hope that Seattle is smart enough to do the same as we eliminate our elevated road. I was also struck by the cleanliness of the city as we drove through it.

Our trolley ticket included a free harbor tour which we all agreed we wanted to take. We usually try to take harbor tours in cities where it is available but for some reason we had never done it here in Boston. Normally we are eager to get seats outside on the upper deck to enjoy the sun and the sea air- not today!  There was plenty of inside seating with big windows for viewing. We had a delightful Irishman acting as our narrator pointing out sights along the way, sprinkled with Irish humor. We could have disembarked where the USS Constitution (44 gun frigate) was docked but decided against it because it was in dry dock undergoing routine hull maintenance. For you history buffs:  It is the oldest commissioned ship in existence (built in 1797). Supposedly it is the only naval vessel that has never lost a battle. Also it got the nickname of “Old Ironsides” because the during the war of 1812 the enemy experienced cannonballs simply bouncing off its hull. In truth the hull is wood, but it is some 22 inches thick, giving it the ability to thwart enemy shelling.

We chose to have lunch at the famous Durgin Park restaurant located in Quincy Market. It is the second oldest restaurant in Boston and is famous for having “surly” waitresses; ours turned out to be the sweetest, nicest person. Maybe they are trying to change their image.

We walked through the area shops and Fanueil Hall (often called the cradle of independence), the site where Samuel Adams and others spoke for independence from Great Britain back in the late 1700s.

The 2.5 mile Freedom Trail( marked by a row of bricks) winds its way through this area. We did not walk it as we had done that on previous trips. However, I was again reminded of how nice this city is and all the history it offers for all to appreciate.

My travel companions chose to go back to the hotel but I wanted to tour the Boston Tea Party Museum near our hotel. It turned out to be a great experience. Actors in period costumes portray the events leading up to and including the dumping of 342 bales of tea into the bay that occurred on December 16, 1773 by members of the Sons of Liberty who dressed as native Americans and boarded the English ship in the harbor. It took over 3 hours for the 30-130 men to complete the task. Interestingly this event not only helped lead to the War of Independence, it also caused Americans to ultimately become coffee drinkers as tea became hard to get. There were also a couple of movies describing the aftermath of the event, including the Battle at Lexington/Concord. They even have on display one of the two known remaining crates that were used to ship the tea and some documentation from the era. The whole thing was very well done and  I felt it is certainly worth seeing if you are in the area.

Late in the afternoon the showers arrived as predicted and we decided to simply have cocktails and a light dinner in the hotel as we had had a fairly late lunch.

The weather tomorrow is expected to be better and we will continue our exploration of Boston before boarding our ship on Wednesday.