Boston Trip: September 25-29, 2011

Mother-Daughter Trip! I will admit, I was worried when 2 days before we left my mom presented me purse. But not just any old purse - it was a coordinating purse. It coordinated with her purse!!! It was the kid-size version of the one she bought for herself. :) But this was a mother-daughter trip so it fit the theme! Plus I was happy to have a new purse! ;)

Day 0

Evening airline ride to Boston, hopped a cab and got to the hotel (Westin Waterfront) to have a late dinner at the hotel's restaurant, MJ O’Connor’s. It was an Irish pub that played top 40s music – a pet peeve of mine. The hotel room had a decent view of the harbor, but no washcloths for the entire stay – I guess that was our trade off.

Day 1

We were able to get up and start the morning in Boston fresh and ready for some sight-seeing. The hotel concierge recommended the Upper Deck trolley tours and that turned out to be a great tour for us. Padded seats, entertaining tour guides and easy to spot buses painted bright green and yellow. We traveled the route until we got to stop 7, the start of the Freedom Trail. But before we could start that we needed lunch, I spotted an alley that looked interesting and it had a restaurant tucked into it, Sweetwater Tavern. Great good and super yummy sweet potato fries. We then entered Boston Commons to walk to the beginning and first site of the Trail, The State House.

Then we saw it all: King’s Chapel and burying ground, Boston City Hall, Old South Church, Old State House (where we stopped for a tour to hear more about the Boston massacre) and that is where we stopped for the day. We got back on the bus and toured around the city til we got back at our hotel. The hotel had a free shuttle that returned us to Faneuil Hall in the evening so we could enjoy dinner at Cheers. For being such a tourist trap I was really impressed with the food!

Day 2

We started the foggy morning by heading to the harbor for our harbor tour that was included with our bus tour. So glad we took the first boat tour, it was just me, my mom and some lady from India – it was like a private tour of the harbor and as we were out on the water the fog lifted and it was a beautiful ride.

After the boat tour, it was time for lunch! Right on the wharf was Chart House and it seemed like just the place to eat and enjoy the harbor view. It was our nautical day so next stop: USS Constitution. This was the one spot I didn’t see last time I was in Boston cuz Rachel and I lost track of the RED line that was on the sidewalk. It is a beautiful ship and was neat to see how well it is taken care of.

Back on the trolley! Next we were going to stop at Prudential – there is a bar on the 52^nd floor that has great views of the Boston skyline, good place for a rest stop. Hopped the last trolley back to the hotel to freshen up and back to Quincy Market for dinner! We wandered for a bit trying to decide where to go and spent some time checking out the Holocaust memorial. It is actually pretty horrific. There were 6 towers to represent the concentration camps and a gassy fog came up through the vents in the sidewalk while you read quotes from Holocaust survivors. Nothing like eating after seeing that! After realizing some places were just too loud and bar-like we finally ended up on the patio of Anthem. Pleasant evening.

Day 3

The morning came and we were back in a taxi, cabbing it to Faneuil Hall to start up where we left off on the Freedom Trail. First stop, actual Faneuil Hall. I am glad we went inside, it was beautiful! Very nicely restored and oozed a wonderful sense of history. A few short blocks and we step into the North End, Boston’s Little Italy. It was a clear divide! Italian restaurants everywhere! We had some sites to see before I could gorge myself on Italian food though, like Paul Revere’s House! We were able to tour the inside see how it would have looked at the time he owned it. It was actually quite a large house for that era – which is good considering he had like 16 children!

Then on to the Old North Church. One if by land, two if by sea. Finally, time for some lunch. Italian lunch! On the plane ride to Boston we discovered we had a Boston local sitting next to us and he recommended Antico Forno. I can't say it was the best Italian meal I ever had but the server (from Brazil) had the most amazing eyes. So good lunch and onto Copp’s Hill Burying Ground which signaled the end of the trail for us. All we had to do was cross a bridge and we would be back at the USS Constitution which we already toured! So my mom did it - Freedom Trail, check!

Before we left the North End we had one last stop...everywhere we went we told to go to Mike’s Pastry for cannolis. So I guess we had to go! Um, yeah, it was pretty yummy! After that we were pretty tired out and retired early – we didn’t even have dinner this night!

Day 4

Figured out the subway system on the final day! We saved a bunch of coin and avoided all taxis. It took me a minute, but we got it figured out and didn’t end up taking us on a ride to Harvard or something – instead we made it to the lunch spot of the day: Omni Parker House’s The Last Hurrah – home of the parker rolls and creator of the Boston Cream Pie. Enjoyable lunch chatting with the couple at the table next to us who were from Saint Cloud! HA! Oh and there was a Best Buy conference at the hotel also so MN was all around.

After lunch we entered the subway again for a closer look at Boston Public Library and Trinity Church. Both beautiful structures, inside and out.

At this point we had really seen it all and pretty tired of walking so we headed to the airport and dined at Jerry Remy’s Bar and Grill for our final Boston meal. Smooth plan ride home and a little kitten was happy to have me home!