Boston, Massachusetts, USA

This morning we were off the ship in a flash…walked to find our pickup point for our Old Town Trolly Tours.  It was very cool and the winds blowing at Gail force, remnants of Hurricane Ian.  After a two hour wait, and two calls to the company, the Trolley Shuttle arrived…for any future visits to Boston, we would not recommend using Old Town Trolly Tours.  The Trolly dropped us at the USS Constitution/Charlestown Navy Yard, a perfectly preserved battleship perhaps better known by its nickname “Old Ironsides.” From here we started following the Freedom Walking Trail in the reverse direction arriving at the Bunker Hill Monument, commemorating one of the first battles of the Revolutionary War.  Following the trail directional markers, we passed many restored traditional period homes on our way south. Making our way across the inner harbor to the area known as the North End of Boston, we climbed to the Copps Hill Burying Ground, home to thousands of unmarked graves, before continuing on to the Old North Church and the Paul Revere House, from which Revere left on his famous midnight ride to warn of the approaching British.  Making our way thorough Boston’s Italian neighborhood famous for its bakeries and restaurants we passed the Old Oyster House and onto Faneuil Hall, a regal structure that witnessed countless historical events during the lead-up to the revolution. Passing the Old City Hall and that the Granary Burying Ground, a cemetery that predates the United States by over 100 years and serves as the final resting place for major figures like Samuel Adams and John Hancock.  Our next stop was the Old South Meeting House, which is actually the place where the famous Boston Tea Party got started. Our tour ended at the Boston Common flanked by the beautiful Boston State House, topped with a gold dome and the Robert G Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial, honoring some of the first Black Americans to fight in the Civil War.  Since we were pressed for time, we took an Uber back to the ship.  Pleasant day in Boston despite the frigid wind chill….