the Freedom trail

We got Oscar into his Furman gear to honor Dr. Buford and once I

had found a parking spot (this took longer than it would seem seeing as the college is in the middle of Boston and the parking meters look like they only take money from an app until you look at the back of them to see that they take an insane amount of quarters.  So, the Bean and I got to see John giving his talk for a 

little while, check out the Boston University campus, have some food on the “beach” which is what they call the one grassy area where the traffic along the Charles River makes it sound like waves and watched wave after wave of campus tours go by.  I learned a lot about Boston University, but only the same stuff over and over.  John finally got done at 12:30 and we grabbed a wrap from their food trolley on campus that was very good and returned to the hotel to feed Oscar some more and get John changed.  We braved the 

train again in order to get downtown to Boston Common and start the Freedom Trail walk through history.  I know that most people would find this boring, but this is the kind of stuff I enjoy.  We hit a lot of souvenir places along this 3 mile walk and only one street 

 vendor had one shirt that was too big, but the only thing that I could find with Beantown on it for the Bean.  How can you leave Beantown without something for the Bean, but apparently this is a term that Boston no longer wants to use in relation to their town.  But I found it!!!  The Freedom trail took us past all the most important monuments in the nation’s history and we were amazed 

 how many people started the walk in Boston Common with us vs how many finished at the Bunker Hill monument and the USS Constitution. The brochure says that it is a 2.5 mile walk, but I think it was more than that, luckily Oscar slept through the majority of the walk.  He did wake up for the ferry ride home and Bunker Hill though which is what most people skipped.  I think that everyone gets waylaid by the shopping and food at Faneuil Hall

 and then don’t go on.  It was amazing seeing the places, graves and sites that you have heard about all of your life.  That is mainly why I like to travel in the first place.  I’ve read about it and then have to go see it.  While all the historical places were great and what we came for (even if one was turned into a Chipotle and one into a 

Ruth Chris steakhouse), the ferry ride back into Boston harbor for $3 at sunset was the best part for all of us.  For Oscar because he was finally awake, but for John and me because it was cool, refreshing, beautiful and we didn’t have to do the moving anymore.  I always thought that Oscar’s first ferry ride would be in Michigan, but you never know where life is going to take you.