Autumn in Canada #2

Autumn in Canada  

Boston, MA

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

          We slept great under the thick, warm quilt.

          The hotel package came with breakfast. We didn’t know what to expect at the Side Bar Grill in the hotel lobby. We've learned that not all breakfast buffets at hotels are equal. So we were expecting the usual dry scrambled eggs, salty dry sausage, strips that look vaguely of bacon, some kind of warmed up freeze-dried potato cubes and assorted cereal and bread. BUT this buffet was to die for!! Five tables were full of appetizing foods. Our waiter, Dick, was delightful. He greeted us with the warmest welcome and catered to our every need. We struck up a conversation with two ladies at the next table and learned they were from Glendora, California…about 30 miles from where we live. Small world!

          We talked to the Concierge and bought our “Hop-on/Hop-off” bus tickets before heading across the street to the Hilton Hotel to pick up the trolley. We met a group from Liverpool, England. There seem to be many visitors from the UK in Boston.

         The large trolley/bus arrived a little after 10 AM. It was open-sided but had roll-down plastic windows. Surprisingly, the weather was much cooler than the 78º predicted by the weather service. Felt closer to 40-50F because of the wind chill factor. We pulled the plastic windows down, but the view through the fuzzy plastic was not ideal. However, it was better than freezing.

Our tour took us through narrow streets lined with very old buildings nestled between looming skyscrapers that blocked out the sun. Our driver/guide pointed out historic places along the way, sprinkled with interesting trivia about Boston.

          When the bus arrived at the Boston Tea Party site it was time for lunch.  We walked down Congress St. in the old warehouse district and found a place for lunch called Sweet Greens. It’s a healthy, veggie restaurant set up in the Chipotle model where you select ingredients and make your own lunch meal. We took our lunch and strolled back to the pier by the draw bridge, near the Tea Party site, found a bench next to a giant milk bottle-shaped building made of wood with HOOD painted on the side. We were enjoying our lunch when it started to sprinkle. We had our slickers so continued to eat enjoying the view.

      We strolled over to the Tea Party site, they have a reenactment, multimedia presentation, tea room, and gift shop. Unfortunately, the only time they had an opening for the next show was the time the last trolley picked up. We decided to try tomorrow.

          The trolley arrived at the final stop near Christopher Columbus Park. Everyone got off to wait for the next trolley. Meanwhile, Janet and Bill took a walk in the Rose Kennedy Rose Garden. The roses were not all in bloom but quite a few were.  

          We continued our  travel in the trolley past the Old North Church and heard stories of Paul Revere and the British soldiers.  We didn't know that Revere not only notified the community the British were coming, prior to his famous ride he took a boat in the darkness of night and met a "high ranking Brit who was an informant. Revere rowed in silence to meet him at the bow of the ship. He could have been captured or shot. With that information, he rowed back around the ship to the North Church and you know the story from there.

       Paul Revere's house was just a block from the Old North Church. Revere was quite a character and a real loyal colonial. The Paul Revere house, built around 1680 is the oldest residential building, still standing, in downtown Boston.

          We discussed taking the ghost tour tomorrow night, but we couldn’t figure out a practical way to get back to the hotel after the ghost tour, 8:30pm.  So we opted to pass on it.

          For some reason, the heated pool was almost as cold as the Naples Bay tonight. We swam about 4 laps, it felt so good to move freely through the water.