“Hooray!!”

 

We can hear you cheering and saying, “It’s about time!” 😀  We are finally updating about our trip 😀

After leaving Niagara Falls, we drove and drove and drove and DROVE before stopping at a hotel somewheres in New York (that is a very long state, by the way, going east and west!).  Our plan was to see Boston the next day before going to see our friends in Connecticut.  However, we got a very late start, and still had a few hours to even get to Boston.  We were keeping in touch with our friends, letting them know where we were, and they, having been in Boston themselves, gave us some very wise counsel and told us that we just weren’t going to be able to do Boston in that short amount of time.  PLUS, if we didn’t get out of Boston by 4 p.m. we could most definitely count on jammed traffic.  So we decided we’d go to their house, first!  We are SO glad we did, because there is absolutely no way we could have seen very much of Boston at all if we would have stuck with our first plan! So we relaxed and had SO MUCH FUN at our friends’ house, and almost didn’t want to go see Boston because we were having so much fun!

 

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�Diane said to do a good post on Connecticut–but we realized that we pretty much already covered what we did at Connecticut on [this post] and when we visited our friends� :D� We loved the�old fashioned�stone walls/fences around the properties–unfortunately we did not get any pictures of them :P� It was raining the few days we were there, so we didn’t go outside much.���

We heard that there are a couple of castles in Connecticut, and we thought about going to see them, but didn’t have time to.� Maybe the next time we go to Connecticut :D���

We also saw heard that there was a schoolhouse near where our friends lived that Benedict Arnold either taught or went to school there himself!� That was quite interesting!� We’ve tried looking it up online and� found a schoolhouse in Connecticut that Nathan Hale taught at, but not Benedict Arnold, �so maybe we’ve gotten mixed up 🙂

But we tore ourselves away and took off for Boston for one day during the time we were staying with our friends.��

We were amazed at this city!� We are, you know, from the sticks, and there were all these narrow streets, and all these people walking out in the middle of the road because surely the traffic will stop, right?!� In the country the people stop for the cars, not the other way around :D��

Oh my!� It was crazy!� We tried parking in one garage, but our van was too tall, so we breathed a sigh of relief when we fit into this one!��

But then…��

The “guard” wanted us to open up the back of our van.� Eek!� I guess a big van like that could look kind of suspicious.� We were just hoping he wouldn’t have us empty it out!� This is what the back of the van looked like:��

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Thankfully, the man did not make us empty it out :D� He said something to Daddy about us being from out of state, and Daddy joked,
“Yeah, we’re used to the cornfields of Indiana!”��

The man lightened up a little and also asked Daddy what religion we were–he must have wondered since there were all these dresses hanging in the back :D� Daddy told him we were Christians, and the man said, “I’m a Nazarene!”��

It’s so neat being Christians!� You have brothers and sisters everywhere! :D��

He let us park on the ground level, which is actually the highest level as all the others go under ground…creepy! So we all piled out of the van and began walking up the ramp that we had just driven down when someone points out the “NO PEDESTRIANS ON RAMP” sign. Oops!� Now we really feel like the hicks from the sticks!��

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So we found an elevator, and as is customary to do in elevators, we went up in it!� We do have elevators in Indiana!��

Already feeling like the country bumpkins, we were amazed when we stepped out of the elevator to see this!��
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There were expensive little shops all around and we were guessing it was a hotel, but we didn’t inquire…we wanted to see the Freedom Trail, as fancy as this hotel-on-top-of-a-parking-garage was!��

The first thing we wanted to see was the the U.S.S. Constitution, the oldest commissioned ship in the U.S. Navy :D� So we found the Freedom Trail and walked, and walked, and walked!��

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Seeing the skyscrapers was neat :D� I’m sure we provided a bit of entertainment to those who walk through this city everyday.� We’d try walking while looking up at the scrapers…but not for too long lest we run into someone!��

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…and walked, and walked…��

Another amazing thing is how historical Boston is all mixed up with modern Boston :D� Here’s the Old State House, very tall itself, looking like a shrimp in the middle of the skyscrapers!��

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It is said that back during the War for Independence, the way they would test someone to see if they were a spy is to ask them, “What sits atop Faneuil Hall?”��

The answer, of course, is “a grasshopper”. :D��

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We walked by neat old buildings…��

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We walked by tall, unsociable men…��

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We walked by restaurants….��

These little restaurants along the street were so pretty!� Pretty little tables set with nice dishes.� They had all the doors and windows open, air conditioning on and everything!� It was a little strange to walk past and see someone eating only 3-5 feet away from you!�

“Excuse me sir, I’m thirsty, we’ve been walking forever–mind if I have a swallow of your water there?!”�

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� We got the usual stares, especially since we were all matching in our patriotic dresses, and we saw several people taking our picture with their phones and cameras :D� Quite funny! �A couple of men in one restaurant shouted out to us as we walked by, “Hey!� What’s going on?”�

“Nothing, but can I have a drink of your water?”

Actually we said nothing, as most of the family (including Daddy and Mommy in the front) had already passed the restaurant and those of us girls in the back didn’t think we should strike up a conversation, or shout at them that we were just having a vacation 😀

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We walked by more neat old buildings…the houses in Boston are so pretty!��

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� We walked over a bridge with nothing but grate to walk on.� The grate here looks very big, but that is only because we took an up close picture so that you can see the water :D��

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We stopped halfway across the bridge and took some pictures and looked out across the water.� By now we could see the masts of the Constitution.��

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Also while we were on the bridge, traffic was whizzing by and we saw quite a few of these ‘duck tour’ boats…a boat that drives on land and floats in the water!!!��

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…we were getting closer!��

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At last! We saw the U.S.S. Constitution!!!��

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Before going on the ship, we had to go through security, which included going through a metal detector and sending our bags through an x-ray machine.� Several of us set the detector off…we would go through, it would beep, the guards would look at us and we would suggest what we thought had set it off…��

“Hairpins?”��

“Metal barrette?”��

“Hairpins?”��

“Braces?”��

“Belt?”��

The guards seemed satisfied, though they did want to check the bottom of Daddy’s shoes!��

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The history of this ship is amazing!� It is the oldest commissioned ship afloat. There is another one that is older, but it isn’t afloat like�the Constitution.

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We learned that what would be called cannons on land are called guns aboard ship.

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� �This is the “scuttlebutt” (�a cask or butt�that has been scuttled or a�hole made in it)� where the men would come and get their daily ration of� water.� A gallon a day per man for all washing AND drinking needs, and the water was usually mildewy.� The men usually drank it and skipped the washing part :P� This is where we get the term “scuttlebutt” for gossip because it�was where the men gathered and talked, and rumors and gossip started around the scuttlebutt 😀

�The sailors were also given a quart of grog a day, a mixture of rum with lemon or lime juice and water.� The sailor giving us the tour said it was to keep the sailors from getting scurvy and was not alchoholic enough to do any damage.�� The sailors were allowed to sell their ration back so that they could have more money on their next paycheck, but then they risked getting scurvy.

�They also had meals of some kind of soup with ‘shipsbiscuit’ or hardtack.� These little ‘biscuits’ made from flour and water were so non-perishable that there is one in the museum by the ship that a sailor had written on and kept as a souvenir.�� We got to see it in it’s little case and we could make out the date 1862 and part of “U.S.S. Constitution” :D� The biscuits were also so hard that the sailors either had to dip them into the soup to soften them, or they would put them in their neckerchiefs and bang them on the floor and ceiling and stomp on them to crumble them up before putting it into their soup!

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� Sleeping conditions were not all that wonderful either!�� There were somewhere around 450 sailors (and one cook!) when they went out for battle, and�the sailors got 4 hours of� sleep a day, and only half of�the sailors at a time.

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�� They had these hammocks at the museum and they were actually quite comfy…or maybe we were so tired of standing that sitting/laying in them felt very nice!� The sleeping quarters were also the eating quarters.� The sailors slept elbow to elbow with the others, there was no ventilation (other than the ladderwells) and the only dividing line between the sick sailors and the healthy was a sheet hung down the middle!� Remember that not many of them used their gallon of water for bathing!

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The captain and the officers had a better area, though they were still on the same level as all the other sailors!� We must have been second rate passengers, because no one was allowed in these quarters :D� No fair, Dave Stotts!

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��Small boys (around 8-13 years old) crawled to the lowest level of the ship and brought up cannonballs and gunpowder for the sailors.� Can you imagine�being a small boy carrying up heavy things during a loud battle and�being down the the dark hull of the ship–we assume no light because gunpowder plus�candles would not be a good combination!

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Remember the one cook?� Here is his most spacious kitchen!� They didn’t give him much room!

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�� We’ve uploaded a couple of videos that we took while on the ship.� The sailor gives a little bit of history on the ship (some of which we’ve shared here) and also of the first battle and how the ship was restored.� If you don’t care for history, you might find them boring as it is just the sailor talking�:D� But if you love history, then you might find them interesting!

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCRAN5qCcBk[/youtube]

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXo391pOCfk[/youtube]

 

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Unfortunately, we did not get to go into Paul Revere’s house…we got there too late :P� We did get to see and touch the outside of it, though.� It was so neat to see these old places, places where our forefathers lived and breathed and walked.��

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A statue of that great and noble man :)��

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The steeple of the Old North Church where Robert Newman hung the lanterns to signal to the colonists that the British were coming :)��

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When we went inside, we found the Revere pew…��

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…and SAT in it, of course :D� It was a squeeze!��

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More pictures of the beautiful church…��

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�Anna sat in this pew :D� Did we say that it is SO neat to be in these places where famous people from long ago were standing or sitting?!��

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This clock in the church was made by two brothers during the era of the War for Independence who were not clockmakers, and yet it is still keeping perfect time today! It is the oldest clock in a public place.��

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The window where it is said Robert Newman jumped out of to escape the British soldiers coming into the church after he lit the lanterns…��

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More�interesting history…��

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The Copp’s Hill burying ground was another stop we made.� We girls love old cemeteries, and especially one as old as this one!� The man buried beneath this stone was no good friend of the British.� Before he died, he said he wanted to be buried 10 feet deep in a stone grave so as to keep the British from digging him up and disturbing him.� So that is exactly what his friends did when he died.� The British did not dig him up, but those bullet marks are from their muskets–they used his tombstone as target practice :)��

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We had no idea� that Susannah had been a first wife, much less a second one! ;)��

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Here is the grave of the brave Robert Newman who it is said hung the lanterns in the steeple of Old North.� He was a young man when he did that…only about 23 years old.�� Somehow we seem to think of our founding fathers as all being older men :D��

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For some reason it is popular to put pennies on different tombstones (tell us if you know why!), but Robert Newman’s especially.� There were Euro pennies and Canadian pennies on there, too :D� We see plenty of Canadian pennies floating around all the time, but hadn’t seen a Euro penny/coin �(or whatever they call it!) until then :D��

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We got a picture of us all standing along the wall of Copp’s Hill.� There are tombs in the sides of the hill…one place we read said that there were over 200 tombs!��

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{the lovely old cobblestone!}��

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At this point we were very tired!� We had walked forever and seen so much of so little of the SO MUCH there is to see!��

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We decided to stop at one of those fancy restaurants…��

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Ah yes!� McDonald’s! :D� Isn’t Isaiah the perfect advertisement for them?!��

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In case you were wondering, we really aren’t that fond of McDonald’s, but when you haven’t eaten all day and this is the only affordable and edible place around…you just do what you have to do!� By that point, anything would have tasted good!��

�No, we didn’t make it out of Boston by 4 p.m. and so we were stuck in traffic for a little while, but at last it broke free and we were driving back to our home-sweet-second-home in Connecticut!� Boston was lovely, amazing, astounding, but we were ready for some rest!��

Good-bye Boston!� We hope to visit you again someday!��

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