Boston Abbreviated

Leigh flew to New York City last weekend for the last days of her spring break so we could spend some time together. The first few days I had class and work, so we didn't do much around the city aside from running errands and grabbing a few meals out. The central plan for her visit was  to indulge with a side trip to Boston and get our historical fix by visiting the John Adams Estate. Leigh loves John Adams and, being from Virginia and both eligible for the DAR, we both have a soft spot for Thomas Jefferson and the Revolutionary War in general. 

We caught the 7:30am Fung Wah bus from Chinatown NYC to Chinatown in Boston, arriving in Boston around 11:45am. The bus was kind of crazy because we stopped midway at a McDonalds for bathroom/food breaks and the driver made no attempt to do a head count before pulling out of the parking lots after a whopping 10 minutes there. Thankfully we had time to pee and grab breakfast before the bus left us!

Once we got to Boston South Station we had some time to kill so we took the T to the Sam Adams brewery in Stony Brook. The wait for a tour was over an hour and we were pretty tired and there's not much in Stony Brook, so we took the T to Quincy to check into our room early. After walking .6 miles uphill to reach the hotel we found out there was a shuttle to and from the T stop, but oh well. We'd gotten our exercise for the day. After checking in we relaxed until about 4pm and then headed back to Boston for some touring and dinner. The goal of the evening was to walk the Freedom Trail and eat dinner at a really old tavern. 

Boston Commons, and the start of the Freedom Trail. Leigh and I bought a fried dough and a soft pretzel to share because I was getting "hangry" and Leigh can't deal with me when I'm like that. Then we started the freedom trail by following the red bricks on the sidewalk and reading the placards at each stopping point. 

Old City Hall- a nice point on the Freedom Trail. The front courtyard had statutes of Ben Franklin (born in Boston, though a Philadelphia man) and Josiah Quincy, Mayor, Governor, soldier, etc and related to John Adams through his wife Abigail. 

Old Meeting House (I think)- the balcony you see here is where the Declaration of Independence was read to the people of Boston. I think this picture is cool because of the juxtaposition of a really old building against the newer buildings of downtown Boston.

Paul Revere's House near the Italian part of town and literally around the corner from Mike's Pastry Shop. This was the point when Leigh and I admitted to one another that we were exhausted and did not care to walk across the bridge to Bunker Hill. We decided we'd rather have an excuse to return to Boston at a later date for that. 

So we went back to a little alley near Haymarket (easily the most authentic and "colonial" outdoor market I've ever seen) called Marshall St where all the oldest taverns were to get some dinner (fish, chips, and chowder, and Sam Adams beer of course!). After dinner at the Green Dragon Tavern we walked back down to this neighborhood to stand in line at Mike's and got 4 pastries for $10 to chew on throughout the weekend. Good stuff and cheap too! After dinner and pastries we were just about tuckered out, so we took the T back to Quincy to relax and enjoy our nice hotel room. That big soft bed felt amazing after 4 hours on a bus and a full day of touring Boston. 

The next morning we found an amazing place for breakfast in Quincy at a restaurant I can't remember the name of. I had one of the better breakfasts of my life (french toast and sausage, but it was made especially well and came with caramelized banana and strawberries- yum!). Then we walked to the national park office to buy our tickets for the John Quincy Estate and trolley tour. My ticket was free with student ID and Leigh's was $5. It's times like these that I especially love this country. 

We had about 2 hours to kill before our trolley arrived so Leigh and I went next door to the United First Parish Church, not part of the National Park but still open for tours. This is the church where the Adams family has attended since John Adams, or at least the same congregation. The building we toured was built after John Quincy left office. It's a beautiful structure and the pews are original with the one purchased by the Adams family still marked with a brass plate. A local volunteer tour guide told us some stories, disjointedly but with good intent, about the building of the church and the families who attended. Then he took us downstairs to the crypt to see the tombs.

The crypt downstairs at the UFPC. Here John and Abigail Adams are entombed alongside John Quincy and his wife. 

It was at this point in the tour when our very Massachusetts-centric tour guide made reference to Thomas Jefferson by saying, snidely, "not exactly one of my favorite patriots." Leigh and I, standing opposite one another with the tomb of John Adams between us, shot one another genuine looks of horror to hear our statesman and shared historical boyfriend spoken of in any ill manner. The tone in the tomb changed instantly and we excused ourselves at the conclusion of the tour to console one another by reciting all the great things Thomas Jefferson did for our country and western civilization, not to mention being a complete badass and ladies' man.

Leigh and I posing in the United First Parish Church, an active Unitarian church in Quincy, MA where the Adams family attended since John Quincy's generation. Leigh and I were a little upset we didn't know about the church because this was a Sunday and we would have liked to attend a service that morning (especially after seeing the rainbow on the sign indicating they're an open congregation).

The Birthplace- the houses where John Adams and John Quincy Adams were born.

The private library of the Adams family at their Peacefield estate. Easily one of the coolest libraries I've been in, and I've seen some cool libraries in my day, just because it's a private family library filled with books from the early 1700s until more recently, in 14 different languages at that. It also had the original law desk (the tall, skinny standing type with a roll-top) that Adams used when he wrote his defense for the soldiers in the Boston Massacre. I told Leigh I want a traditional law desk one day.

Peacefield- the family used this residence as a summer home from the 1790s until about the 1960s when they gave it to the National Park System for use as a museum. It's filled with original furniture and artifacts from colonial times. It was really cool to walk through and see everything and, honestly, a little erie too.

Almost immediately after our tour of the Adams Estate Leigh and I took the T back to South Station and caught the 6pm bus back to NYC. The bus ride was incredibly full and uncomfortable but we were in Chinatown NYC by 9:30 pm. Leigh and I had hoped to meet up with a few of my friends from the area but they weren't able to come into the city at that late hour on a school night so we happily headed home. After a very long subway ride we grabbed Halal food from the street cart near my apartment building to eat while we unwound from our trip watching The Reader. The next morning I had class and Leigh left for Buffalo that night on a late flight. 

In all a fantastic whirlwind tour of Boston in just over 24 hours and a fun weekend with Leigh in the City.