BOSTON
Did he ever return,
No he never returned
And his fate is still unlearn'd (poor old Charlie)
He may ride forever
'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned
Remember this song, made famous by the Kingston Trio back in the late 50’s? It originally was a campaign song for the 1949 mayoral election in Boston. The then mayor raised the fare on the M.T.A.
and it went in affect during the middle of the day. So anyone on the train had to come up with an extra nickel to get off. You can now purchase a “Charlie Card” which is like a debit card, so now you can always pay the fare.Our hotel is 12 miles from downtown Boston so we
boarded the “T” and rode it into Boston. 
I couldn’t help but noticed the tattoos on a young guy’s arms as he sat down near us. I asked if I could see them and take a picture. He told me he had them done in Portland Oregon, which was his home.
As we walked up out of the subway station we noticed
this gigantic teapot hanging outside a Starbucks. Which seem to be everywhere in Boston. It actually had steam that came out of the spout. Must look pretty neat in the cold weather.
We walked down to the Boston Commons. It is a large park and it was a gorgeous day so full of people.
These are Swan boats on the pond in the Commons that you can take a ride on. They are pedal powered and I think the people who work on them use this job to get in shape for the Boston Marathon.
These are hundreds of U.S. flags set up to honor Memorial Day. Very neat!
We signed up for a tour along the The Freedom Trail. This Lobster Back (what the colonists called the British soldiers) was our guide.
He took us to the Old State House. Built in 1713 it was the site of the Boston Massacre in 1770. Which really got the colonists riled up. The Declaration of Independence was read to Bostonians from the balcony in 1776.
Faneuil Hall saw many meetings and protests about England’s control over the colonies. On the top of the hall is a grasshopper weathervane. Abner Doubleday didn’t invent baseball for another 60 years so they couldn’t ask suspected spies “who won the World Series?” Instead they asked what was on top of Faneuil Hall. Any true Bostonian would know the answer was a grasshopper.
Another stop on the Freedom Trail was the Granary Burial Ground. Lots of familiar folks here. Sam Adams is buried here.
So is Paul Revere.
“Listen my children and you shall hear….” Blah, blah, blah about Paul Revere. Who can forget the poem by Longfellow that immortalized Paul Revere’s midnight ride? I grew up thinking it was historical fact. Not. It was written 40 years after his death by a poet who was marrying into the Revere family and wanted to score some points. Seriously. Paul was actually one of 4 or 5 riders who were secretly riding to warn about the troop movements of the British. Since it was a secret ride, there wasn’t any yelling going on. And in particular, no “British are coming!” The colonists considered themselves at that point to be British too, so they wouldn’t be saying that. Actually Revere got stopped and questioned by the British Army. They took his horse and Paul had to walk home. They didn’t teach us that in grade school. He did complete the first part of his mission though.
This is the church steeple where the two lanterns were hung indicating that the army was moving by sea.
Revere lived to be 83 years old and outlived all but 3 of his 16 children.
This very large headstone is for John Hancock. You remember him, he had to sign his name on the Declaration of Independence larger than anyone else and then put swirly lines under it. Well John was the richest merchant in the colony. Sam Adams described him as “having a shallow mind, but deep pockets”.
This is a building that had once belonged to John.
It was a salt house. Salt was needed to preserve fish, which was a big industry here. The building is now a Chart House restaurant.John Hancock thought highly of himself and felt he should have been given the job of commanding the army, rather than George Washington. I’m kind of guessing his wife wasn’t any too happy with him either. She gave birth to a son while John was away and she christened him John George Washington Hancock. Knowing well how her husband felt about General Washington. And when John died, she had a wooden marker for his grave marker. Wouldn’t spring for a stone one. So this large marker was added later, but I forget by whom.
This stone is for “Frank”. It is thought he was one of Hancock’s slaves. Which would explain why there is no last name. Hancock must have thought very highly of Frank to buy him a headstone. It is a very old burial ground. There are so many buried here that some are buried upright or stacked on one another. There is a mounded area that our guide told us had the remains of over 600 infants. The mortality rate in those days was extremely high.
During the depression, one of FDR’s work programs came in and moved the stones into tidy, straight rows. I’m sorry, but I think I could come up with better things to have a work crew do than desecrate a cemetery. Now they have no idea where anyone is.
Our tour ended back at the Boston Commons. As we were walking away a Zombie Parade happened by. Zombies walked by for a solid 20 minutes or more. They were having a good time and so did everyone watching. The makeup and costumes of some of them was great!!
From the Zombie Parade, next stop Harvard University. I feel so smart.
Let’s see. Where is my first class tomorrow????
The dorms here are beautiful old stone structures.
College kids are the same everywhere. They just drink way more expensive beers here.
We wandered through the science building. This is a water filled magnifying lens. Ross is showing me how humongeous his bicep is.
You probably already recognize this Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator? I know I didn’t. I couldn’t even understand anything about this even reading through the explanation boards. It was built in 1944-45.
Okay, so I can’t do mathematical calculations like a Harvard brainiac. I can drink beer like one though, so we headed for Cheers! But nobody knew our names.
Revived after our beer, we took the T partway back and stopped to check out Fenway Park. There’s a game tonight so the crowd was gathering.
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