Oh, the places we go...

Thursday, July 22...we enjoyed navigating the Boston subway system so much yesterday, that we decided to head back downtown on the subway again today to explore Boston today. I was born in Boston but moved at the age of two, so I really don't know my birthplace very well. We are really getting the hang of the subway...now we look at each other, and point to the direction of the different lines we need to get on at the same time, and no more chasing up and down the stairs to find our line...it really is quite an organized system, once you figure out the tickets! Today was Trolley Day...take a historical tour on the trolley, get a free harbor cruise/tour ride on top of that...so we did all that...We stopped off from the harbor cruise to see the WWII destroyer USS Cassin Young, and actually got to go on board and walk in and out of portions of the ship. Way cool! Then we toured the USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides"...excellent tour...interesting facts...55-65 cannons on board, weighing 6500 pounds each, three layers of wood make up the outside hull of the ship, that's why the enemy cannonballs bounced off the ship and did very little damage. The USS Constitution was in 33 battles and won every one of them. The destroyer was really really interesting, you really felt the presence of the 400+ men that served on that ship..their quarters were really small...the stories and explanations posted around the ship were very informative and interesting. I will post more stories and photos tomorrow about these tours, there was so much to learn and so much to see! We sauntered over to Faneuil Hall (Quincy Market)looked at the Holocaust Memorial (6 glass towers to represent the concentration camps with the numbers of all those who perished etched on the glass towers, watched street performers and then headed home. Final coup de grace at the end was a terrific meal at the Bull Run Tavern near Shirley, MA, just a few minutes from our campground. The tavern is an original tavern from 1745 or so...very reasonable prices and wonderful food.