Man, what a great coupla days. Yesterday the adults went to Mass then after breakfast headed off to Boston on the T. Parking is brutal down there so they drove to the end of the line station, parked, and for $2.50 each rode the T and got off right at the Boston Public Garden. After having a nice chicken sandwich picnic by the pond in the Garden they headed through the Boston Commons to the start of the Freedom Trail which highlights a bunch of the Revolutionary War sites in town. About halfway through they needed a beer break so they stopped into Paddy O’s Pub right next door to the Union Oyster House. About halfway through their pints of Smithwicks Neil looked up and saint’s be praised what did he see on one of the taps at the bar? Murphy’s Stout, that’s what. So of course they had to have one since Murphy’s is actually better than Guinness (just a lot harder to find on tap). After that they wandered off to the rest of the Freedom Trail; snapping a few pictures as they proceeded.

A beer at Paddy O’s Pub. So good they went twice! Once for Smithwicks and once for Murphy’s Stout after finishing the trek along the Freedom Trail.

Paul Revere’s House. Not too impressive, is it?

The steeple at the Old North Church where the “two if by sea” lanterns were displayed to start Paul Revere on his ride. As I discussed in the post the other day; it should really be known as “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere who got captured and William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott who actually warned the colonials at Lexington” but I’m putting the blame for this misstatement of history on the shoulders of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for using incorrect facts when he wrote his poem. Sheesh, I guess Paul Revere just trips of the tongue better than William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott. The actual lanterns were displayed on the other (north) side of the steeple but the narrow streets, traffic and people standing around made for a much less photogenic layout than this one framed by the trees.

See what I mean?

I told you it looked better from the south side, didn’t I?

The fantail of the frigate USS Constitution. Larger and more heavily armed than typical frigates it is one of the first 6 ships built for the Navy, During the War of 1812 it defeated the frigate HMS Guirriere off the coast of Nova Scotia on Aug 19, 1812. When the enemy cannon shot bounced off of the Constitution’s oak sides during the battle one of then crew exclaimed “Huzzah, her sides are made of iron” resulting in her nickname Old Ironsides. Constitution is the oldest warship afloat and is the second oldest commissioned warship (to HMS Victory, Lord Nelson’s flagship at Trafalgar) in any navy. Berthed at Pier 1 in Boston she only rarely gets underway but still has a regular US Navy crew assigned. She was most recently underway under sail on Aug 19 of this year for the first time since 1997 commemorating the 200th anniversary of her victory over Guirriere.

She proudly flies the flag of these United States on her stern as she has done every day since July 22, 1798.

After their afternoon sightseeing they wandered back across the bridge from Charlestown where the USS Constitution is moored and headed for Rabia’s where they were having dinner. They got the primo table in the whole joint, sitting right next to the raised and open front window looking over the sidewalk and Salem Street. Neil let Connie have the “best way to eat lobstah evah” dish…lobstah, fettuccine, and buttah. After eating all of it (with the meat of a whole lobstah in it) Connie agreed that it was the best. Neil had to settle for lobstah ravioli (yeah he says, some settling). Really a great meal to top off the day. On the way back to the T station (well it was actually completely out of the way in the other direction but I digress) they went by Mikes Pastry and got a couple of Carmel Pecan Cannoli for dessert. They were so huge that they ended up splitting one and keeping the other one for today.

The original plan  was to do a tour at the Sam Adams brewery today but by the time Connie got done working it was too late to get there before the last tour started. So…Neil settled for a bike ride and then fixed the bathroom door on the rig (which wouldn’t latch closed) and built them a portable flagpole out of a PVC pipe, a piece of concrete rebar and a solar powered floodlight so they can fly the flag at their campsite.

Tomorrow it’s off to Meadowbrook Campground in Phippsburg, Maine for a couple days then we’ll get to the Accadia National Park area on Sunday for a 10 day stay at Timberland Acres RV park in Trenton, Maine. Really looking forward to moose and the many exotic things we can see at Acadia.

Cyas.