Boston (Day 1)

MonkeyPig and I are each others' favorite sister. It's true. We love to hang out with each other even more than we love to hang out with our other sisters, if that is even imaginable. It has been a while since we went on a road trip, so we went to Boston for a 6 day, 7 night, Thelma and Louise-style extravaganza. I even got a brand new camera. It worked out great!

MP arrived in Boston late Saturday night and I arrived early Sunday morning (around 5am). But, even though MP was only in Boston for a few hours, she had already located Chinatown. Our first stop, in fact, was at a Chinese bakery (since it was so early, that was the only thing that was open. We got a few "Big Baos" (they really were big), and we went on our way back to the hotel for a couple hours of sleep before the festivities began. That's MonkeyPig to the right, refreshed from her beauty sleep.

So, first things first, right? Yes. We went back to Chinatown to get some breakfast. Of course, we wanted to go "yum tsa" (literally, "drink tea" meaning eat dim sum). So we walked around trying to figure out which restaurant to choose. Along the way, we found a Chinese McDonalds and a Dunkin' Donuts (left) and a fresh produce stand (bonus points to anyone who can identify this spiny fruit). Finally, we decided on Empire Garden. It was less than MMD--they couldn't even get the veggies right! Very disappointed.

OH, this might be a good time to introduce "Hermie." Hermie is a GPS device we call Hermie "Hermie" because Hermie is smart like Hermione in the Harry Potter series, but also because Hermie can be both female or male (Hermie has two voice options). MP just LOVES and TRUSTS Hermie. Here they are having a meeting to discuss plans before we head out from the Chinese restaurant.

We decided to take The Freedom Trail, which is a 5 mile long trail through the city of Boston where you can see a bunch of historical landmarks. It was very informative, but I believe a large part of it was due to our guide being awesome. Our guide played the role of James Otis. Yeah, that name didn't ring a bell with me either. Our guide told us all about him, though. Otis was the a lawyer in Boston in the 1700s and advocated that taxation without representation is tyranny.
He was a part of many of the discussions that formed the basis of the Declaration for Independence and Constitution. However, in an unsuccessful assassination attempt, Otis was bludgeoned on the head and he was never the same afterwards. Very unfortunate. But, his ideas and goals remain. So, off we went on the tour (you just follow the red line or the double bricks)...


Boston Commons We started at the Boston Commons, which is a plot of land set aside by Boston long ago for public use. Back in the day, anyone could just start making speeches here and lively debate would ensue.







Boston City Hall
Boston shows support for its home team. Of course, now that we are in the championships, Go Lakers!







Park Street Church
Built in 1809, this church is one of the oldest in the nation.











Historical Cemetary
This cemetary included the graves of many patriots and historical figures, including John Hancock, James Otis, Paul Revere, Mother Goose, Robert Paine, Sam Adams, and the "victims" of the Boston Massacre (more on that later).






North Church
This was the church where the lantern hung indicating that the British were attacking by land ("one of by land, two if by sea"). Also, there is a nice plaque in the sidewalk explaining the historical significance of the church (I was standing next to the plaque when I took the photo to the left). When we got there, there was another tour guide with his group. There was also a display for the current soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.




The Latin School
This was a very old school founded in the 1830s. Here's the front view and a close up of Benjamin Franklin's statue.










The Old Corner Bookstore
This is an old bookstore. The structure was built in 1711, and became a bookstore in 1829. Hawthorne, Longfellow, Stowe, Emerson, and Thoreau was published out of this bookstore.










Old South Meeting House
This is the meeting house where the Boston Tea Party idea was hatched.











Old City Hall
This is the old city hall building. Back in the mid-1900s, Queen Elizabeth came for a visit and stood in the balcony waving to people. At that time, she was presented a check for 33,000 pounds, the tax owed on all the tea that was dumped into the Boston Harbor (no interest). The check was never cashed.








Site of the Boston Massacre
Just across the street (not even, really, this is on a median in the middle of the street) from the old city hall is the site of the Boston Massacre. The Boston Massacre described by the American (or, Colonial) press of the day as being a massacre of 6 children by British soldiers. According to the press, the British soldiers came upon the children and just mowed them down. But, fact is even stranger than fiction. The 6 children were really teenagers who were throwing snowballs laced with rocks and glass at three British soldiers. Soon, a mob of over 300 colonists arrived and were taunting the soldiers with shouts of "shoot, shoot, shoot." The soldiers raised their rifles to defend themselves but did not shoot. Unfortunately, at the same time, a fire had broken out at a nearby homestead and some people in the mob yelled "fire." That's when the soldiers, mistaking the colonists' screams of "fire" for a command from their commanding officer opened fire. The soldiers were later acquitted of murder, but this, of course, was not widely reported.

Paul Revere's House
Just around the corner is Revere Mall (and then the Old North Church). Here's MP serving as a frame. What was neat was that the sun was going down at this time, and we noticed that this area had working gas street lamps.






Old Ironside










Bunker Hill













We ended the tour and said goodbye to our wonderful tour guide. But, we were tired so we rested for a bit in a small park. MP, being the slut that she is, started flirting with some dude there. However, when he mentioned something about being a Starbucks fan and a huge discussion ensued. Eventually, they kissed and made up.

By this time, I almost lost my appetite, but not quite (it takes a lot for me to lose my appetite). So we headed to a Malaysian food restaurant (Layang). This place was AWESOME!