Did I mention Boston is hot? Because it is—hot and humid, a condition we delicate Californians are simply not used to.
But we made the best of it. Today, per Amber’s request, we started our day with a duck. A duck boat, to be exact, although if we’re really being exact, it’s more of a duck boat/car. We piled onto the duck…vehicle…which was driven by a genuine Boston character. Mack was his name, and he had a Boston accent as thick and rich as a Boston cream pie.
Mack was hilarious—he gave us a great historical tour, and lots of corny jokes. Then he drove us into the St. Charles River, where we cruised along, through the locks, and around the parks. It was pretty darn cool. Not often you can say your tour bus made such a splash…
We walked the city a bit more, looking for a hop on, hop off bus stop. The buses, which were super tall and lime green, were easy to spot all throughout the city, but finding an actual bus stop proved more than a little daunting. We walked from the duck tour all the way back to the Public Garden without seeing a bus stop once.
Luckily, there was a little restaurant next door called Parish next to the Garden. The duck staff had highly recommended it, and we were not disappointed. We ordered sandwiches, and they were all wonderful. Mark got a mac and cheese that was to die for. He couldn’t keep our forks away from it!
After lunch, we strolled through the public garden, Edra and Mark playing football, Donna and Amber taking photos. We ambled over to the Boston Common, and then trudged uphill toward the State House (did I mention it was hot? And humid? I’m just sayin’…)
We finally flagged down a bus, and climbed aboard, ready to part with the $12 ticket fare. Which actually turned out to be $38, a good deal more than the sign on the side of the bus said. But we were just glad to be on the bus, so we paid the fare, and sat back in our seats.
Our goal was to get to the U.S.S. Constitution. What we didn’t know was that while it was close, the bus had to loop back around to get there, which took about an hour and a half. Edra got off a few stops later to take a different bus to Harvard, but Amber, Donna, Mark and I enjoyed the ride. We had a super cute, young tour guide who was really knowledgeable and taught us a lot about the city.
We were also stoked because the bus stopped at one site we hadn’t seen yet—Fenway Park! That was very cool. I met up with some old friends here.
Our next stop was the U.S.S. Constitution, aka Old Ironsides, the oldest working battleship in the country. I’m not big on boats or military history, but the ship was lovingly restored and gorgeous. We had to go through airport-level security to get on the ship. Donna, who was wearing her sling, made quite an impression with the security guards. They were in awe after she explained she was injured during roller derby, and they congratulated her on being a tough chick!
Like I said, the ship was beautiful.
The cute sailors weren’t so bad, either.
Kris called, and said she was at a nearby tavern. That was all we needed to hear—we bailed off the ship and walked a few blocks to the Tavern on the Water, where we met up with Kris and her family.
The tavern was awesome—right on the water, with a killer view of downtown. We ordered the local beer, Sam Adams, which also happens to be my favorite (I loved ordering it right there in Boston!) and nachos.
It was early evening when Kris and Dennis left, to take the sleepy little Caroline home to bed. We opted to stay a bit longer and take the water taxi home. We missed one taxi, but I got the phone number from the side. However, the taxi never came back, and no one answered the phone later. So the bartender called us a different cab, captained by a young guy with a thick accent named Chris, who looked like he wasn’t even old enough to drive a car, let alone a boat.
There was another couple in the taxi, too, and we quickly made friends. We were all in awe of Chris’ Boston accent, and asked him any question we could think of, just to hear him answer.
Chris was only allowed to drop us off at a certain pier, which was nowhere near our hotel. We begged and pleaded, and knew we’d won when he asked, “Do you have anywhere to be tonight?” We assured him we did not, thereby winning an extended sunset harbor cruise.
It was early evening when Kris and Dennis left, to take the sleepy little Caroline home to bed. We opted to stay a bit longer and take the water taxi home. We missed one taxi, but I got the phone number from the side. However, the taxi never came back, and no one answered the phone later. So the bartender called us a different cab, captained by a young guy with a thick accent named Chris, who looked like he wasn’t even old enough to drive a car, let alone a boat.
There was another couple in the taxi, too, and we quickly made friends. We were all in awe of Chris’ Boston accent, and asked him any question we could think of, just to hear him answer.
Chris was only allowed to drop us off at a certain pier, which was nowhere near our hotel. We begged and pleaded, and knew we’d won when he asked, “Do you have anywhere to be tonight?” We assured him we did not, thereby winning an extended sunset harbor cruise.
We cruised to the other side of the harbor to drop off our new friends. Chris then slowly headed back to the main pier which was private but unoccupied after 8 p.m. He was doing us a favor, and we didn’t want him to get in trouble, so we paid him and quickly exited the boat. Our 45-minute private cruise cost us a whopping $5 each!
We decided to grab a quick dinner on the way back to the hotel, but by 9 p.m., everything was closed, even Quincy Market and its 1000 stalls of snacks. We opted for the one open restaurant, enjoying pizzas and one final Sam Adams before bed.
We decided to grab a quick dinner on the way back to the hotel, but by 9 p.m., everything was closed, even Quincy Market and its 1000 stalls of snacks. We opted for the one open restaurant, enjoying pizzas and one final Sam Adams before bed.
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