Hi, I’m your tour guide. I’m standing at the Navy Yahd in Charlestown. That’s downtown Boston across the hahbuh. That steeple in the middle is Old North Church. I think. I’m not claiming to be a wicked smaht tour guide…

I don’t have time for a regular post, but I thought I’d use the blog as a workaround for an email problem.

Our regular Barry wrote to me to say he and his wife were going to Boston soon, and asking for suggestions regarding “must do” things.

Since I had a great time in Boston several years back, I wrote a lengthy response — and the email kept failing to send. So I’ll just post it here, on the off chance that he checks the blog, even though it’s been awhile since I’ve posted or even looked at comments (the spam comments just keep piling up, waiting for a day when I can spend a couple of hours on the phone with GoDaddy again, and see if I can shut it off…).

Anyway, here’s my response:

Barry,

That’s great! I hope you have a fun trip.

We didn’t stay in a hotel. We stayed in a B&B out in Newton (the town Fig Newtons are named for), which is basically just part of the sprawling megacity of Boston. We loved it there, especially since it was a block from the “T,” which is Boston’s subway/mass transit system. And you know how I love public transportation. From there, it was just a straight shot to the East into downtown, on the Green Line.

I don’t know if you could find a vacancy in that place on this short notice. Better stick with your hotel reservation.

Your best bet, in terms of history, is to follow the Freedom Trail that winds through downtown and hits spots like Paul Revere’s house and Old North Church (where the lanterns that signaled to Revere were placed). There’s a trolley bus service that you can ride on that route. It’s on a hop-on, hop-off basis. Another trolley comes every few minutes. I rode that on our last day (my wife stayed at the B&B with back trouble). I only stopped at the two stops mentioned above, then rode it across the river to visit the USS Constitution AGAIN (since I was alone and wouldn’t be boring my wife, who’d been there with me over the weekend). I walked from there up to the Bunker Hill monument. It didn’t look like much of a hill from the Navy Yard, but it was quite a climb.

Another historical jaunt that we spent a whole day on was our trip to Quincy on our first day (on the T’s Red Line). We enjoyed it enormously because I’m a huge John Adams fan.

One other thing we particularly enjoyed — the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I had never heard of it before we went there, but it really blew me away. Isabella was probably the richest woman in America in the late 19th century, and she largely spent her fortune on art and cultural artifacts from all over the world — and then left it all for the world to enjoy. I sort of doubt that even Jeff Bezos could afford a collection like that today.

Here’s my blog post about the highlights of our trip. Maybe it will offer other ideas.

Have a great time!

Brad

Here’s hoping you see the message, and that you have a great time in Beantown!