Boston

One of the great perks of being married to someone who is in sales is that they travel. This can be fun sometimes and not so fun other times.. but usually fun! Spencer had a few clients up in Boston that he needed to see, so Charley and I tagged along. I had been to Boston twice before for my marathons, but had never done the touristy things and oh.my.goodness I fell in LOVE with Boston. It is such a neat and beautiful city. It is clean. People are nice. It is very walkable. There are some sweet sites to see and good food to eat! Spencer's brother also lives there so we had lunch with them the day we left at this amazing seafood restaurant! I had a soft shell crab BLT and clam chowder..YUM! Since Spencer's clients were in the city, we were able to get a hotel right at Boston Commons which was perfect for me and Charley to walk around the city from there. Spencer went to his clients in the mornings and afternoon both days while Charley and I roamed the city. Then at night, we met back up for dinner and more walking.

The first day Charley and I walked around Boston Commons and right next to it is a Public Garden which was really pretty. There are tons of flowers and a cute little pond.

Then we walked up to Acorn St. to see of the the original cobblestone roads. There is a neighborhood called Beacon Hill and it has tons of gorgeous row apts. It's the ritzy side of town and you can definitely tell you are there. Beacon Hill is really pretty and the road on Acorn St. was fun to see! Charley wasn't too impressed with the bumpy road as we walked down it though. 

 Pretty row apartments

 Next on the list was to walk the freedom trail. This was amazing! I went to the visitor's center and got a map and the guy said to just follow the red line pointing to the red line on the map. I asked him how I would know I was walking the right way just by looking at the map and he said, "the red line". I told him thanks still confused and walked outside to see literally a red line on the cement! The freedom trail is 2.5 miles long that goes throughout the city and there is literally a red line that you follow on the street!! So cool! There are about 15 different sites to see as you walk and there are signs that tell you about each site. 

This city has SO much history and cool facts. So sorry about the nerd-fest here but I may or may not randomly give you a few facts with some of the pictures! :) 

The trail starts at Boston Commons which is the oldest park in the country. 

First stop: State House- if you look really hard, there is a pinecone at the top of the golden dome, which of course symbolizes logging in Massachusetts. 

Park Street Church 

There was one stop at the Granary Burying Ground and you could see the tombstone of Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock. 

We stopped at Faneuil Hall to get lunch. Charley was pretty done at this point and I was hungry so we found some flatbread pesto pizza and took a break. Faneuil Hall is really cool! It is this outdoor Market with rows and rows of food places and things to buy. It kind of reminded me of Pike Place Market in Seattle or Chelsea Market here in New York. While Charley dozed off in her stroller, we walked over to the Holocaust Memorial. I LOVED this! It is outdoors and you walk though about 5 glass towers with every victims name/number written on the tower. And then it gives some facts about about the Holocaust on stone walls.

The towers were glass, but you can see each victims number etched on the glass. 

The Nazis killed as many as 11 million men, women and children by trying to create a "pure and superior" race. The Nazis trying to exterminate all Jews and killed more than half of Europe's Jewish population! I got a little choked up walking through the towers and seeing all those numbers  etched on the glass. Such a horrible and sad event in our history. 

 A little walk farther and you are at the long wharf. It had an amazing view of the water! There were lots of people just hanging out on the grass watching the boats go by. It was super peaceful!

 I then met up with Spencer and we went to the Old North Church before going to Mike's Pastry and dinner. This church is super old and pretty inside. It still has the original pews in it. We went up to the top on a tour and were able to see where they ring the bells. Then we went to the basement where they have tons of crypts that hold about 1,000 dead people.

For dinner we went to Pauli's and got an amazing Lobster Roll and Mikes Pastry was dessert. They have some really yummy canolis. I don't even like canolis and LOVED these! They are delicious!! 

 The next day we walked around Copley Square with Spencer and had a smoothie before he had to meet with clients. While he was with clients, Charley and I shopped at Prudential Mall where I almost bought a bag/purse/diaper bag/everything bag but it was a little too pricy! Anyone else have that problem where your purse is too small for everything so you end up with 3 bags or just a huge ugly bag that you don't even like but it holds everything so you use it anyway? I need to find a cute "holds everything" purse/bag type thing.
Anyway.. then Charley and I walked down Newbury street which has some cute shops and bakeries. We stopped in the Boston Library and also saw the Old South Church and Trinity Church AND bought a yummy homemade granola bar at a farmers market at Copley Square.

We then met up with Spencer and his brother and sister-in-law for lunch. We ate at Atlantic Fish Company and it was sooo good! I have never had soft shell crab and it was actually really good! Anyway, if you are in Boston, go to Atlantic Fish Co. stat! 

A few other eating places we didn't have time to go to but would be worth it if you had time..

- Wagamamas

- Neptune Oyster Bar

- Wicked Good Cupcakes

- Giacomos 

- Ned Devines

- Paramount

Also a site to see that I thought would have been fun would be to walk around Harvard Square and see the USS Constitution!