Boston

October 16 - 18 Pre-Cruise

Boston

We left Ft. Lauderdale on time to Baltimore and arrived right on time.  Our connecting flight was also on time and we landed in Boston at 7:30.  Our bags were nearly the first ones out of the chute so I called the courtesy shuttle from the hotel and they picked us up within a half an hour for the short ride to our hotel - the Best Western Sam Adams

 

The whole purpose - other than getting away for a vacation and cruise of course - of this trip was to (a) see fall leaves and (b) get away from the heat of Florida and feel some crisp temperatures.  Well, mission accomplished and we haven't even got on the ship yet!  The temperatures today were in the low 50's and the breeze made it feel more like the 40's.  As you'll see from the photos below, the colors were spectacular!  Our trolley picked us up right at the hotel at 8:20 and the tour started around 9:30.  We went to the historical battle sites of Lexington & Concord; saw the elegant brownstones of Beacon Hill; stopped to walk around the campus of Harvard;  had a lunch/dinner stop at Quincy Market; and drove the city streets of Boston.  The ONLY snag in the entire wonderful day was that about two hours into the trip our bus broke down! 

 

We were stranded in Belmont, Massachusetts for an hour and a half awaiting another bus to come.  Fortunately there was a little strip mall with a grocery and Starbucks and everyone on the tour was very positive taking the appropriate attitude of "things happen, roll with it!"  Here are some of the highlights of the day.... 

 

The View Out Our Window

On the tour bus

The real "CHEERS" bar

Crossing the Charles River / Boston Skyline

Colorful Leaves Outside Harvard's Wrought Iron Fence

Kim Getting Her Undergrad At Harvard (John Harvard Statute)

Harvard Gates

Mark - "Big Man On Campus" At Harvard

The Wadsworth House - On Harvard's Campus

The Colorful Leaves Of Belmont, Mass. - where the bus broke down

The Lexington Green - "The Minuteman"

Fall Colors On The Lexington Green

Mark & Kim On The Battlefield

Lexington Trees

Kim on the Lexington Green

The Hawthorne House

PUMPKINS!

The Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters

Miriam's Corner - The Footbridge, Site Of First Skirmish Of Revolutionary War

The Concord Bridge - "The Shot Heard 'Round The World"

The Rock Wall Leading To Concord Bridge

Sleepy Hollow Graveyard

USS Constitution - Commissioned In 1770s