On Thursday, we chilled near Beacon Hill. We went to the Boston Commons and the Boston Public Gardens and it was all very pretty. After dinner, we went on another ghost tour. This one was a little more ghost focused than the one in Salem and very enjoyable. I will try and find out the name of the group that does it later. I have no idea who did it because Jon made the reservations. One of my favorite stories on the ghost tour was the following :
James Allen was your basic early 19th-century burglar and highwayman. In 1833, he tried robbing John Fenno, Jr. of Springfield on the Salem Turnpike. Fenno resisted and Allen shot him - but Fenno lived because the bullet was deflected by a suspender buckle.
Allen was eventually caught and sent to jail, where he wrote an account of his life called ''The Highwayman.'' Allen admired Fenno's bravery in standing up to him and decided that on his death, Fenno should get a copy - bound in his skin. When Allen died in 1837, his body was brought to Massachusetts General Hospital, where enough skin to cover a book was cut off and then delivered to a bookbinder, who died it gray and added some gilding before shipping it to Fenno. Later, a Fenno descendant donated the volume to the Athenaeum.
Friday, we walked across the bridge to see the USS Constitution. It was really cold and a long walk so that's all we did. Kind of a mistake because of how much time it took but not really a mistake because it felt cool standing on the oldest commissioned ship in the world.
Saturday, we rented a car and drove to the coast. I recommend doing this because it was gorgeous, even on a rainy day. We wanted to go see Nantucket but it was pretty expensive and timely to do that so we just drove around. During the drive, we ran into the Korean War memorial and the JFK memorial. They were small and only short stops but still nice to see. After that, we went to the Arnold Arboretum. I give this a thousand thumbs up, especially in the fall. Its a really big park where you can go on long walks and it was sooo beautiful. So many pretty trees. The visitor center closes around 4 p.m. but the park itself stays open into the night. It's not too far from Boston and well worth the visit.
Sunday, before we flew home, we went back into the city. Our first stop was the New England Aquarium. Anyone from VA/MD knows that one of the best aquariums is in Baltimore, but the New England one wasn't too bad. I actually really enjoyed it. I got to see penguins and lots of cool creatures that the Baltimore one does not have. It wasn't quite as big but I still loved it. We then went and tried to find food. Somehow we didn't realize that all the open restaurants were just around the corner to our right and we just started walking and walking and walking. We ended up settling for Japanese which was good but not exactly what we wanted. We later found out how dumb we were.
We walked around the city randomly after that and ended up visiting the Old South Meeting House. It is sort of where the Boston Tea Party started. I enjoyed the visit, the building is gorgeous and alive with history, but after that we were museumed out so we didn't go into any of the other old buildings on the Freedom Trail. After wondering around some more and getting donuts, we randomly ran into the alive part of town called Faneuil Hall Marketplace. This is the part of town where the good shops are, the street performers, and ahhhh the restaurants. The sad part was we only had about 20 minuets to enjoy it before we had to leave. It was one of our biggest regrets as it all looked fun, and of course, I love my shopping. If you ever go to Boston, remember the Marketplace and the Aquarium are right across the street from each other.
At the park in the city
Arnold Arboretum
The Coast
At the aquarium
My Love
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