Boston.......

7:14 am - Friday - May 11th - Lynnfield, MA - 60º F, 62% humidity, wind 12  mph out of the west by northwest.......clear blue skies with a forecast high of 64º F.  We roll our wheels in 2 hours.

One of the reasons we stopped here in Lynnfield, MA was so we could spend a day in Boston.  TLE did all the leg work as far as figuring out which train to take into Boston, where to park, and what to see.....I added in Fenway Park as a must see location near the end of our day, but I get ahead of myself......

 Boston bound on the Purple Line into North Station

We left the Newell around 9 am to drive a few miles over to the Wakefield Train Station (MBTA*) to catch the 9:46 am train into Boston.  There are about 200 parking spaces allocated for those using the train, and we managed to snag the last one.  The total round trip cost to ride the Purple Line into and out of Boston was $27.  The train arrived promptly at 9:46 am, and we were disembarking the train at North Station just 30 minutes later........

 The entrance to TD Garden where the Celtics play basketball is located inside North Station

.....I did not know this, but the TD Garden entrance where the Boston Celtics play their basketball games is located in North Station.....that is about as simple as it gets!

We bought a couple of cups of coffee at a Dunkin' Donuts inside the station and sat down to get our bearings before beginning our walking tour of Boston.  Many people here at the Elks Lodge suggested we follow the 'Freedom Trail' and that is what we set out to do as we walked down Causeway Street toward Boston Common where the 'Freedom Trail' visitor center is located....

 Boston Common 

......you can pay to be part of a guided tour ($10/person for Seniors) by a person dressed in period costume, or you can pay $3 to buy the map and guide yourself......we decided upon the later.....

From the beginning of the 'Freedom Trail' to the end is 2.5 miles.......every 100-200 feet was a historical landmark.....I didn't take pictures of all of them........

 There were many red brick churches along the route......a lot......

 First public school

 Old City Hall

 Old State House

Beautiful building

 Feneuil Hall was closed for construction, however Quincy Market was open!

 Of course.....located inside Quincy Market

 Freedom Trail markers

 The Paul Revere home

 TD Garden from the bridge which crosses the Charles River

 This red brick line guided us along the 'Freedom Trail'

.....we gradually made it to the USS Constitution aka: Old Ironsides around 12:15 pm....this was one of the highlights of the walking tour for me.......she was nicknamed 'Old Ironsides' due to the tendency of cannon balls to bounce off her oak plank sides......

 Can you imagine how loud it was when those cannon were being fired?

 'Steerage'

......you would have had to be pretty short to effectively maneuver below deck.....very, very low overhead....at least for moi......

 USS Constitution

.....we also visited the USS Constitution Museum........

 A scale model of the USS Constitution....fully rigged

 The Charles River

.....we decided not to go up to Bunker Hill as by this time it was after 1 pm and we were both getting hungry, so we headed back to Quincy Market to get our first Lobsta' Roll and Clam Chowda' of the summer.....we chose 'Boston Chowda' which gets 4 stars from Yelp....

 First of many lobsta' rolls and clam chowda' this summer

......we walked outside to find a bench to sit on and enjoy our purchases.....OMG....everything was so delicious!

At this point it was about 1:30 pm....too early to head back to North Station.....we decided on the spot to walk over to Fenway Park (2.5 miles away, and then 3.0 miles back to North Station from there).  We are walkers, as you know, so walking almost 6 miles round trip does not phase us at all.  We walked steadily arriving at Fenway Park off Ipswich just about 2:20 pm.....

....we walked the streets around the entire stadium and then went into the Bleacher Bar to get a brew and snap a few pictures of the inside of Fenway Park......you can pay to take a tour of the inside of Fenway Park, but it is $20/person.....I think the Bleacher Bar was a satisactory alternative.....

 Taken from inside the 'Bleacher Bar'

 'Big Green Monster' in the right of the picture

 Having a brew before we begin our 3 mile walk back to North Station

.....once again, this was another big highlight for me.....have always wanted to visit this iconic ballpark!

When we exited the Bleacher Bar it was 2:40 pm, and we had a 3 mile walk back to North Station.  We didn't have to be there by any particular time, but we did want to get on the train before rush hour began.  We figured we would arrive at North Station around 3:40 pm, and that is exactly when we arrived.  We went to Gate 5 and stepped right on to the train back to Wakefield.....no waiting....we had perfect timing!

We were back in Wakefield and in the VW by 4:20 pm, and home by 4:30 pm.....really tired, but with big grins on our faces.....in all we covered over 10 miles walking around Boston.....

See the red arrow with North Station in Red above it....that is where we began our walk, and ended our walk

......TLE used a red marker to trace everywhere we went (see above).....I'm tired now just looking at this map!  

Thanks for stopping by!

*MBTA = Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

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