Archive for massachusettes
Entering Chinatown
Posted in Boston, My LiFe, Photos, Travel with tags Boston, chinatown, massachusettes, photography, Travel on July 6, 2007 by tokenhippygirl
Cobblestone
Posted in Boston, My LiFe, Photos, Travel with tags Boston, cobblestones, historic, massachusettes, street, Travel on July 6, 2007 by tokenhippygirl
Quincy Market
Posted in Boston, My LiFe, Photos, Travel with tags Boston, massachusettes, photography, quincy market, Travel on July 6, 2007 by tokenhippygirl
Ben Franklin
Posted in Boston, My LiFe, Photos, Travel with tags ben franklin, Boston, massachusettes, perspective, photography, Travel on July 6, 2007 by tokenhippygirl
William Dawes
Posted in Boston, My LiFe, Photos, Travel with tags Boston, cemetary, graveyard, massachusettes, photography, Travel, william dawes on July 6, 2007 by tokenhippygirl
Massachusetts State House
Posted in Boston, My LiFe, Photos, Travel with tags Boston, massachusettes, photography, sky, state house, Travel on July 6, 2007 by tokenhippygirl
Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl
For a more in depth description, click on more photos on my flickr slide in the sidebar of my page.
The Freedom Trail
Posted in Boston, Travel with tags Boston, freedom trail, massachusettes, Travel on July 6, 2007 by tokenhippygirlOn July 4 we were probably the most touristy of any time during our entire trip. We took the T, Boston’s subway system, downtown and walked the Freedom Trail. And I, for one, would recommend it highly if you ever happen to be in Boston. You can do it one of two ways. Take a tour, they start at the visitor’s center in Boston Common, or buy your own map (it costs $2.00) and walk it yourself. We opted to buy our own map and walk it ourselves, though we did see many a tour along the way, always lead by a person dressed in period costume.
If you’re a person, like me, who loves history, then this is the tour for you. There’s a lot of history to be had along the 2.5 mile walk… the building where the Declaration of Independence was read, Paul Revere’s house, the Old North Church where the lamps were hung, King’s Chapel, the Old South Meeting House where the group gathered before the Boston Tea Party, the site of the first public school, and the burying ground where Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, Franklin’s parents, and John Hancock are buried. To name just a few. It’s spectacular, just being in those places, seeing where history was made.
Besides the history of it all, there are other things to see…. like some of the architecture, Chinatown (that was a slight detour off the tour route… only a couple of T rides and we were there), old buildings next to new, street performers at Quincy Market, the oldest Tavern in the country, and the North End, otherwise known as Little Italy. And Little Italy it is… there were guys walking around in white ribbed tanks with gold chains, older gents sitting on benches in front of restaurants or markets smoking cigarettes or cigars dressed exactly as you would imagine, as if they’d been there every day for years and would be there for years to come. There were older women sitting in chairs on sidewalks chatting it up, or napping. And everywhere we looked, as we walked through, there were Italian restaurants and street corner markets. We loved it there, so much so we decided to have some lunch in the neighborhood. And let me tell you, it was the best Italian meal I’ve ever had. Plus, our wait staff was great… in that sort of “whatever… you eat the pasta or you don’t… who cares” kind of way. They were incredibly attentive and helpful, even answering our question about what the name of the restaurant meant, but they seemed to have to warm up to us. At first they could care less, but by the time we were done and leaving everyone was making a point of saying goodbye to us, almost like we’d become part of the family. It was great.
We ended our day in the city by taking a trip on the T to China Town, and let me say… wow. Talk about feeling like we were in a foreign country (kind of like when we were in Little Italy). Everything was written in Chinese, all the people were Asian, and the smells coming out of some of the restaurants were stupendous. We thought, man, if we hadn’t already eaten, we’d certainly be sitting down for some real Chinese food. It was the best China Town I’ve been in, except for maybe the ones in San Francisco and Honolulu, though this was close.
Finally, to cap off the day, after we’d made our way back to our hotel room for a couple hours of rest and relaxation, we walked down to the Longfellow Bridge (which goes over the Charles River between Cambridge and Boston) and found a spot to watch the fireworks. Boston’s fireworks for the fourth of July have no rival, save for possibly the show put on in D.C. The Boston Pops performed (with speakers on the Cambridge side… so we did hear it), John Mellencamp performed, and the fireworks themselves were spectacular. We had never seen anything like them. Not only were there so many it was incredibly bright, but there were literally some fireworks we’d never seen… like the ones that looked like lines with a little parachute on the end that kept them afloat for an amazingly long time, or the others in the shapes of planets with rings, hearts, boxes, smiley faces, and stars. Then there was the entertainment standing behind us. There were several guys and girl, all from the area, with very thick Boston accents, talking about a trip they took and what they thought of the fireworks. Listening to them was almost as entertaining as watching the fireworks and listening to the Boston Pops. We think they were college kids and we liked them instantly.
All in all it was a great way to spend the 4th of July. We started the day with a tour of the streets and buildings where the pursuit of our freedom started, and we ended the day watching a celebration of that freedom. It was pretty unforgettable.
13 Stars
Posted in Boston, My LiFe, Photos, Travel with tags 13 stars, history, massachusettes, photography, salem, Travel on July 3, 2007 by tokenhippygirl
Lady Justice
Posted in Boston, My LiFe, Photos, Travel with tags blue sky, gloucester, justice, massachusettes, photography, Travel on July 3, 2007 by tokenhippygirl
Famous New England Lobster Roll
Posted in Boston, My LiFe, Photos, Travel with tags Food, gloucester, lobster roll, massachusettes, photography, Travel on July 3, 2007 by tokenhippygirl
Famous New England Lobster Roll
Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl
When I got it it was loaded with lobster, this is after several bites and me eating a bunch off the top with fork. It was big.
Buy Your Spell Here
Posted in Boston, My LiFe, Photos, Travel with tags massachusettes, photography, salem, spells, Travel on July 3, 2007 by tokenhippygirl
Town Hall
Posted in Boston, My LiFe, Photos, Travel with tags architecture, massachusettes, photography, salem, town hall, Travel on July 3, 2007 by tokenhippygirl
Traveling North of Boston
Posted in Boston, My LiFe, Travel with tags essex, gloucester, massachusettes, salem, Travel on July 3, 2007 by tokenhippygirlToday we went to towns with names like Gloucester, Ipswich, Salem, Revere, Essex, and Rockport. It was, yes, another good day.
We spent most of our time in Salem, walking the city checking out all the sites to be seen. I had two reactions to it. One, it was strange and sort of cool to be in a place I’ve read so much about, knowing that major events from our history took place right where we were walking. The other reaction… Salem is a tourist town. We found few places with any historical information. What we did find… a lot of tours, mysteriously all costing around $8.00 (actually, we didn’t find that, we were told that by a couple of guys we stopped and asked directions from). They were everywhere. We’d see a sign, looking like it would be pointing us to a historical point of interest, like the Witch Village, and we’d get there and find it was a shop selling witch “stuff”. Whatever that is. We never went into any of the shops. All I know for sure is that the popularity of the Harry Potter books has been quite the boon for Salem tourism. We did manage to find some very cool older buildings and the burying point, a cool yet sort of creepy cemetery. Again though, getting back to my first point, it was cool being in a place where we know so much history happened.
After Salem we made our way to Gloucester, on Cape Ann, where we had some lunch, yes I had another lobster roll ( at the market value price of just under $24… it was good, though I’m not sure it was THAT good… Karen had Cajun Haddock and it was only $12. I tasted it, and it was as good if not better than mine. Ah well… we are in New England… a girl has to have her lobster roll. I think it’s a rule or something) Things were hoppin’ in Gloucester. The streets were lined with people staking out places for the evenings parade. We thought about staying to watch, but decided to get out of town before it started. From Gloucester we went to Ipswich, the town with the distinction of being the oldest period town in the country. It was incorporated in, I believe, 1626. However, we didn’t stay long… seems people in Ipswich don’t believe in public restrooms, so we had to go, because, you guessed it, we had to go. We ended up stopping just out of town at a public pool, seeing a bunch of cars there and thinking they must have one. They did, and when Karen went inside there were a bunch of little girls who screamed when she walked in. And as she came out of the stall they all started saying, “she’s coming out, she’s coming out”. She said it was hilarious.
From there we traveled back toward Cambridge, making it in time to walk across to Boston, look around a little, walk over to the Esplanade where the Boston Pops was practicing for the big event tomorrow, and finally walking back over the river and to our hotel. With a stop, of course, for what has become our nightly ritual of getting a slice of cheese cake at the Cheese Cake Factory. Tonight… original cheese cake with strawberries for Karen, and chocolate mousse for me. Tasty.
Tomorrow… the plan anyway, is that we take the T into Boston, walk the freedom trail, enjoy some food, somewhere, and then finish off the day with a viewing of the 4th fireworks in Bean Town. Should be fun. I say the plan because with us, we usually have some sort of idea about what we’re going to do, but we don’t like to set anything in stone. We love to go off the path, hence our day today, when we left Salem and headed North to Cape Ann. That was not the original idea, but it’s where we ended up, and we had a great time.
