Boston, Day 2

My second day in this great city was way fun and a lot warmer than yesterday. I only clutched my hood around my face this morning while waiting for the bus. 

Anyway, the day was fun and this is what I did.

My mom and I waited in the warm lobby of the hotel for our trolley/bus for way too long, but when it finally came we hopped aboard and listened to the driver tell us all about the sights along the way. He told us about MIT and Harvard and the bridges we were on. It was all informative and I probably forgot most of the info.

We stopped at the State House, and I'm so glad we did! It was free, which is always a plus, and our tour guide, who looked about 20, did a really good job. The group seemed to grow as the tour went on, but at least there were no crying kids! There was some press conference going on, so we didn't get to see the actual governor's office. So sad.

This is the State House! That dome is covered in 23 karat gold leaf, and it gleams mightily!

 

This entrance, on the left side of the State House, had a name that probably makes everyone who ever sees it wonder "what were they thinking?"

This was a model of the State House. That's me standing next to it. Both points are obvious.

This is the Senate Room (I think) and it was grand and very neat. I didn't get a picture of the giant golden cod hanging from the ceiling, but it was there.

After the State House, my mom and I walked on down to the Old Granary Cemetery. It was small, but really packed! The Franklin family, sans Ben, are buried here with a giant memorial. Basically all the other graves were marked with thin gray headstones, with skulls and crossbones on them and usually an inscription along the lines of "Here Lyeth Thomas Smith, aged about 20 years, died March 12, 1775." The letters that could be combined to save space, like attaching an H to the letter E, were combined on most of the markers. Maybe it was cheaper for fewer characters?

Smile! You're in a graveyard!

 After the Graveyard, we got back on the bus/trolley and rode on over to the harbors and went to see the USS Constitution. It is a fantastic old ship that's been around for a REALLY long time. The cool part is that its still usable (according to tour-guide Seaman Baker). They were painting one of the lower levels so we only got to go down one level to the gun deck. I sorta went snooping [accidentally] into the cool captain's cabin (or is it called the gallery quarters? I don't know much about boats) but one of the guides yelled at everybody to get above deck for the next tour, so I followed. Anyway, when we went down a few minutes later, the doors to that part were closed with a restricted access sign...hmmm. I'm glad I accidentally went in there when I did!

The masts and rigging of the USS Constitution.

The Gun Deck. There were dozens of these huge cannons, and they weighed something like 6,300 pounds each!

After the USS Constitution, My momsie and I finished out the trolley tour on our way back to the hotel, and went to a reception where I met all the friends of my parents whom they always see on these business trips. My parents must have told them about their kids because a few of the others at the conference knew who I was already. Everyone was really nice, so it was nice to meet them too.

It was time to eat dinner after all that, so after mapping out all the places we thought about going, we decided on UNO, which I've only been to in Korea. Turns out I like their menu lots more in the States! My mom and dad and I all got the same thing, and we all loved it. It was a good choice and I was stuffed afterwards. 

Our evening was less busy than last night, but that was okay. Tomorrow we have more stuff planned, and I charged my camera and cleaned up the SD card, so more pictures are coming!

Come back tomorrow for more!