Saturday, June 27, 2009

Boston Trip ~ Day 5

For some reason, Annette and I always seem to wake up just before 8:00 in the morning. No noise wakes us or anything, we just... get up. I wonder if there's any significance in that. Anyway, we lay in bed for a while longer, until we remembered that it was our Grandpa's birthday today, and Shira had suggested that we send him an email wishing him a happy one. So that's what we did. (Out of respect for his privacy, I will not disclose how old my grandfather is today. ^_~)

We relaxed a lot today. Well, it is the weekend. We just took our sweet old time, and then got ready to go on the Freedom Trail. We took the train and started at the Boston Commons. (Which is funny, because that's where we were yesterday!) The trail was easy to find: It's just a red bricked line in the sidewalk.

Follow the red brick line, follow the red brick line, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the red brick line...

He he, sorry. Oz moment. ^,~
Anyway, we had a lot of fun walking along the trail, and we saw lots of cool statues and plaques and landmarks on the way. A memorable place we hung around was the graveyard where Paul Revere and a host of other 18th century people died. It was pretty cool, though a little weird too. I don't believe I've ever been to a graveyard before. (If you don't count the one I saw near the Haunted Mansion in DisneyWorld when I was 10. That was silly.) I wasn't creeped out or anything, but I was strangely sad for all the people that had been buried there. We looked at some of the headstones and saw that lots of people hadn't lived very long, which was a shame. Hmm, graveyards. They make you think pretty deep. I wondered about how many lives in total have graced the planet over the years...

Oops, don't want to go on another tangent. Anyway, we followed the line a long way and saw familiar sights, such as Faneuil Hall and the Hay Market. We passed by them quickly because we planned on returning there later. We saw North End, also known as Little Italy, a quaint neighborhood, and crossed over the enormous Charlestown Bridge. By this time we were getting quite tired, but we had to continue walking if we wanted to reach the end. Which, at last, we did. We reached the end of the trail, right in front of the Bunker Hill Monument. (The Freedom Trail actually ends in two different places; the other end goes to this harbor with a ship called the U.S.S. Constitution, but we thought Bunker Hill would be cooler.)

Bunker Hill Monument is basically this huge stone tower on a hill. It looks boring, but it's a great tourist trap because it dares you to climb 294 steps to the top. Well, although Annette and I were already footweary, we couldn't take that lying down! So we climbed. And climbed. Boy, did we climb up those steep stairs! You might think taking roughly 300 steps is nothing, but we were taking them up, in a spiral direction! In a poorly lit tower, and not really knowing if we'd ever make it to the end (though the steps were clearly marked by their number every 25 steps or so). It almost made the Freedom Trail seem like a piece of cake! Okay, you get it. Very tiring climb.

Obviously, since I'm back and writing this, it's safe to assume I got to the top. (Well, I sure wasn't gonna be a wimp, give up and go down again after everything!) The view was pretty nice, but it was worth it for the short video I took of Annette all tired. I was as tired as she was, but I was the one filming, so... I tell ya, even going down that thing, though more fun than going up, is really the workout! Anyway, once safe on the ground, my twin and I celebrated by having a sandwich picnic. Very relaxing.

Reluctantly we picked ourselves up and walked onward to the nearest "T" stop, (which wasn't very near, by the way! ~,~) We had to rely quite heavily on our map to know where to go. Then we took the train to the Haymarket station. (Remember I said we'd go back there? The Haymarket is a place one can get very low priced fruits and vegetables that's only open a couple days out of the week. Just thought I'd explain.) So we got off the train, and we had no idea where we were! Turns out that the actual Haymarket is not particularly close by it's so named train stop. It was simply infuriating. Oh, and it was very dark and gloomy and the clouds seemed to hang very close to the ground, so it was more than a little chilly. (Not weather I'm very used to.)

Again though, it's quite aparent that we didn't remain lost for long, and we finally found the market. We also found "the Famous One," which is a pizza place that is, well, famous for it's cheap pies. We ordered a big pie to share between us, and while we ate we switched turns getting lots of low-priced produce. I was very proud of how I handled myself on my turns. It's very different from going to a supermarket, because like, people are shouting all the time, because they're hoping to be the ones to get your business.

At last, we got all the stuff we needed and took the train home, though let me say that our groceries were quite heavy! We packed the food in our little corner of the fridge well enough, I must say. While we stuffed everything in, Leroy the dog came in and licked our faces. I liked that. ^_^ Then we rested for some time, relaxing our bodies. And then later that night, since it was nice and dry and hadn't rained in a while, we thought it would be cool to check out our initial tree, even though it was getting dark. We climbed the tree all the way to the top, and it was so much fun. Climbing a tree is soooo different from climbing a tower! ;P We hung around for a while (ha ha, hung around) and when we got bored we went back to the apartment and watched YouTube for a while until bedtime, though what we saw, I haven't a clue anymore.

2 comments:

Q said...

You've never been to a graveyard? Not even at a funeral?

Magenta said...

Nope. So far I've been lucky enough to never have to go to a funeral, so I never saw a real live graveyard.

Of course, this is if you don't count the pet funerals I've attended. Brownie, Muffin, and now most recently Hazel... I guess we've got a kind of hamster funeral in our garden.

But no, I believe my statement about never visiting a graveyard is accurate. We don't have one very nearby, and I don't personally know anyone who died.