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Main day of site-seeing

Boston Travel Blog › entry 1 of 5 › view all entries

I had an interview at the Fletcher School at Tufts, and had never been to Boston before. Naturally, I turned this into a week-long trip.

Main day of site-seeing

First impressions upon flying into the city: it was very similar to flying into DC last year and seeing the fall colors, only better...all the houses looked so quaint and New England-esque. =)

Our first day of site-seeing consisted of taking a hop-on, hop-off tour (similar to what I had done in NYC about a year and a half ago). We booked it the night before, and got on at North Station, which was Stop 4 on the route. We decided against riding all the way back to see Stops 1-3 at the end of things, but that was mostly because we were anxious to get out and see more of the city. See my review for more info on the company and the tour itself.

We saw a little of everything in the city via that tour bus, and when it ended, we walked across the street to Quincy Market. Being tourists, we decided to have lunch at the Cheers "replica" bar, then stumbled across the Freedom Trail at Faneuil Hall. This was listed as a must-see in our guidebook, so we thought we'd walk it for a little while until we got tired of it, then strike off on our own. It took us all through the historic district of the city, and we enjoyed ourselves so much that before we knew it, we had walked the whole 2.5 miles of it! By the time we were finished with that we were exhausted. You can see so much of the city in such a short period of time, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to keep up with the site-seeing...that's what the rest of the trip was for.
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Mom on our Trolley Tour
Mom on our Trolley Tour
Faneuil Hall
Faneuil Hall
Beginning of the Freedom Trail
Beginning of the Freedom Trail
Faneuil Hall and Sam Adams statue
Faneuil Hall and Sam Adams' statue
Proof that we walked the Freedom T…
Proof that we walked the Freedom
With Ben, outside the Old State Ho…
With Ben, outside the Old State
Stand in Opposition
"Stand in Opposition"
In front of the Old State House
In front of the Old State House
Our family breeds good little Demo…
Our family breeds good little De
Bostom Common
Bostom Common
Boston Public Gardens - Make Way …
Boston Public Gardens - "Make Wa
Massachuesetts State House
Massachuesetts State House
George Washington, Boston Public G…
George Washington, Boston Public
Boston Public Garden
Boston Public Garden
The Cheers replica bar, Quincy Mar…
The Cheers replica bar, Quincy M
Cheers replica bar, Quincy Market
Cheers replica bar, Quincy Market
Mom with Carla and Norm at Cheers
Mom with Carla and Norm at Cheers
With Carla and Norm at Cheers
With Carla and Norm at Cheers
Cheers
Cheers
Mom with her idol
Mom with her idol
Cheers
Cheers
Make way for ducklings!
Make way for ducklings!
Cheers
Cheers
Trinity Church
Trinity Church
Trinity Church
Trinity Church
Embroidered kneelers at Trinity
Embroidered kneelers at Trinity
Trinity Church
Trinity Church
Outside Trinity
Outside Trinity
Public Library
Public Library
On our midnight stroll through the…
On our midnight stroll through t
Cheers
Cheers
Sam Adams grave, Granary Burying …
Sam Adams' grave, Granary Buryin
John Hancocks grave, Granary Bury…
John Hancock's grave, Granary Bu
Mom with fall foliage, Granary Bur…
Mom with fall foliage, Granary B
Paul Reveres grave, Granary Buryi…
Paul Revere's grave, Granary Bur
Mother Gooses grave, Granary Bury…
Mother Goose's grave, Granary Bu
Boston Common
Boston Common
I've done a few hop-on, hop-off city tours before, and they're a great way to get an overview of a place if you don't have much time to visit. My mom and I decided to take a tour of Boston this way, then go back and see places we found interesting in more depth. We had a great experience with "Peppermint Patty," our driver. The whole tour lasts about 2.5 hours, and it's slightly cheaper if you book online (the adult one-day price is $28, versus the regular price of $32).

In case people aren't familiar with how these work, you get on the trolley at any of the 18 stops and ride around on a loop until you get tired of it. You can get off at any stop to site-see, and another trolley will come by every 15-20 minutes to take you to the next place.
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