Boston Boating Day

My favorite Boston picture-Posing with  a copy of the Declaration  of Independence  in front  of  the  
Old State House.  On the balcony is where it was read.  In front of the Old State House is also where in 1770 5 colonists were accidentally killed by British soldiers.  This is remembered as the Boston Massacre.

Greeting business people from Liverpool

Wednesday, September 14th-Since it was forecasted that it would be a glorious day, we opted to take advantage of focusing on Boston boats today.  We started of with the infamous amphibian duck tour.  Our guide was witty, fun and very informative.  We quickly learned while viewing the sights that Boston is the first or oldest at  many things:
*Necco candy, baker's chocolate and jelly beans all came from here.
*Boston Subway station is the first in the nation
*Boston Public Library oldest lending library in nation
*MA first state to abolish slavery
*Alexander Bell invented the phone here by accident, was meant for a tool for his deaf wife, Verizon now sits on the site where Bell's office was.
*MGM-Ma General Medical-First to use eather and first xrays here
*Union Oyster House-oldest restaurant
*50 colleges here, average age is 33, Ironical considering how old city is.
*Harvard oldest university
*Bunker Hill Bridge-Largest Suspension bridge in the world.
Other Interests:
The Dark Tide-The molasses flood that killed 30 people
Land Fill Project that took 40 years to complete
*With exception of August, every month has a three day weekend, city that likes to celebrate ie Bunker Hill Day on June 17thh


The highlight for Janae and Stefan was getting to drive Miss Emma Science once we were in the Charles River.


After this fun and educational experience, we took a boat taxi over the harbor to visit the USS Constitution.  We experienced a guided tour with the Navy and it was really interesting learning about "Old Ironsides".  She is the oldest (213 years old) commissioned warship in the world and she has become a symbol of pride as well as an ambassador  for our country.  She was made in the Boston Harbor and  after winning a total of 33 battles starting with the Battle of 1812, Boston claims  her as their one and only undefeated team.  Paul Revere even did some metal work on her.  She is made out of three layers of wood the middle layer from live oak.  The canons would bounce off her sides.  What caught Stefan's interest were the 8 year old boys, "powder monkeys"  who were taken on by the Navy to run the gun powder up and down the narrow steps.  The ship weights 2200 tons and the anchor 5400 lbs.  What I thought was really interesting was where the word skuttlebut comes from.  The skuttlebutt held the water and this was where the sailors could talk freely (they had to be quit on duty) and thus where gossip would occur.

Riding the boat taxi

Here's Miss Emma Science in the mirrors

Old Ironsides

The Harbor on a Wednesday evening

On our walk back to the subway this evening we walked by the Old State House.  They were hosting a meeting with the governor and business people from Boston and Liverpool so this group was there to greet them.