I've only ever had the privilege of driving through Boston many many years ago. So to be so close and not actually go and explore just seemed almost criminal to me. Not everyone joined us on this endeavor, just those with little children. We left bright and early at 8 am on the dot. A easy drive other than witnessing an accident on the way in that shook us all up a bit. Massachusetts and their allowance of driving in the breakdown lane let me tell you. Not a fan.
We drove to the Quincy Adams station after discovering the Braintree station had zero parking. Thankfully it was only a few minutes further from our house. We did a little commuter train action and eventually found ourselves smack dab in Boston.
We started our tour at the Bunker Hill Community College quite incidentally (I had all sorts of Robin Williams thoughts there). Boston is sort of funny in a way? At first I was like ew. Am I in Newark? I didn't really enjoy the area where we first got off the train, clearly. And then it was gorgeous and brick buildings with window boxes and tree lined streets... And then it was like I was in Little Italy with saints and festivals and gelato on every corner as we went through the North End. And before you know it then there were sky scrapers with a harbor behind it... With an occasional Revolutionary impersonator wandering around. I sort of ate that all up.
We started by following the Freedom Trail from the U.S.S. Constitution south through the North End, all the way through to the Boston Commons. Every city should have a Freedom Trail I've decided. We were able to mindlessly wander because we just blindly followed the two bricks in the sidewalk and we saw more of the city than we would have otherwise I'd wager.
Because we were in the North End we just had to have Italian for lunch. We ate at La Famiglia Giorgio's which I found by googling "top family friendly dining north end Boston". It did not disappoint. They set up the table for all of us quicker than we could say three highchairs... They brought out crayons and covered water cups for the kids and the food was just delicious. And so much of it! It was a sin how much food we wasted that day but we couldn't necessarily carry it around with us with no cooler.
We left the city just shy of rush hour and made it back the house safe and sound. And yes, I sang Shipping Up To Boston a whole lot that day. Oh and David? He kept asking when we could go back to Massachusetts. When informed that Boston was in fact in Massachusetts he emphatically insisted that it was not. This made for a really long car ride home that involved lots of yelling and disagreement until I could show him the map when we got back that proved Massachusetts was a lot larger than our house in Plymouth. The house equals Massachusetts, I suppose. In his mind. And of course the gorgeous photos below are all my sister-in-law's (you can tell which are which).
