Sonya's Blog - Day 119 - Boston Trolley Tour and Tea Party Ship and Museum

Sonya’s Blog - Day 119 - October 19th - Boston Trolley Tour and Boston Tea Party Museum

It was -2 when we woke up this morning and there was quite a bit of frost on the ground. I guess yesterday was the coldest day in Boston in 40 years, or forever, or some crazy thing. So happy we could be a part of that! Today is going to be chilly as well, but then it warms up again.

We had found a dog sitter for Kizmet so we decided to head into Boston for the full day. We wanted to make sure that we had enough time to drop off Kizmet and to catch the commuter train, so we left at 8:20. We had no problem finding the dog sitter’s house and getting Kizmet all settled in. She was so excited to play with their German Shepherd, Austin, and she just started going crazy and running around. Austin didn’t quite know what to make of her. We were confident that Kizmet was going to have a good day and we left to try and find the commuter train.

We found the commuter train without too much of a problem and then we just had to figure out the tickets and the parking. In the end we had to get everything online, but we had lots of time before the train was due to arrive. We waited in the truck until about 5 minutes before the train was due. It was a nice double decker train and we got seats on the top and were able to get a table. We played some cards during our commute into Boston. The train took about 45 minutes, so not so bad.

We got off at South Station. We were not really sure where to go for our hop on hop off trolley tour. We couldn’t find any stops and we ended up walking to Faneuil Hall, which is the first stop for all the bus tour companies. We got on our bus and the tour started. We decided to go around the whole loop and take in the whole tour and then decided what we wanted to do. The tour was really good and we saw all the major stops in Boston. We also went across the bridge to Cambridge and saw Harvard and MIT. The tour guide was really good and told plenty of cheesy jokes to keep Isaac entertained.

After we returned to the first stop, we decided to go one more stop and look around Little Italy for a restaurant to have lunch at. We found a restaurant and got a table. They had good specials, but it wasn’t my favourite. I don’t love Italian and it was a lot of pasta for me. Oh well, that is the way it goes.

After lunch we walked over to Paul Revere’s house because it was only a couple of blocks away. We checked it out and got some pictures and continued on our way. Natasha wanted to go to The Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum and we decided to walk over there. It was about a 15 minute walk away. We could have taken the bus there, but it was the last stop on the tour and we would have to do the whole loop again. Walking gave us a chance to check out the Harbour Walk, which was very nice. We went to Long Wharf, which was built in the 1700’s way out into the Boston Harbour so that larger ships could dock at it. It is now not nearly as long and Boston has much more land. Faneuil Hall used to be on the waterfront and it is now several blocks back from the harbour. Bostonians have continuously added more land to the Boston area and filled in the harbour, mudflats and marshes to add more land mass. Modern day Boston would be unrecognizable to someone from the 1700’s.

After more walking and checking out the harbour we made it to The Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum. We were just in time for the next tour. This is not your standard museum, you can only go through it if you are on tour as it is a re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party. We start in the Meeting Hall, which originally started at Faneuil Hall, but had to be moved to the Old South Meeting House because the crowds were too large (5000 to 6000 people). Each person on the tour is given new identities, and some people are given lines. Isaac volunteered to be a speaking participant, which was not a huge surprise. He had two or three lines to deliver during the meeting.

The meeting was called to order and we were all in an uproar about the tea tax and what we were going to do about this. We would boo whenever the king and taxes were mentioned and shout “here, here” whenever we agreed. There was a lot of support for the Patriots and their outrage at the unjustness of the British and their “unlawful” taxes. Word came from a runner that we would not be permitted to turn the ships around and refuse the shipment of the tea (if the tea was not unloaded then the taxes did not have to be paid). The ship’s cargo had to be unloaded tomorrow and so action had to be taken tonight. We all agreed to take action tonight and so we dressed up (the original Tea Party participants disguised themselves as this was a treasonous act) and went to throw the tea overboard. We “stormed” the ship and threw some tea overboard.

After touring the ship and throwing the tea overboard we headed into the museum. There were several interactive displays that took us through what happened in Boston after the Tea Party and to the start of the American Revolution. It was a very good history lesson for the kids and I think they learned more with the actors playing out their roles and having to be actively involved. An excellent experience. I wanted to visit the tea house after our tour, but it was already closed.

Once we were done we checked the time and the schedule for the trains. There was one leaving in 15 minutes, time to hustle over there and get on it. We were only a few blocks away, so it was no problem. We found seats on the train and settled in. Unfortunately about 10 minutes into the train ride someone pulled the emergency handle by accident. The train had to stop or was stopped by this action and the staff had to walk around the train, even though they knew there was no emergency, this was the protocol. After about 10 minutes they were all set to go and they lost all power. That took another 10 minutes to restore and we were on our way again 5 minutes after that. That added a bit of time to our commute.

We picked up Kizmet and she had had a wonderful day. Once we got home we had some supper and then the kids called it a night. I started to check the election results and Blake listened to the Blue Jays game. Well I thought the Liberals would get a minority government, but I sure didn’t expect them to get a majority. The Blue Jays killed it out there, so that was good. An intriguing night all around and I stayed up too late following everything.

Sonya