Life Outside the Inbox

I was the most excited for day 2 in Boston. After being well rested from the day before, we got up at 10am and got ready to explore the Freedom Trail. As luck would have it, the official walking tour wasn’t be available till the next week. I was a little concerned cause I thought the trail would be hard to navigate but our concierge gave us the Official Guide to the Freedom Trail which was very helpful. To first fill our belly and have enough energy for the next 10 hours of walking, we wanted to go down to Sam Lagrassa, the #1 restaurant in Boston as listed on TripAdvisor. We made the trip only to find that they were closed.

Day 2:
We decided to walk towards our first stop, Boston Commons, to see if we can find a place to eat along the way. Once we reached Boston Commons, oldest park in the country, we found Earl of Sandwich right in the middle of the park with a nice patio. There was a breeze in the air but the sun kept us warm. The sandwiches were good and there was a good selection. We ate our sandwiches, did some people watching and made our way around the different statues around the park. The famous swan ride was still closed though for Easter weekend and the pond was still drained.

Here are a few of our favourite stops:

1. Very close to Boston Commons was the Massachusetts State House built in 1798, you can’t miss the plated gold dome (added to prevent leaks). There were no tours but the sheer size of it left us in awe. We took a few pictures at the main gates. In front of the State house began the red bricks and a Freedom Trail marking.
2. The red brick road then lead us to the Old South Meeting House where we discovered that even without the Boston Go card, there was a $13 deal for admissions to 3 other stops along the trail). The Old South Meeting House housed artifacts which talked about protest meetings held there before the American Revolution and described it as a platform for the free expression of ideas.
3. Included in the admission was a tour of the Old State House, where in the front marks where the Boston massacre occurred with a cobblestone ring. The Old State House now acts as a small museum which depicts the life of a citizen back then where you can stand in the perspective of your character.
4. One of my favourite stops was to American Patriot, Paul Revere’s house. Paul Revere, equivalent (in my mind) to Canada’s Laura Secord, is an patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces on his midnight ride.

So after our walk on the Freedom Trail, we visited Quincy market where were was store upon store of FOOD. Of course we took this opportunity to try the Lobster rolls. A whole meal including the clam chowder, a lobster roll and a soft drink was only $19, which is quite a deal considering it was filled with real lobster meat. We shared it between the two of us knowing full well that we’d step foot in North End for some Italian goodies; where I again picked up a red velvet whoopie pie, fruit tart, slice of cheesecake and a tiramisu and walked back the hotel for some rest. On our way back we picked up an enormous box of plump strawberries for $1!!

Around 7pm we went out again for dinner to North End. And let me tell you, this is the biggest lesson we learned. MAKE DINNER RESERVATIONS. If they are listed in TripAdvisor’s top restaurants (even within the top 50), don’t expect to be seated for at least 2-3 hours. Our first choice was Neptune Oysters (they don’t take reservations) and their list was so long they told us not to bother. We tried a couple of other Italian places to no avail. So I opened my trusty dusty TripAdvisor app and found the restaurant in the area that seems the most hidden. We found ourselves wandering around and finally found Mama Maria. They were also full but accommodated us at the bar, they had a slightly more expensive menu and way less choice but was decent nonetheless.

Spending:

Earl of Sandwich- $20
Admission tickets bundle – $26
Lobster roll meal: $19
Smoothie – $7
Dessert – $9
Strawberries – $1
Mama Maria – $70

Total: $152