Grandmas Visit The Cradle Of Liberty: The Very Blustery Day

Saturday morning found us waking up to a drastic change in the weather. It didn't look very different from our hotel window...the sun was still shining bright. But once you walked out the door, you knew the tides had turned.

I was very grateful that we had spent the time looking for a winter coat on Thursday. My light sweaters were not going to cut it now. It wasn't bitterly cold (yet!) but it was windy. Robin and I took off walking toward the north end of Boston. There were a few gusts where I found myself leaning backwards to keep from falling forward. All I could think was that if the gust of wind suddenly stopped I would fall flat of my back. They say there were recorded gusts of 49 miles an hour in Boston on Saturday. I believe it. I think it hit as we were walking down a hill into Chinatown!

Boston's Chinatown was nothing like New York's or San Francisco's. The entrance is lovely. But once inside there are only a few little souvenir shops...it is mostly made up of restaurants. We tried the Gourmet Dumpling House (one of Jeff's suggestions from Thursday night).

It was my first encounter with a Chinese Easter Bunny!

We ordered the pork and crab dumplings as recommended. (I liked them, but Robin didn't care for them.) Robin had the Chicken Szechuan and I had the Asparagus Chicken. It was the BEST and FRESHEST Chinese food I have ever enjoyed. The asparagus was tender and there was LOTS of it! Yumm!

It was an easily overlooked 'hole in the wall' type of place But I guess the place is pretty good since there were multiple pictures of Micheal Douglas on the walls.

After lunch, we hurried over to buy tickets for the Trolley Tours. The temperatures were dropping quickly and the winds were not letting up at all!

We saw a lot of the places that we had toured on Friday, but from a different perspective at times.

One of the new places we saw was 122 Bowdoin Street. This was John F. Kennedy's voting address in 1960 when he was elected the 35th President of the United States of America. We were told that his brother, Ted, kept an office here until just a few years before his death.
One of the sights that took Robin and I both by surprise was this view of the Charles River...still covered in ice!

For the sports lovers out there, we drove past Fenway Park...

...we also saw the new Boston Gardens a little later in the tour. And the parking lot where the Old Gardens once stood and where Larry Bird led the Celtics to their Championships in 1981, 1984 & 1986.

We hopped off of the Trolley at the USS Constitution and took it's free tour. It is the oldest commissioned warship afloat today and the tours are led by active United States Sailors.

"Old Ironsides" as she is called, is still a beautiful ship. But, I am so glad I don't have to reside there.

I mean, how would you like to sleep like this?

The young woman who led our tour explained to us that the distance between yourself and your bunk mate was directly related to your rank. So, that distance could be 2" or 6"...neither of which seems like enough to me!

We finished the rest of the 'regular' Trolley Tour and ended up back at our hotel. After quickly freshening up for the evening, we headed out for dinner.

NOTE: Picture was from our tour of the area on Friday...before it turned so cold!

We decided to try out Ye Old Union Oyster House. It is America's Oldest Restaurant and the site of the best fresh oysters I have ever eaten. I know you have heard that saying from me a few times in the past few days...but honestly, these things were delicious! I even ate them without crackers...just straight from the shell!

And in case you want some history of the place...the building has been around for over 250 years and has been a restaurant since 1826.

It was also a favorite of John F. Kennedy himself. There is a marker at his favorite booth which just so happened to be catty-corner from where Robin and I sat.

Doesn't this look good?

It was!!!

After dinner, we took a taxi back to the hotel and did the unthinkable. We changed into our pajamas, ordered a pay per view movie and jumped in bed for a quiet night in!