Thursday morning we decided to skip the overpriced market and got breakfast at Panera. I absolutely love their cinnamon crunch bagels. And they allow you to put your own cream cheese on your bagel so I could have just the right amount. After breakfast, we walked to the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum. This was the most expensive thing we did but also one of my favorite experiences. It started out with a reenactment of the townhall meeting. Tyler was given a character to play with a part and everything and he recited his part so well ;) We we were all to chime in with "huzzah" "hisss" "boo" and "here! here!" Tyler was the biggest partcipant and I chimed in a little. There were about 5 other people there (2 who were very little kids).
After the meeting we went out to the ship where we got to throw "tea" into the water and we learned a lot about how the "Tea Party" was carried out. We learned about the difficult process they had of cutting the tea out of the boxes and lead wrapping and then hauling the hundreds of pounds of it out of the cargo haul. The water was also at low tide when they dumped it so there were just mounds of it in the water. When it washed to shore during high tide they stomped it into the ground so no one would take it. One man who did try to take handfuls of it and was beat and then they nailed his coat to the gallows. This was serious business. I also was given a character and apparently my character got hit on the head with a box of tea and was persumed dead. (Gratefully they didn't reenact this). They brought him back to his workshop hoping that it would look like a work accident but lo and behold the next morning they went to check on the body and discovered he was still breathing. Huzzah!
After the ship we went inside to the museum and they went over the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party. They did this with a 3D reenactment of two wives talking (one a loyalist and one not). Then we went into another room where they had a video and then 2 portraits that honestly looked painted but turned out to be projections that moved and talked. In this room they had a crate from that night and a vial of tea from that night- not sure how someone got away with keeping that. The last room had a video of the Midnight Run and the shot heard around the world. This video was a little graphic (with a bullet wound victim) which made me feel bad for the dad with the 2 little girls. They looked traumatized. This video also made me a little emotional. I wish people appreciated the sacrafices that were made so that we could have freedom here.
After the museum we went back to our hotel room and ate some leftover pizza and rested our feet. After our break we headed to Charlestown to see the USS Constitution. This required taking a ferry so that was fun. The ferry looked like it hadn't been updated in decades but it got us their safely and the view was nice so I guess I can't complain.
The USS Constitution Museum was a short jaunt from the ferry. Honestly the afternoon sleepies hit when we got there so I wasn't super excited by the museum. I felt like I could curl up on a bench and take a nap. Instead we read plaques and learned about what ships are made of and the life of sailors. I would never make it as a sailor.
When we finished up at the museum, we headed to the actual ship. It is still owned by the navy so we had to go through security and then we went on a tour led by a sailor. She was actually a firefighter in the navy. Seeing the boat was pretty cool. We saw the canons, and learned how they operated and we saw the place where all the sailors slept in hammocks. Tyler asked the lady a lot of questions at the end and at that point I was a wee bit bored but I am glad he learned some things. When we first started the tour it had started to sprinkle and when it ended it, it was raining. Thankfully not too hard because we had to walk back to the ferry and wait for it to come. While waiting we met a chatty couple from Canada and talked about weather with them. By the time we got in the ferry and walked back to our hotel, we were definitely a little soggy. It took some time for us to properly dry off and feel like going back out for some dinner.
For dinner we got out our umbrellas and went to Pauli's which is world famous. The sandwiches were super pricey but huge. I got the Vito sub and it was good but not spectacular. Tyler seemed to really enjoy his sandwich. When we were done we picked up something sweet to eat at the seven eleven right by our hotel. Their was a homeless man holding the door open with a cup. Perks of staying in the city I guess. He was there the following night too. I am surprised that he doesn't get kicked out...
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