She took my bag up and I stayed on the bus and again successfully navigated the public transit system (so fun!) to start at the end of the Freedom Trail and work my way back to where I left off on Day 1, at the Paul Revere House museum.
I walked and walked, and saw some really cute neighborhoods for raising a family. Luckily Liz gave me an apple to eat, because I walked for at least 30 minutes up and downhill before I reached the Bunker Hill Monument. This was really cool. It was 8:30am, there was nobody around except for maybe one guy and his dog, and me. And the Monument. It stands on a gorgeous hill, and it was so quiet and calm. I got a chance to call Bean and we talked for a few minutes, while I realized that the museum wasn't open yet, and that maybe I should head on to the next stop.
The USS Constitution Museum is right across the street from the Monument, but it also was not open. By this time, I was feeling quite hungry but had no idea where to eat. So I kept following the trail, focusing on the beautiful city and parks to distract myself from my hunger.
I just love this shot. In the background is a bridge and I like the two different types of buildings, with the red brick line down the center. I got back to the path leading to the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides), but it seemed like a little further walk and I was still hungry, so I backtracked and headed back to the North End, where the Italian Festival was, and where the Paul Revere House museum is. I figured there would be some coffee shop I could grab a muffin at somewhere in there.
I kept walking, and I'd see 'Cafe', and get excited, but it would be a lunch place. That happened several times. I was just about to stop at 7-Eleven and grab something when I tried one more time and found a bakery. They had muffins. I got a huge blueberry one and it only cost about a dollar. I kept walking, enjoying my breakfast, when I stumbled upon a coffee shop. Just what I was looking for! I got an iced tea, sat down and read the paper and finished my muffin.
Then it was on to the Paul Revere House again! I had been looking forward to this, because the architecture interests me, and I wanted to see what family life was like. Here's a different view of the building from the courtyard.
I'm sad to report it wasn't as cool as I thought. There were kids running all over so I couldn't concentrate on the exhibits, which were basically rooms with panels to read. It was very small, and for some reason the panels didn't have interesting facts about family life, it was more about Paul Revere and how great he was. I wanted to know what people did, what they ate, how they cooked it, what they spent time doing.
I decided to head back to Faneuil Hall and just shop some more and waste a little time before meeting Liz for lunch. I saw the bars that the show Cheers was based off of.
At this point I was still in love with Boston, and started to make my way towards a T stop to meet Liz for lunch. I wasn't exactly sure where one was, but armed with my trusty maps I was going to find one. So I'm walking down the sidewalk, and there is this man flopped down on the pavement and one of his shoes is off. "Poor guy, I hope he's ok- I wonder if he's drunk," I thought. "He's probably just sleeping it off."
Then, to my horror, a steady stream of pee arched out from his nether regions and landed on the sidewalk! My mouth hung open in amazement, and I thought, "If his eyes are closed, I know he's really out of it." So as I walked past, I peeked down at his face and saw that his eyes were half open, like he was peering out at all the people walking by. Then my horror turned to utter disgust and I felt nauseous. I turned around again, thinking maybe a cop would see him but all I saw was him let the waistband of his gray sweatpants snap back into place. And no, I did not see his weiner.
I kept walking, trying to shake off the shock of that and I saw another man with his shirt off, ragged hair, very sinewy muscles, with both hands grasping a trashcan, dry heaving into it while smoking a cigarette. The combination of his body clenching up every time he heaved, and seeing him smoke at the same time really pushed me over the edge. My appetite was gone!
Nevertheless, I made it to Liz's work, we double-checked my flight time, and we went to lunch across the way. We had some delicious savory crepes and her lunch ran a little long- she didn't want to go back, and I didn't want to hang out by myself for another hour. So we took the long way back to her work and I sat in her cube while she worked.
I left her work an hour before my flight was supposed to leave. She walked me down to the front and we hugged and then I started walking away. I turned around every few yards to wave, and she was there, waving back, all the way until I had to cross the street. I got pretty sad to leave her, but was on a mission to get on that plane.
While strolling toward the gate, 20 minutes before takeoff, I heard my name over the loudspeaker for 'last call'. What?!? I sped up and the lady scolded me for being the last on the plane, told me I almost missed the flight, and that they would have to check my bags. Unbeknownst to me, they were trying to take off early, and that's why they wanted everyone on the plane. We left about 10 minutes early. I have never heard of that before, but at least I didn't have to sit on the plane or in the terminal for longer than necessary.
Bean picked me up at the airport and we ended my vacation with some delicious Tex-Mex and a margarita.
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