A Day Spent in the Hustle and Bustle

This year, rather than take one or two week-long vacations over the course of the summer (or late spring...or early fall...), my family decided to take a series of day trips. They're easier to prepare for, less trouble to come home from, and you still get to see some awesome things. The first of these day trips was our visit to Old Sturbridge Village; the second, we went to see Dr. Ballard's presentation. For the third trip, I asked my bloggy friend Maya to guest post for me (and didn't she do a fabulous job? If you missed her post, check it out here!); meanwhile, my family spent the day in...Boston!

Lucie came along, too!

I've been to Boston once before; my very first visit, actually, was Sunday, June 6, 2010. My family was on vacation, and we spent the day following the Freedom Trail through the city with my aunt and grampa, who had driven up for the day. It was a lot of fun, and we all had a blast. Then, as we were walking back to the Common at the end of the day, the micro burst struck - we watched as a cloud completely obscured a building in front of us and a flock of pigeons took off over our head, then took cover under an overhang just in the nick of time. It poured, and as we watched the graveyard across the street flooded so much that water was rushing out onto the sidewalk in a literal waterfall. Later, we learned that large trees all over the city had been uprooted and knocked over - and elsewhere in Massachusetts, a house roof was reportedly blown into the Atlantic ocean! When we were standing there watching it, though, all we thought was, man, this is cool. It definitely made for a memorable trip!

This time, though, we decided to go and just explore. Grampa and Ginger came along, and we spent a lovely spring day wandering the busy streets and lush parks of the city.

Jordan and Riley (and Grampa's arm).

Jordan brought her camera, too!

Family photo...

And a few sister shots with Arthur Fielder, musician. (The shots of me and Riley are on Jordan's computer...)

Riley took a walk with a statue...

The Family wandering the streets.

Grampa and Riley having a chat with another statue.

The morning started out a bit cloudy and grey, but by midday the sun had come out. It was perfect weather - not too hot, and not too cold.

We began our visit by visiting the public garden and the park...

Swan boat!

The ducklings were SO DARN CUTE.

And there were real swans, too!

This reminds me of The Secret Garden...time for a reread, perhaps?

Aslan popped out of Narnia to take a drink...

...then we hit the streets.

Though we didn't actually follow the Freedom Trail this time, Boston is such a historic city you can't help but stumble on landmarks and monuments - like the Old State House, in front of which the Boston Massacre occurred. On March 5th, 1770 - six years before the start of the Revolutionary War - British soldiers were standing guard on the Common when a mob of jeering colonists started throwing snowballs and rocks and calling the soldiers names. Things got out of hand, and shots were fired into the crowd - five colonists were killed and seven were wounded. The incident only served to fuel the colonist's anger, although John Adams - one of the men who helped Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence and our nation's second president - was actually the lawyer who defended the British soldiers when they were accused of murder after the Massacre.

Also at the Old State House, six years later, the Declaration of Independence was read from the balcony to gathered Bostonians. There's no way to avoid the history of a city like Boston!

The adorable Old State House; and there's a costumed Freedom Trail tour guide.

There were also some street performers as well as a few people playing music on the street...plus, we saw an awesome parade of Elvis impersonators!

A street performer in front of Quincy Market.

It's a bit blurry, but there's Grampa with an Elvis impersonator. Plus, Lucie was exploring with us!

I was glad to be able to see the New England Holocaust Memorial again, and I spent some time walking through and photographing it. The memorial is made up of six glass towers, and each one represents one of the six Nazi death camps - Belzec, Sobibor, Chelmno, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka and Majdanek. On the walls of the towers are numbers in random order, from one to six million to represent the six million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust.

Someday, I'd like to see it at night, lit up and glowing.

But horrific genocides aside...it was a fun trip, and I really enjoyed myself! By the end of the day, however, I was ready to head home. The city can be fun to visit every once in awhile, especially when there's so much interesting stuff to see. I loved seeing the monuments and the old buildings and the random sights on the street; I loved how you could just be walking down the sidewalk and pass random people speaking foreign languages you don't understand. After a day spent in the hustle and bustle, though, I was glad to get back home. In the city, you're constantly walking around people. There's constantly noise and action, always cars and buildings. A day trip is fun, but by the time I got home I was worn out - and glad to be back where there's quiet and calm and room to breathe. What can I say? I'm a country girl, born and raised!

These two shots were taken by Jordan - see her own Boston photos here.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week!