July 21 Boston day 2

We departed the hotel at 7:30 a.m. taking the street to Fan Pier for the Harbor Walk back to Quincy Market at Faneuil Hall Market Place, less than a kilometre walk away but taking the Harbor Walk added another 1.5 km. Along the way and in many places in downtown Boston, there are painted statues of cows and bulls. The walkway at Fan Pier has clipper ship metal sculptures. At Long Wharf the Custom House Block was built in 1848 of granite and has been converted into condominiums. You can see the Custom House Tower a few blocks away from Long Wharf. Over the harbor, planes make their final approach to Boston Logan International Airport. As we strolled along the wharf at Boston Waterboat Marina we looked down and saw the Waterboat Duck House floating and several ducks sleeping there. At Quincy Market, which was almost deserted at 8:30 a.m., we went to Bread O'Life for Egg & Cheese on bagels and coffees. We ate them on a bench, in the shade, outside the market. A few curious pigeons and sparrows were walking close by in case we left crumbs. There were a few other people also enjoying their Bread O'Life breakfasts and watching the pigeons. There was a thin cloud layer, a light breeze and it was about 20°C. Today’s high temperature was 26°C.

We continued our exploring with a harbor boat tour from Long Wharf on the “Frederick L. Nolan Jr.” tour boat, where we learned some of Boston’s history including that the increased land mass of modern Boston was created from lowering the three hills that surrounded the old Boston city. The tunnel that we drove through yesterday cost over a billion dollars to build. It is over one and a half miles long. The section under Boston Harbor was placed in a trench and .75 miles of it was constructed with a dozen Canadian football field lengths of steel tubes connected to each other and the approaches.

The tour boat passed the Boston Fish Pier constructed 1911-1913 and is still in use today. The driver stern fishing boats moored beside it go out 150 miles to fish for haddock and cod. On the far side of the harbor is Boston Logan International Airport which on 2,400 acres of landfill. Planes were landing about every 90 seconds, flying right over the tour boat. Back on the starboard (right) side of the boat, we passed the Flynn Cruiseport Boston, where the Norwegian Pearl was docked, and across from it was the Conley Container Terminal. After Fort Independence, we turned around and were told about Spectacle Island.

Spectacle Island was used seasonally by Indigenous people for centuries before the colonists arrived. In 1717, a smallpox quarantine hospital was opened there, where ships with smallpox were quarantined. It operated for 20 years. In the 20^th century from 1935 to 1959 it was the city’s garbage dump. Strong winds blew garbage into the harbor polluting it. The garbage island grew to be almost 36 acres with a height of almost 24 meters. Later, the garbage on the island was burned, taking ten years to burn. Some evenings, the exploding methane gas filled the sky above the island like 4^th of July fireworks. The garbage rubble remained exposed until 1992 when the “Big Dig” of the excavation of the Ted Williams tunnel started and the excavated material was used to cap off the dump. Topsoil was added and the island became a place for recreation where trees and shrubs were planted, hiking trails created and a marina was built. The harbor was cleaned up and with no more garbage smell, developers started to build condominiums and office buildings along the Boston Harbor shoreline.

On the return route, we passed the Nantucket Light Boat, one of three that used to anchor near the Nantucket shoals to warn ships to stay away. Next to it was a sailing ship where students could be seen on deck learning about the art of sailing a three masted ship. The closest bridge was the Maurice J. Tobin Memorial Bridge a cantilever truss bridge over the Mystic River that is 2.5 miles long. It is painted Fenway Park green (a rustic green). There was a sailboat class in the harbor that we passed. Next was the Charlestown Navy Yard where the USS Cassin Young (793), a destroyer, is docked. It was built in 1943 and participated in seven Pacific battles in World War II surviving two Kamikaze hits. Also located there is the USS Constitution, a frigate, nicknamed “Old Ironsides” due to her construction of 22 inch thick oak timber at the waterline. She was launched in 1797. Constitution fought a battle against the British frigate HMS Guerriere southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia in August 1812. The following day, Guerriere was declared too damaged to be fixed and was scuttled after the surviving Guerriere sailors were taken aboard the Constitution. USS Constitution fought in 42 battles during active service. Today USS Constitution has a crew of three officers and 80 enlisted U.S. Navy sailors. It is still a commissioned ship which travels the required short distance in Boston Harbor every 4^th of July to maintain its U.S. Navy commission.

Liz, the commentator, mentioned that as new properties are developed they must include the Harbor Walk in the plans. It now is over 46 miles long. The old Customs House Tower can be seen from the water. It has four clock faces, which do not always agree since the wind can blow the hands our of kilter. The original building was opened in 1847. The tower was added in 1913 and 1914 making it a 492-foot structure, which was the tallest building in Boston until 1965. The building was converted to the Marriott Vacation Club in 1995.

After the boat tour, we walked back to Boston Common passing the Custom House Tower and the Old State House, with its golden roof, to start a route at Smith Court, a small street which is at the beginning of the Underground Railway tour map and the Boston African American tour map. The tours were mainly sites of former buildings. At the starting place, at the corner of Smith Court and Joy Street was the site of the African Meeting House. We did find an existing building at the end of the tours which was the Charles Street Meeting House, built in 1807. Along the way we found the Old West Church, now a Boston library branch, which was built in 1806. We started to look for a café and found Capitol Coffee House across the street from the Massachusetts State House. On the grounds was an obelisk with an eagle at the top. There was also a Firefighters Memorial statue.

In the afternoon on the way to the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum we passed the large red brick Church of the Advent, an Episcopal (Anglican) church.

At the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, we learned about the events leading to the Boston Tea Party on the rainy evening of December 16, 1773. It was an interactive play with costumed actors and hologram people coming to "life". The tour began in a meeting room where Samual Adams gave a rousing speech to the assembly. His deputy led the guests to the “Beaver” ship, where the tossing of the tea cases was reenacted. Each guest was given a card with the name of one of the men involved in tossing the tea into Boston Harbor. On the “Beaver” we were met by Mrs. Parker. She told us that there were three ships, including the “Eleanor” and the “Dartmouth”. The British authorities would not allow the ships to return to England until the tea was unloaded. We stayed for tea and scones in the tea room.

We returned to the Yotel Boston following the Harbor Walk arriving about 4 p.m. We relaxed before dinner, reviewing the day then took the elevator up to the “Deck 12” restaurant on the top floor for dinner. We enjoyed pub bites of calamari and fish & chip with a Samual Adams draft beer and watermelon vodka and soda. It was a good idea to eat at the hotel as there was big thunderstorm this evening.

We walked 14.3 km which was 23,386 steps.