Thursday July 23. We drove into town and checked in at the Copley House, which has a collection of studio apartments for short-term rent. Our apartment was small but nice, with a kitchenette. After dropping off our stuff we walked along the Charles River Esplanade. It was a beautiful day. We never saw so many joggers in our lives. There were lots of young people, probably because Boston is home to dozens of universities. There were lots of sailboats on the river. We didn't see many powerboats.

The Hatch Shell

After a nice walk we stopped at Cheers, the bar featured in the 1980s sitcom Cheers. The original name was the Bull & Finch Pub, but the name was changed, probably to attract customers. Even 30 years after the show, the bar is very commercialized, with cardboard cutouts of characters and Cheers apparel for sale. There are two bars downstairs. Upstairs there is the "set bar", which is supposed to look like the bar on the show's set, but we didn't think it did. None of the beers on tap were what a beer connoisseur would consider "craft".

Boston is a relatively clean city. For the most part it doesn't smell, there's not a lot of litter, and it's a nice place to walk in. We walked to Boston Common and saw a live presentation of King Lear.

Friday July 24. A gorgeous, sunny day with pristine air. Lots of tourists were out and about, as were many bicyclists. We walked along the Esplanade. Many sailboats were on the water near the downtown area. Further away there were lots of sculls and some small motorized boats ridden by the rowers' coaches. We crossed a bridge over to Cambridge, which is home to Harvard and MIT. We found some old railroad tracks with lots of graffiti and walked on them. After crossing back over, we saw a small railway vehicle cross the tracks. Had it come by just minutes earlier we'd have been in trouble.

We walked around Public Garden, a beautiful area adjacent to Boston Common. It has nice trees, grass, flowers, and a pond with swan boats.

We went up in the Prudential building and did the Skywalk. We got some great views of the city. It was similar to being in the Eiffel Tower.

We then went up to the 52^nd floor to the Top of the Hub, a classy, pricey restaurant/bar that wouldn't let us in because we weren't dressed nicely enough. So we took our low-class, slovenly selves back down and walked along the Freedom Trail. We glommed onto a guided tour for a while. The guide said that during his famous ride, Paul Revere was captured by the British and he ratted out his comrades. Just one example of how "history" is just a collection of stories, many of which are untrue and make heroes of the dead. The real hero that night was Samuel Prescott. You can read the account here.

Granary Burying Ground, where Paul Revere is buried.	Boston City Hall, considered the ugliest City Hall in the U.S.

We went to the Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which is the most visited tourist spot in all of New England. We got a quick glass of champagne, then went to Durgin Park for steamahs (steamed clams) and chowda (clam chowder). The steamahs were great but the chowda was just okay.

The main food hall at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace is called Quincy Market. It's a lot like Baltimore's Harborplace in that it has a lot of food vendors and it gets crowded with tourists. A 12-year-old kid named Bradley entertained people on sax, keyboard, and harmonica. We talked to his father, who told us that his son has been in Broadway shows, reads 600-page books in three days, and does martial arts. We stopped at a food vendor called "Oyster Bar" and got a lobsta (lobster) roll and chowda. Both were great.

On the way back we stopped at Star Market for some food to keep in our room. They had a great beer and wine selection. After we got back Andi went to bed and I went to Bukowski Tavern to meet my old friend and high school wrestling buddy Ethan. The place had a decent beer selection. We had Grimm Psychokinesis (a sour ale), Stone Ruination 2.0, and Far from the Tree Nova Hoppy Dry Cider. He left at midnight to play harmonica at another bar.

Saturday July 25. We took the T to the New England Aquarium. As we walked to it we stumbled upon an arts and crafts sale at one of the Wharf District Parks, so naturally Andi had to browse the selections while I (im)patiently waited. The Rings Fountain was pretty cool. Here's a brief video.

The aquarium was nice. We saw lots of fish, turtles, penguins and other creatures. I especially liked petting the rays in the touch tank.

Afterward we walked the rest of the Freedom Trail. We stopped at the Tap Trailhouse. They had a decent beer selection. We had a Two Roads Road 2 Ruin Double IPA. At the Paul Revere House no photography was allowed so all I got was a photo of the sign outside.

	The Boston Stone

After reaching the end of the trail at the USS Constitution we walked back to the North End, which is a mostly Italian section with a jillion restaurants. There was an amazing amount of tourists -- more than we saw at Faneuil Hall. Almost every restaurant was full and some places had long lines. Someone had given us a tip on a place called Neptune Oyster, so we went to see whether we could get in. The line wasn't too long, which was encouraging, until we were told that that was just the line to put one's name on the waiting list. There was a 2½-to-3-hour wait for a table. We walked to Quincy Market and it wasn't as crowded as one would expect. We revisited Oyster Bar for a lobsta roll, chowda, and steamahs. All were great. We rode the T back to our room and crashed early because we were very tired.

Sunday July 26. We rode the T to the Museum of Science. It's a great museum. We spent about 6 or 7 hours there. Afterward we went to Boston Beer Works on Canal Street. This location (there are seven) is in a rather quiet, almost abandoned part of town. There were no tourists (other than us). We tried three IPAs and a Belgian. The beers were just okay.

We returned to our room for a bottle of Prosecco and a couple of Ben Brews, then walked to a local bar called Anchovies. It had a friendly atmosphere and a nice mix of straight and gay folks. We got a Boulevard Tank 7 and a Castle Brewery Van Honsebrouck Bacchus. It was a beautiful night as we walked back to our room.

Monday July 27. A cloudy but warm day. It had rained during the night. We walked to the Museum of Fine Arts. There was a lot of great art there.

Afterward we walked to the Lower Depths Tap Room, which had about 80 beers, mostly in bottles. They pull no punches as on the menu they refer to Genesee Lager as "Toilet Wine". We got a Somerville Brewing Slumbrew Flagraiser IPA.

Then we walked to Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox play the White Sox. Before the game we walked around inside the stadium. There were approximately 34,264,389 food vendors, give or take a few. Chicago opened the game with two triples on their first two at-bats and took a quick 4-0 lead. The Red Sox fought back in an exciting game but came up two runs short. As we walked back to our room I heard one fan proclaim, "I love the Sox. Even when they lose I love 'em." How many other towns have fans that love their team that much?

Tuesday July 28. Our last day. We rode the T and walked to the North End in order to buy pastries (mostly cannolis) at a famous place called Mike's Pastry, which the previous Saturday afternoon had a line going out the door. This time, being 9:30 on a Tuesday morning, there was no line. Even without tourists the area was busy because trucks were making their morning deliveries. The air smelled like truck fumes and fish. We walked to Quincy Market to buy some lobsta salad from a food stand called Boston Chowda. The market wasn't crowded because it was a weekday morning. We rode and walked back to the car and took off for Andi's friend Dot's place in a beautiful neighborhood in Paramus New Jersey. We hung out there and then went to dinner at a BYOB Japanese restaurant. We had a great evening, slept over, and headed back to Maryland the next day.

Trip tip: if you plan to visit the museums, aquarium and Skywalk, you might want to buy a Boston CityPASS. In addition to getting a discount, you won't have to wait in the long lines at the Museum of Science and New England Aquarium.