Plymouth & Boston

Again, not much driving today, but mostly visiting.

I woke up at 8am this morning and piled things away in the car. The Mayflower replica opened at 9am, so I thought I'd get there right on the button as I had Boston to fit in as well.

But this morning my stomach was complaining. It wasn't going to have any of this "breakfast is a waste of time" business. I had a granola bar while posting late last night, but that hadn't satisfied it. The last time I had eaten before that was the BLT at 5 pm. While pulling into the hotel last night I noticed a "Friendly's" just up the hill. So that's where I went. I had a typical Denny's dish... 2 eggs, 2 sausage & 2 pancakes. Except my stomach couldn't handle that much food all at once, after what I'm ashamed to say I've been doing to myself. I ended up not being able to finish the 2nd pancake. That has never happened to me before. So I decided today I would eat better. Don't know how much better I did, but nonetheless, I've felt pretty good. It's not that I'm worried about the Navy anymore... I'm really not. It's just that I'm driving myself so hard... not a whole lot of time... especially the NYC day. I guess I've had to recover from that in more ways than one. :)

Although it started raining pretty hard after I got to the hotel last night, this morning and all day long I've had bright sunshine and cool breezes. It's so nice! Especially since this was a city-walking day. I got to downtown Plymouth at 10:30. I did see Plymouth Rock after touring the ship, but the ship was the real reason for the visit. And I managed to just evade a group of shrieking children when I boarded. I thought the vessel very neat. In 1957, it was sailed across the Atlantic from England, just like its predecessor. And it didn't take very long to go over! :) I can't imagine being in that tiny little thing with over a hundred people for two months on the bounding waves! Yikes! It will make any Navy hardship look easy. :) After peeking at the Rock, I took off for Boston.

The drive was excellent... and I got to drive on the other end of I-90 (it starts in Seattle). Of course, since I am superior at translating my GPS directions, I got off on the wrong exit and was able to experience a little more of South Boston than I wanted. :) For a brief moment it felt like Manhattan again (but of course, this was for five minutes instead of forty-five).

Wow! I really like the Public Garden (aka the Duck Pond). At first I was intimidated by the acre of screaming children that were lined up to ride the swan boats, so I thought I'd just walk the circumference and give it up. On the way around I saw lots of baby ducklings and my whole trip to Boston was suddenly fulfilling. :) But by the time I got back to the line, I noticed that it was moving fast (and there was a group of quiet people... parents with one or two kids each, not a school group with forty-five). So I stood in line for a couple minutes and ended up with an entire bench to myself on the paddle boat. I arrived there a quarter of noon and didn't leave until at least 1:30. What a joy!

So while wearing my red "Got Freedom?" t-shirt, I set off on the Freedom Trail, starting in the Common and wandering through the city, following the path of red bricks on the sidewalks and red paint on the road. I skipped a couple things, but pretty much took it in. I really loved the museum at the Old State House (housing neat artifacts like muskets from the Massacre and the Battle of Bunker Hill, John Hancock's coat, tea from the Tea Party and on...) and also the talk given at the Old North Church (especially since I'm seeing Lexington and Concord tomorrow).

tea... and the Old State House

I ended my history tour at the church since I'm going to take in the USS Constitution the first thing in the morning. Not two blocks away from Paul Revere's house (which I also saw... very cool!) is a very highly acclaimed seafood place called "The Daily Catch". It's a family run business since 1973, serving fresh fish and seafood Italian style. This location of it (there are two others in Boston) is a little hole-in-the-wall place with a grand total of 4 tables in the same room with the stove and sink. And you have to pay cash! Oh, was it good! I tried Monkfish Marsalla, "simmered with mushrooms with wine butter sauce" and had a salad with some very zesty light dressing. I am now spoiled for life. :)

I'm not sure I knew there were Monkfish until I saw it on the menu... wow... it's kinda ugly :) Tastes much better than it looks!

While feeling completely satisfied, I easily strolled east to the waterfront and walked through Christopher Columbus park to the New England Aquarium. Unfortunately, it was a quarter to 5 by this point and they were about to shut down. The store was open still, so I strolled through that and found... clownfish flip-flops! LOL! What will they think of next? So I had been walking around Boston for five and a half hours... and I still was a ways away from the car at the garage under the Common. I sat down and watched a fountain for a while and then slowly sauntered back towards the car, unsure of what I wanted to do. I found a cool used book store in a basement across the square from the Old South Meeting House and bought a WWII Time-Life book for $1.06. By the time I reached the Common it was 6 pm. I decided to leave because I was tired. It was kinda sad because the sun was still shining, but I needed to get settled in to the hotel early tonight. And I did.