No Quacking Here - Sunday in Boston (Version 2 including photograph)

As many tourists cities do now, Boston is no different. All over town you see these amphibious bus/boat combinations with passengers outfitted with duck noise makers - quackers. i personally find 25 people riding by me sounding like a bunch of ducks very annoying, so we took the Freedom Trail Trolley Tour, no quackers allowed. Our original plan was to walk as much of the 2.5 mile Freedom Trail as possible, but this morning we decided to ride the trail on the Trolley due to my fatigue levels. After a taxi ride to Quincy Market, you remember that historic market place (like shopping mall food court) overrun with tourists., we purchased our tickets on the City Trolley Tours, what appears to be one of the two main trolley tour companies. Anyway, the tour was very good and the driver/guide was very funny. We would be driving and he would spot someone who looked like someone famous, such as Adam Sandler, and he would alert us that Adam Sandler was in town this weekend and point to the guy. Ok, guess you had to be there, Still better than the quackers. But I digress. 


In addition to the sites we saw yesterday we also saw more of the city, and the area north of the river (aka "sea" in the Paul Revere poem.), including Bunker Hill and the Constitution war ship. Trivia Question: Where was the Battle of Bunker Hill fought? This was asked by our driver/guide, and Frank was the only person on the trolley who knew the answer. Most of the fighting was on Breed's Hill. Way to go Frank for paying attention in history class.


We could see the Old North Church very clearly from the north side of the river (as could Mr.. Revere and others who were waiting for the "one if by land, two if by sea" moment. 


The tour concluded back at Quincy Market and we headed back to the hotel for lunch at Brasserie Jo. We had a lovely lunch, and probably in my opinion one of the best meals we had of the weekend. I enjoyed a wonderful crepe with rotisserie chicken in a cream and pea sauce. The flavor was great. Frank enjoyed a Salade Frisée Lyonnaise with bacon and poached egg. Very nice.  


i went back to the hotel to rest up and relax while Frank went to the Boston Commons and the Public Gardens area to scout around. I saw the park earlier and it is lovely. When Frank came back we took the T to Kenmore Park, a nice residential area near Fenwick Park (think Boston Red Socks). It was a nice excursion to another area of the city. We both really like the different residential areas. Most in the old city are multi-story brick row homes on tree lined streets. Very nice, I say.


As is our custom, we went to the hotel bar for our pre-dinner drink. Following that we cabbed it to Paul Revere's house in the North End (Italian neighborhood). There was a crowd of camera clickers standing in front of the house; I guess waiting for a shot of Mr. Revere and his horse. But, no luck today; He was probably out looking for more lanterns,  Below is a photograph of the house... still standing after all these years. 


The house is in the North End, the Italian Neighborhood, where we were told to stop in any restaurant and you will get a good meal. So we stopped at Ristoranti Fiore, which we saw recommended in our tour book. We shared a nice antipasto plater, and I opted for a special pasta, (Bombolotti alla Vodka, their own creation, with small chunks of fresh lobster meet) while Frank ordered the Garganelli all Salmone , pasta tossed with salmon and basil in a tomato cream sauce. While the meal was good it doesn't compare to some of our favorite Italian Restaurants in Tampa and St. Pete, like Vino e Pasta and Primi Urban Cafe, but we are spoiled and biased. To conclude the meal, we shared a wonderful Cannoli, a gold star effort, very simple, basic cannoli which was not overly sweet. 

End of Sunday.


Quack