Photos by Hui-chen & MJ Klein, including some FOOD PHOTOS at the end.
As soon as Hui-chen and I got the car and started driving away from the North End area, the rain stopped! This was very similar to what happened to us when we visited Salem a few days earlier. But by the time it stopped raining completely we were away from the North End area, so we decided to take a look around downtown Boston, since we would be leaving New England in a few hours from now.
We have about 60-something photos to show you in this article, so let’s get started.
We drove over to the New England Aquarium area because we wanted to check out the tours available from there.
We parked the car across the street and went to check out some of the tours.
The building with the clock is the old Customs Tower, a famous Boston landmark.
We were looking for something like this to take us around Boston.
Waiting in line for the trolley.
Finally we took off and set out on a tour of Boston.
This is the Charlestown Naval Yard.
The tour trolleys run all day, and you may get off and back on any trolley that comes by (belonging to the same company of course). Hui-chen and I decided to visit the Constitution Museum. The USS Constitution is America’s oldest commissioned ship.
This is Dry dock #1.
Viewing this photo in a larger size will allow one to read this sign. Dry dock #1 is one of 2 granite dry docks that were completed in 1833. This dry dock is no longer used but is preserved now as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
We did not take any photos inside the Constitution museum.
If you want to board the USS Constitution you have to go through a security check. As I stood in line, some officer came out and spoke to the people in the line, saying that we would have to remove our belts, etc.. After I heard the security measures being taken I decided that I did not want to board the old ship badly enough to have to hold my pants up while walking through the security checkpoint. We left and got back on the tour trolley.
This is another type of tour that we wanted to take, later on.
Now, we’re just going to show you a bunch of photos that we took while riding around in the tour trolley. We think that you’ll agree that Boston is a beautiful city.
The Massachusetts State Capitol building.
South Station.
Boston Federal Reserve building.
Another shot of the Customs Tower.
This is Downtown Crossing (correction: Faneuil Hall/Quincy Marketplace) , a famous tourist shopping destination. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to spend here. Next time!
The Boston Public Library.
After our trolley tour, Hui-chen and I drove over to where the Duck Tours originated from.
We found these military “duck” vehicles lined up, but this wasn’t where you buy the tickets.
We had to cross this glass walkway to get to the ticket booth.
Then walk down this street to yet another building, only to find that the next tour was too late for us to take as we had a flight to catch.
So we walked back to the car.
Our car was parked in the underground parking lot in Copley Place.
We decided that we should head over to the airport to prepare for our departure from New England. It had been a great 11 days!
Not shown is how we stopped at a Dunkin’ Donuts one more time before passing the Schrafft’s Center and onto Logan Airport.
This is where we needed to go: the Hertz rental car return lot. The attendant gave the car a look over, scanned something with his barcode reader and we were done! Painless and quick!
After passing through flight check-in and security, we decided to get something to eat. There was a Chinese place that actually didn’t look too bad so we tried the food and found it pleasantly pleasing.
Now we were headed on our way back to North Carolina!
Thanks for reading. We’re looking forward to bringing you the last few installments of our 2010 USA Trip series, as we do some more cooking and sight-seeing in North Carolina. Please leave us your comments, recommendations and social media sharing below. You may use the ShareThis service below or the Apture bar above.
Great pictures of Boston. Not sure how much was “learned” from the trolly tours… as a few years ago one of the local tv channels did a story on these companies that do tours in Boston and they found the “best” one to only be about 40% accurate.
You picture that you said is Downtown Crossing… from looking at the lights there (the poles with like the 8 round glass balls on them)… this looks more like Faneuil Hall/Quincy Marketplace (looks like the picture was taken from under the walkway down by the Atlantic Ave end).
I didn’t realize that the USS Constitution was open for tours when you were here as its currently undergoing renovations. I thought it wouldn’t be re-opened for tours until sometime this year. Also… not only is the USS Constitution the oldest ship in the US Navy… but its also the oldest floating warship anywhere in the world (dating back to 1797).
mike01905´s last post ..New Years Eve in Boston – Ice Sculptures
hi Mike. oh i think i messed up on Downtown Crossing. yeah, it’s Faneuil Hall like you said. thanks – it’s been a long time since i was there. you’re right about the trolley tour – we didn’t learn very much. to be honest, i though the tour in Salem was much better.
By the way… not sure how long you’ve been out of the Boston area (I know you’ve been in Taiwan for about 10 years and before that you spent a few years up in Southern New Hampshire befoe moving to Taiwan)…. but did you know that in1998 the Customs House was converted into 87 hotel suites and is run by Marriot???
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/bosch-marriotts-custom-house/
I think the rates “start” at about $179/night (NT$ 5,200) and can go up to as much as $400/night (NT$ 11,600)… maybe more.
mike01905´s last post ..New Years Eve in Boston – Ice Sculptures
hi Mike. no, i did not know that. should make for an interesting stay with a nice view!
Yeah…. and the better the view… the more it would cost. I’m sure the “cheaper” rooms are on the lower floors and as you go up in floors… you also go up in price.
mike01905´s last post ..New Years Eve in Boston – Ice Sculptures
I love the pictures of the old buildings. It was great seeing more of Boston. Anxious to see more of North Carolina as I have family there and some in the cemeteries. Hope to be able to travel to NC again someday.
thanks for dropping by again Carolyn. glad you enjoyed the photos of Boston. my wife would like me to take her back there again someday. we’ll be bringing you some more NC articles in a few days. take care.
Hope you feel better soon.
thanks Carolyn. we’re finally starting to feel better.
Are you still sick? You usually have added another item by now. Take good care of yourself and Hui-chen.
hi Carolyn, thanks for asking. i’ve had a new medical problem in the last few weeks, and i’m going to write about it in the next day or 2. stay tuned and thanks!