Friday 13 October 2000
We arrived at Logan about 7:30 Friday night, rented a car, and drove to the Omni Parker House on School Street, right in the thick of historic Boston. (The Parker House is the birthplace of the Parker House roll and the Boston cream pie. It has been operated continuously longer than any other hotel in the country, and has hosted an impressive list of guests aside from Denise and me: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, et al.) The rental car in Boston was a mistake, a big mistake. We never saw the car again until we left Boston on Monday afternoon. So, we paid for the rental and another $30 a day to keep the car out of the weather in the hotel garage. Smart, huh? Don't drive in Boston. Never. Not for as long as you live. Traffic in Boston is horrendous. I'm being kind here. The problem is exacerbated by the supposed fix, The Big Dig, a massive project which, in part, will move Interstate 93 underground but for now presents only obstacles and detours.

We didn't get settled in our room until after 9:00 p.m., so we asked the concierge for a dinner recommendation within an easy walk. We were directed around the corner to Eclipse, an upstairs eatery with lots of exposed brick and dark wood. The chef's complimentary appetizer was a ramekin filled with baked brie along with golden raisins, cherries and apricots and topped with a delicate, buttery pastry. We each had salad. I had herb encrusted sole; Denise ordered a hearty vegetable pot pie. Served with the meal was a pumpkin bread that was close to cake. We retired after a nightcap in one of the lobby bars, the Last Hurrah.

Saturday 14 October 2000
Across the street from the Parker House are the Old City Hall and King's Chapel, two of the historic landmarks along the Freedom Trail. Reminiscent in some respects of following a colored line on the floor of a hospital to the x-ray department, the Freedom trail is marked along its three-mile route by continuous twin rows of red bricks set into the concrete. We followed the "red brick road" as it wound its way through old Boston from King's Chapel to Bunker Hill. In between, we saw the Old State House, Faneuil Hall Marketplace, St. Stephen's Church, Old North Church (where Paul Revere hung the lanterns), Copp's Burying Ground, the U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides), and the Charlestown Navy Yard. All in all, a pretty full afternoon. After visiting the exhibit on the battle of Bunker Hill located in the lodge at the base of the monument, we made our way back across the Charles River to the North End. We had drinks at an Italian cafe which opened onto bustling Hanover Street before moving to La Summa on Fleet Street for dinner. I strongly recommend the veal marsala. After dinner, we stopped down the street at the Modern Bakery for a couple of dynamite cannolis.

Sunday 15 October 2000
Sunday was warm and sunny, a perfect day to head offshore in search of big mammals and maybe even pelagic birds. We had lunch outside at Joe's American Bar & Grill before boarding the high-speed catamaran at Long Wharf. About an hour after the boat left the dock, we found ourselves amidst a pod of 15 - 20 feeding Humpback Whales!

Boston Photographs:
Boston Architecture II
Old North Church
Copp's Burying Ground
U.S.S. Constitution
U.S.S. Constitution II
U.S.S. Constitution III
Boston Light, Little Brewster Island
Sailboats Leaving Boston Harbor

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