Our beautifully scenic walk along the Freedom Trail and our trip to the Sam Adams Brewery

On Tuesday, 2nd Feb we set out for four nights in Boston (the most important of which was to see Bruuuuuuce play in the TD Garden). I was in Boston briefly in 2010 but only to see a friend in Boston College, so I didn’t see much of the city.

We landed at 4:30pm and headed to the Park Plaza Hotel to check in. We saw mixed reviews of the hotel (to sum it up – it was an old hotel but part of it had been renovated, your review depended on what part of the hotel your room was in). The lobby was lovely and we got checked in and went up to our room on the 6th floor. It was a teeny tiny room (half had been cut off for a stairwell beside us) but we were planning on spending most of our time sightseeing. After a quick shower and realising the only thing on the TV was weather and the presidential election we headed out for some food. We went to Fajitas & Rita’s on West Street. We got a huge chicken fajita for two ($21) along with a nice, strong litre of Margarita ($16). We then popped next door to Papagayo for a drink afterwards, which we were not too impressed by!  We were both a bit wrecked so headed back to the hotel.

The next day we decided to do the Freedom Trail across the city. The trail in the footpath is hugely helpful and stopped us from wandering off the track. We started at the State House and followed it along the Granary and Kings Chapel burying grounds, where we were told about the images engraved on the gravestones (image will be uploaded shortly). We continued along to the Old State House, which sits perfectly in the centre of Boston (photo below). Next we walked through the markets at Faneuil, the main one is a gorgeous long building full of various food stands. As we continued along our walk we came across the Boston Public Market where we got the most amazing Hot Apple Cider from Red Apple (highly highly recommend!). We crossed over to the North End and paid a visit to Paul Revere’s house. It was $3 entry each and had four rooms in total. It was a quick visit as there isn’t much to see or do, but it was interesting to visit. We continued our walk through Little Italy until we reached the North End Church which we briefly stopped off in. We had been advised earlier in the day not to cross the Charles River as the main sights weren’t open so we decided instead to get some lunch. Sean wanted to visit the original Pizza Regina which was on Thatcher Street, not far from the Church. We stopped in before the lunch rush and instead of our planned slices we ended up getting two pizzas – which didn’t disappoint.

SAM ADAMS BREWERY

After lunch we decided to get the T to the Sam Adams Brewery out in Stonybrook. This was our first time using public transport and it was very similar to that in New York and London so we could navigate quite easily. We got to the brewery and were two of eight on the tour. The tour guide (who we assume was quite new) explained that the brewery was small as it was an R&D facility, which I found interesting. After the tour we got to try a tasting of various beers – normal Sam Adams, Cold Snap and Nitro. We were told about how to properly taste the beer and what to look out for. We then went to the gift shop where they had a limited selection of beers, so we decided to head back into the city where we took a stroll down Newbury Street.

Once I have my photos from my camera  I will add them below.

Boston Freedom Trail

Old State House

Pizza Regina