New England Sep 17! Day 2 - Harvard University & The Freedom Trail

[Lolly90]

Index

Previous Day

Saturday 2nd September 2017

I woke up around 05:00 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. I spent some time on the iPad, before getting up and ready for the day. We left the room just before 09:00, heading for Harvard University.

We walked over to Arlington Station, which was about a 10 min walk from the hotel. Our nearest station was Copley but I'd read online before we left that the trains worked out cheaper if you loaded your money on to a CharlieCard. You can only get CharlieCards at certain stations, Arlington was supposed to be one of them. When we got there we couldn't find anywhere to buy one of the cards, you couldn't just get them from the ticket machines. I thought you might get them from the Info Desks but there was never anyone at them We ended up just getting the regular CharlieTickets, which were $2.75 per journey. We never did find out where to get the CharlieCards from

We got the train from Arlington to Park St, changed here and then got a train to Harvard Square. First stop of the day was breakfast at my favourite place - IHOP

We went to the one nearest to Harvard, which is on Eliot St in Cambridge. It was fairly busy when we got there, mainly students but we were seated straight away. Mark went for the split decision with a coffee and I had the red velvet pancakes with a vanilla iced coffee. Total cost was $27.56 plus tip.

I wasn't the biggest fan of this IHOP, the food was just as good as always but it needed updating I think and it smelt kind of odd.

From we here we tried to find the Harvard Visitor Centre, so we could pick up a map to guide us round. It took a while to find, as there was some building work going on and when we did eventually find it, we found it was closed for Labor Day. Instead we just had a wander round on our own, starting with Harvard Yard.

This is the oldest part of the university campus and is made up mainly of dormitories, libraries, a few classrooms and a church. The grounds really are nice and we enjoyed spending time walking around here.

Next, we headed across the road to Harvard Law School. We'd both really wanted to visit here after seeing it on several films and TV shows. The area isn't quite as picturesque as Harvard Yard but the main hall is impressive.

Once we had finished here, we headed over to The Harvard Shop. I'd wanted to get a jumper from here but all I could find was hoodies, so we didn't buy anything. We then walked round to Starbucks for a vanilla iced latte for Mark and a strawberry green tea for me. We also picked up the Boston & Cambridge starbucks mugs, which we collect.

We got the train back to Copley and caught a lovely view of Boston.

We quickly popped to our hotel to drop the mugs off. We then walked from here to Boston Common, which took about 10 mins and took a look at the George Washington statue.

Next, we took a ride on one of the traditional Swan Boats around the pond in the public garden. There was quite a long queue for this but it moved fairly quickly. This cost $3.50 each and was a nice experience, quite relaxing.

From here we headed to The Freedom Trail info centre, picked up a map for $3.00 and used this to walk the trail. We followed the brick path to the first stop, the Massachusetts State House, which is quite a beautiful building. We decided not to go inside as we wanted to be able to walk the whole trail today.

We continued following the path, coming to the Granary Burying Ground. The ground contains the burials of many notable people, such as Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and the parents of Benjamin Franklin. It was a very interesting place.

Further along the trail we passed King's Chapel, Old South Meeting House before coming to the Old State House, where the Declaration of Independence was first read. This is another impressive building and one of the oldest in Boston. The site of the Boston Massacre is also near here.

Next stop was Faneuil Hall, which is now a marketplace full of many shops and places to eat. There is also a Sephora nearby, so I popped in here for a perfume to use throughout the holiday.

Eventually we came to Paul Revere's house. By this point our feet were starting to ache and we were starting to get tired. We plodded on to the Old North Church and Copp's Hill Burial Ground before calling it a day. We hoped we would see the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill tomorrow instead.

We'd passed Hard Rock Cafe after we'd left Faneuil Hall, so we decided to head straight here for dinner rather than going back to the hotel and heading back out again later. Plus we were quite hungry having not eaten since breakfast. We like to go to Hard Rock Cafe if we see one while we're away and usually find the food to be pretty good. I went for the Texan Pulled Pork Sandwich and Mark had the Barbeque Bacon Burger with a side of onion rings, both with a Diet Coke. Mark really enjoyed his but I found mine was quite dry, not enough sauce. Our server here was great though! Total cost was $44.92 plus tip.

We got the train back to our hotel from Government Centre and chilled out here for the rest of evening, after a busy first day!

Next: Day 3 - Fenway Park & HOHO Trolley Tour

[Frankie & gang]

Originally Posted by Lolly90

Index

Previous Day

Saturday 2nd September 2017

I woke up around 05:00 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. I spent some time on the iPad, before getting up and ready for the day. We left the room just before 09:00, heading for Harvard University.

We walked over to Arlington Station, which was about a 10 min walk from the hotel. Our nearest station was Copley but I'd read online before we left that the trains worked out cheaper if you loaded your money on to a CharlieCard. You can only get CharlieCards at certain stations, Arlington was supposed to be one of them. When we got there we couldn't find anywhere to buy one of the cards, you couldn't just get them from the ticket machines. I thought you might get them from the Info Desks but there was never anyone at them We ended up just getting the regular CharlieTickets, which were $2.75 per journey. We never did find out where to get the CharlieCards from

We got the train from Arlington to Park St, changed here and then got a train to Harvard Square. First stop of the day was breakfast at my favourite place - IHOP

We went to the one nearest to Harvard, which is on Eliot St in Cambridge. It was fairly busy when we got there, mainly students but we were seated straight away. Mark went for the split decision with a coffee and I had the red velvet pancakes with a vanilla iced coffee. Total cost was $27.56 plus tip.

I wasn't the biggest fan of this IHOP, the food was just as good as always but it needed updating I think and it smelt kind of odd.

From we here we tried to find the Harvard Visitor Centre, so we could pick up a map to guide us round. It took a while to find, as there was some building work going on and when we did eventually find it, we found it was closed for Labor Day. Instead we just had a wander round on our own, starting with Harvard Yard.

This is the oldest part of the university campus and is made up mainly of dormitories, libraries, a few classrooms and a church. The grounds really are nice and we enjoyed spending time walking around here.

Next, we headed across the road to Harvard Law School. We'd both really wanted to visit here after seeing it on several films and TV shows. The area isn't quite as picturesque as Harvard Yard but the main hall is impressive.

Once we had finished here, we headed over to The Harvard Shop. I'd wanted to get a jumper from here but all I could find was hoodies, so we didn't buy anything. We then walked round to Starbucks for a vanilla iced latte for Mark and a strawberry green tea for me. We also picked up the Boston & Cambridge starbucks mugs, which we collect.

We got the train back to Copley and caught a lovely view of Boston.

We quickly popped to our hotel to drop the mugs off. We then walked from here to Boston Common, which took about 10 mins and took a look at the George Washington statue.

Next, we took a ride on one of the traditional Swan Boats around the pond in the public garden. There was quite a long queue for this but it moved fairly quickly. This cost $3.50 each and was a nice experience, quite relaxing.

From here we headed to The Freedom Trail info centre, picked up a map for $3.00 and used this to walk the trail. We followed the brick path to the first stop, the Massachusetts State House, which is quite a beautiful building. We decided not to go inside as we wanted to be able to walk the whole trail today.

We continued following the path, coming to the Granary Burying Ground. The ground contains the burials of many notable people, such as Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and the parents of Benjamin Franklin. It was a very interesting place.

Further along the trail we passed King's Chapel, Old South Meeting House before coming to the Old State House, where the Declaration of Independence was first read. This is another impressive building and one of the oldest in Boston. The site of the Boston Massacre is also near here.

Next stop was Faneuil Hall, which is now a marketplace full of many shops and places to eat. There is also a Sephora nearby, so I popped in here for a perfume to use throughout the holiday.

Eventually we came to Paul Revere's house. By this point our feet were starting to ache and we were starting to get tired. We plodded on to the Old North Church and Copp's Hill Burial Ground before calling it a day. We hoped we would see the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill tomorrow instead.

We'd passed Hard Rock Cafe after we'd left Faneuil Hall, so we decided to head straight here for dinner rather than going back to the hotel and heading back out again later. Plus we were quite hungry having not eaten since breakfast. We like to go to Hard Rock Cafe if we see one while we're away and usually find the food to be pretty good. I went for the Texan Pulled Pork Sandwich and Mark had the Barbeque Bacon Burger with a side of onion rings, both with a Diet Coke. Mark really enjoyed his but I found mine was quite dry, not enough sauce. Our server here was great though! Total cost was $44.92 plus tip.

We got the train back to our hotel from Government Centre and chilled out here for the rest of evening, after a busy first day!

Next: Day 3 - Fenway Park & HOHO Trolley Tour

See more...

Great trip report, thanks for posting. I shall be taking notes as planning a road trip from Boston next autumn

[Lolly90]

Originally Posted by Frankie & gang

Great trip report, thanks for posting. I shall be taking notes as planning a road trip from Boston next autumn

See more...

Thank you for reading! How exciting & a great time of year to go too! Hope you get some ideas

[Melbatb]

You seem to have walked a lot! Boston is so different to many of its US counterparts! I could never decide how much I liked it!

[fa$$a]

Loving the report thank you, you're giving me loads of inspiration for next year xx
Claire

[Lolly90]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

You seem to have walked a lot! Boston is so different to many of its US counterparts! I could never decide how much I liked it!

See more...

You're right it is quite different - I think that's why we loved it so much

Originally Posted by fa$$a

Loving the report thank you, you're giving me loads of inspiration for next year xx
Claire

See more...

Thank you for reading I'm so glad you're getting ideas for a trip, one of the reasons I like to do these reports!

[WileyCoyote]

What a great day , love the pics. It all looks so interesting and so beautiful. No wonder you had sore feet! I like to rack up the Hard Rocks on a trip, hubby not so much so we missed a few on our last trip. Fab first day .

[mick]

A great day

Joan

[Lolly90]

Originally Posted by WileyCoyote

What a great day , love the pics. It all looks so interesting and so beautiful. No wonder you had sore feet! I like to rack up the Hard Rocks on a trip, hubby not so much so we missed a few on our last trip. Fab first day .

See more...

Thank you It really was a great trip, we saw so much but it was tiring! Can't beat a Hard Rock really!

Originally Posted by mick

A great day

Joan

See more...

Thanks for reading

[hross42877]

What a busy day, Harvard looks beautiful!