A Small Taste of Boston
Our last 2023 Canada & New England cruise adventure was in Boston, Massachusetts. While technically the disembarkation of our cruise, we made sure to have at least a day here to explore since it was another new city for us. We will absolutely be back, as there is no way to fit all Boston has to offer in one day but we are pretty happy with the taste we got!
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Table of Contents
Cruise Disembarkation
Thankfully disembarkation was easy with no drama! We had met up with MIL/FIL to ensure everything went smoothly and it wasn’t long before we were off the ship and waiting for transportation. Since we had already gone through customs when the cruise moved into US waters, there was zero paperwork or lines we had to go through, just had to pick up our bags. Yay!
We learned from earlier in our trip that 4 people, luggage, and the walker were a lot for most vehicles. Since Uber was more difficult to guarantee what we would get, we decided to use the taxi line they offered so they could better estimate the size of vehicle we would need.
What we didn’t realize is that this insane line was all for taxis!
It took over an hour to wait through this line and finally get into a taxi that would fit us, which thankfully was the easy part.
The rest of the family had opted for ride-share and were able to get out of the cruise port much faster. So good lesson learned if you can… get the rideshare!
Our first stop was to the hotel, Canopy by Hilton Boston Downtown, to drop off our luggage until our rooms were ready. We always appreciate the hotel properties that let you do this as it is extremely inconvenient to get off a ship at 8 am and not be able to get into a room until 2 pm.
Exploring Boston on Foot
Now that we were free for the rest of the day, it was time to explore!
Unfortunately, due to the timing of the taxi ride and dropping everything off, the rest of our group had already started exploring so we decided to split up for the day and meet up for dinner.
One of the more comforting facts about coming to Boston is that we knew there was no way to see everything in one day. We had already decided we would only be downtown and not try to go across the water to see the USS Constitutional Museum and surrounding sites or try to drive down to Battleship Cove to see the USS Massachusetts. This meant we could just enjoy the day wandering around with no specific goal.
Also, something we realized way too late in the day to truly take advantage of it, is the ‘Freedom Trail’ (website here). There is an app and online map of a walking tour, and rather cheap guided tours that you can attend to take you to many of the same locations we explored, so I highly recommend that for next time.
Honestly, most of the pictures speak for themselves, and we didn’t go into any museums or anything this time, so I will just call out some highlights and include stories where I can.
Francis Fitzgerald Memorial – Plaque dedicated to a Mayor of Boston.
The Paul Revere House – The house is a museum that you can walk through. The surrounding architecture and courtyard are beautiful!
The architecture of the buildings was consistent and beautiful throughout the downtown area. Very classic in my opinion.
Plus we felt like we were in Little Italy with the shops, restaurants, and artwork all very Italian.
Carangelo Clock – Dedicated to Fred Carangelo, a member of the North Bennet Street School.
Old North Church – You can go inside, and there may even be active services but I am not positive.
While not available throughout the city there was a brick path from the Old North Church to the Copp’s Hill Burying Ground that made it easy to find your way to the next stop on the Freedom Trail.
Plus this was a great shop of how steep this hill was!
Granted the picture didn’t do it justice at all. My legs were burning by the time we got to the top, and MIL’s walker made it tricky because we didn’t want her to stumble and roll back down the hill. The good news is we all made it!
As with many older cities, they did a great job incorporating old and new together.
You could be in the middle of red brick buildings and all of a sudden a very modern brick/glass apartment complex would appear.
My other favorite was buildings that somehow morphed from old to new all in one building. So creative!
Boston Public Market – A must-see for anyone stopping by downtown Boston!
I am in love with markets like this! I thought it was unique and fun in Vancouver but now knowing places like this exist elsewhere, it will be a requirement to stop by and see any other ‘markets’ we come across in our travels.
The street is closed down for a farmer’s market with fruit, veggies, fish, and some other odds and ends. Unfortunately, it was quite cold so we didn’t spend much time here but FIL did grab some fruit to snack on. The vendor was very confused as to why he only wanted one and ended up giving him 2 or 3 instead 🤣.
Inside was like a food court but way better, with restaurants and some grocery shopping like fresh pasta, milk, etc.
It was lunchtime so we decided to try a little bit of everything! Mini Cider Donuts, Cold Cider, Boston Cream Cake, Chocolate Chip Pan Cookie, Mac & Cheese, Maple Bacon Donut, Boston Cream Donut, and a Pastrami Sandwich (not pictured).
The Mac & Cheese was incredible! They made the pasta fresh at the market and the cheese was soooo good. The donuts were also fantastic and the fresh cider was a great way to wash down the deliciousness. The cookie was just ok and we ended up packing up the Boston Cream Cake and never actually tried it 😔.
With full stomachs, we made our way back outside and started our random walking again. I want to emphasize again that we didn’t have a plan but we managed to stumble on some really interesting places, such as the next location.
The New England Holocaust Memorial – This is an intense but fascinating memorial to the millions of Jews who were killed in the Holocaust. You can find the full details on their website (here), but the pillars, pits with fire and steam rising, and the etched numbers representing those who died are all intentional symbolism that is painfully breathtaking. Truly one of the best memorials I have seen.
Faneuil Hall – Meeting place and museum that continues to operate today by the National Park Services.
Samuel Adams Statue – Statue and the Samual Adams Downtown Taproom nearby.
We talked about going in for a beer, but we decided against it with hopes that we could circle back later in the day. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out so we will visit the next time we come to Boston.
Quincy Market / South Market – Highly recommended for more commercial shopping as well as tons of food options.
Where Boston Public Market was more hipster and local vendors, Quincy Market was much more commercial and more like a traditional food court. Now I don’t say that to discredit Quincy Market but more to describe the vibe.
Plus we had loaded up on smaller bites at Boston Public Market. So getting to Quincy Market and seeing the full meals offered there at the vendors, was just too much for us at that moment.
We will definitely come back and opt to eat here instead of dinner next time.
One crazy thing that I had to grab a shot of as we walked past was the MASSIVE portions at this vendor. Granted I wasn’t hungry at all when I saw this but still, those portions are massive!!
After we walked through a few of the stores, we decided to head over to the Old State House.
Old State House / Boston Massacre Site – We didn’t go inside this time but did get a few pictures outside.
For those of you who have read the main cruise article, I mentioned that some of our party got a cold during the trip. Unfortunately, this is when FIL started to feel really sick. So we detoured our sightseeing to find a pharmacy to get some medicine.
Lucky for us our detour took us to another site to see, which we would have otherwise missed.
Boston Irish Famine Memorial – Courtyard of statues and plaques to remember this tragedy.
Hotel and Dinner
Loaded up with meds and being late afternoon we decided to head back to the hotel to rest, clean up, and get ready for dinner that evening.
We had some unusual changes with our hotel before the trip. Our standard is to stay at Hilton properties, and this trip was no different. Our original hotel was sold to a different hotel chain between booking the room and our trip. So we had to cancel and find a new hotel, which also meant we had to pay even higher prices because Boston hotels are insane!
The good news is it turned out for the best as our hotel was the nicest hotels we have ever stayed! The TV personally even greeted us 😆 (which we have since had in other hotels as well).
Once we had a chance to clean up we made our way over to Legal Sea Foods (website here) for dinner.
Since it had been a few hours since we ate lunch, we were ready for some seafood! Well, Nathan was ready, I put up with it so he could enjoy it 😊. SIL/BIL were able to meet us for a quick bite, but it didn’t work out to meet up with the rest of the party which was a bummer.
Nathan tried the Clam Chowder and Stuffed Lobster Tails while I got a Burger (which was quite lame, but that isn’t exactly what they are known for). Nathan loved his meal, even though it was way too much. It was the best Clam Chowder he had all week.
Nathan also ended up trying a few other items with BIL.
Including a hard-boiled egg with crab and caviar that we can’t find on the menu now. Plus multiple oysters that were much better than what we had in Charlottetown.
To finish off, Nathan of course had to try the Boston Cream Pie which was as delicious as expected.
Now that we had walked all day and ate too much food, it was time to head back to the hotel and get some sleep!
Our flights left mid-day the next day so we had plenty of time to relax, sleep in, and make it to the airport with no issues.
I am so happy we were able to explore a little bit in Boston, and if nothing else confirm that it is somewhere we want to return to and take our time. We will have to plan at least a week here to ensure we can see and experience everything we want to, maybe even head back up to Bar Harbor as well!
If you would like to read more about this trip, here are some quick links for you!
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