Freedom Trail and Pops

The better part of day 5 was spent seeing the sights along the Freedom Trail.  For hours we followed the red brick path around the city.  Some of the highlights were Boston Common, the Granary Burial Ground, Faneuil Hall / Quincy Market, and Old North Church.  We saw the graves of John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Paul Revere at the burial ground and we had lunch at Cheers at Quincy Market.   I was worried that Cheers would be too touristy and not have good food, but it was actually one of the best meals of our entire trip.  The trail ended with the USS Constitution and the Bunker Hill Memorial.  We climbed the 294 steps to the top of the memorial- it was exhausting, but the view was nice.  Once we finished the trail we took a water taxi back to the downtown area and then the T (subway) back to our hotel to clean up for a big night out. 

Later that evening Mel, the kids, and I attended a performance of the Boston Pops. This is something that we were all looking forward to.  The orchestra played for about 45 minutes, took an intermission, and then resumed joined by actress and special guest Jane Lynch who sang "The American Songbook".  The songs included numerous tunes from the time when Mel was young.  It was such an enjoyable evening.  Brian did not attend with us.  This night happened to be game 7 of the Stanley Cup and Boston's hockey team was vying for the championship (and the game was in Boston).  Brian wanted to go to a sports bar and watch the game with the locals, so that's what he did instead.  Unfortunately, Boston lost.  Still, he enjoyed the experience.