Travel

Boston Wanderings – Freedom Trail and Sam Adams Brewery Tour

September 18, 2015

I fell in love with Boston on my first visit. Living in Oklahoma, there’s a few specific things I appreciate about the city. 1. The harbor – I love being by the water, and living in the center of country, I don’t get to see it much. 2. The history – You’re lucky to find a building in Oklahoma that’s 100 years old. In Boston, there’s casual signs all over the place stating what historical events took place there. A quote from my tour guide, “Do you see that Chipotle over there? It used to be a book store where Nathaniel Hawthorne and Charles Dickens hung out.” 3. The beer – Everyone drinks it and there’s a bar on every corner. It’s truly an amazing city. Here are some highlights from my first full day.

P.S. I hope you’ll notice a little something different in this post – my image quality! I received a new camera for my birthday. It’s a Sony DSC-RX100M III. I’m in love.

Since it was my first time in the city, I had to nerd out during the day and take a Freedom Trail guided walking tour. We took the reverse tour, which starts at Faneuil Hall every half hour, starting at 10:30 am. Each tour takes 90 minutes and you cover a lot of history. We followed our trusty guide, Miss Judith Sargent Murray, and she walked us through our country’s history. I can’t recommend these tours enough. The guides are all charming and informative, and I guarantee you’ll learn something new.

The Park Street Church, home to much “hellfire and brimstone” back in the day.

King’s Chapel, next to the first public school in the US. This building now houses a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. Sometimes capitalism fails us.

The Granary Burying Ground, where Sam Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock are buried, to name a few.

After walking through the city back in time, it was time to sit and enjoy a few brews! We hopped on the T down to Jamaica Plains to visit the Samuel Adams Brewery. The tour is brief but entertaining, as the facility is mainly used for research and development instead of brewing. If you decide to go, I hope you get Audrey as your guide. She’s amazing.

After the tour, you can hop on a trolley to historic Doyle’s. The bar has been around since 1882, and when you visit after the brewery, you get to keep a Sam Adams glass!

Whatever you get, try the onion rings! I’m an onion ring snob, and these are solid. Flakey and crispy just like they should be.

We swung back by the famous Omni Parker House toward the end of the day to try some Boston cream pie where it was invented. Like everything else in Boston, this hotel has history. It’s the country’s longest continually operating luxury hotel. Ho Chi Minh and Malcolm X used to work here, and it’s where John F. Kennedy threw his bachelor party!