Trip Journal 2018

We arrived in Boston this afternoon. Our first stop was Copley Square: we visited the Boston Public Library and Copley Hotel. On the square, we saw Trinity Church and Hancock Tower. We walked down Boylston Street and saw the finish line for the Boston Marathon. We visited the Prudential Center, a 52-story shopping mall and office building. Dinner was a Quincy Market. We are now at our hotel, the Holiday Inn in Brookline, MA.

Boston Public Library

Copley Square

Copley Hotel (Canine ambassador)

Trinity Church

Quincy Market

Dancing with the drummer

We started our day with an amazing visit to the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned warship in the world. After a visit to Old Ironsides, we walked part of the Freedom Trail, seeing Boston Common, the new Statehouse, and the old granary burial ground. We had lunch right in downtown Boston and then we continued along to the Freedom Trail, seeing Paul Revere's house, the site of the Boston massacre, and the Old North Church. From there we hopped on the bus to tour two very historic college campuses, MIT and Harvard. We had dinner at a great Chinese restaurant in Harvard Square and then it was time to call it a night. What a great Boston day, as the snow fell all around us!

Snowball fight

Paul Revere statue

John Harvard statue at Harvard University

Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment

M.I.T.

The Alchemist statue at M.I.T.

This morning we stopped by Fenway Park before we left Boston and made our way to New York. We stopped on the way for lunch. We visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the afternoon, we walked around midtown Manhattan. We saw Rockefeller Plaza, the ice skating rink, NBC Studios, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Chrysler Building, the New York Public Library, and Grand Central Terminal. Dinner was at Buca Di Beppo, an Italian restaurant in Times Square. We had free time to explore Times Square and soak in the electric atmosphere.

Fenway Park

Rockefeller Plaza

New York Public Library

Whispering Gallery at Grand Central Terminal

Dinner at Buca di Beppo

This morning we drove to Liberty State National Park. The view of Manhattan was beautiful. We boarded the Statue Cruises ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We drove to Chinatown and Little Italy, where we had lunch and did some shopping. Next on our itinerary was a walking tour of lower Manhattan and the Financial District. We visited the Wall Street bull, Federal Hall, and Trinity Church, including seeing Alexander Hamilton's grave. The 9/11 Memorial was very moving. Before dinner, we visited the 102nd floor observatory of One World Trade Center. The day finished up with dinner at Schnipper's Quality Kitchen.

Liberty State Park and the Statue of Liberty

Ellis Island

Wall Street and the Wall Street Bull

George Washington statue at Federal Hall

This morning we departed our hotel in New Jersey for Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, we saw Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Congress Hall, and Benjamin Franklin's gravesite. We had lunch at Reading Terminal, where some tried the local favorite: a Philly cheesesteak. After lunch, we were treated to Whoopie Pies by Explorica. We ran up the Rocky Steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

We drove to Washington, DC, in the afternoon and had dinner at Crystal City Sports Pub. After dinner, we visited the Thomas Jefferson Memorial on the south bank of the Tidal Basin.

Independence Hall

Liberty Bell

Congress Hall

Rocky Steps and the Philadelphia Skyline

Crystal City Sports Pub

We began our day with a lovely boat cruise down the Potomac River. We saw awesome, amazing sites on the boat, and then ended at Mount Vernon, George Washington's home. There we toured the mansion and the grounds and also got to see the incredible museum. Even the baby sheep were out! From there, we headed back to Washington, DC, where we visited several key memorials on the National Mall: the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. From there it was dinner at historic Ben's Chili Bowl. Our final stop for the night was at the White House.

Potomac River Cruise

Mount Vernon

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

Vietnam Women's Memorial

We spent most of the morning on Capitol Hill. First, we had a guided tour of the US Capitol Building. After that, we spent time in the Library of Congress, the most beautiful building in Washington and the largest library in the US. We stopped by the Supreme Court, then headed back down Capitol Hill and checked out the myriad Smithsonian Museums - Air & Space, Natural History, and American History, plus the National Archives - home to the Declaration of Independence. Sadly it was time to go to the airport, but we had such a great week!

Washington Monument

US Capitol Building

White House