Pubs, Boats, and Long Lost Friends

For starters, I have to include a bit of an addendum to yesterday’s update. With all that happened yesterday I forgot to mention that I had a pretty significant religious experience. I’m not a religious person, but we were walking through Boston Common when the bells in a nearby church started to ring. There’s definitely something special about the ringing of church bells. Oh, did I mention the bells were playing “Take Me Out To The Ball Game”? It was a pretty memorable experience.

Ok, so on to today. I was under the impression that today was to be a day of cloud and thunderstorms. Turns out that impression wasn’t entirely accurate as it didn’t take long for scorching sun to heat things up. It was really my preferred weather – hot and humid. Correction: VERY hot and humid. It was beautiful. Although, I have to admit that it wouldn’t have been particularly pleasant weather in which to cycle.

After a leisurely stop for breakfast we wandered over to Faneuil Hall Marketplace where, despite just having had breakfast, I felt the need to have a large chocolate eclair. I’d include a photo of said eclair but, well … there was chocolate involved and so the eclair didn’t last long enough to make it into a photo. Suffice it to say, it was very good. So very good. In wandering around through some of the many souvenir shops, we also ran into some friends I’d not seen in a very long time. It was great to spend some time with them again. Very funny people.

From there we wandered over to a boat to take us over to the USS Constitution, the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat. Once there, we also planned to climb the Bunker Hill Monument only to find out that it was closed due to the heat. As you can imagine, that bit of news was more than a little disappointing. I mean, it wasn’t really THAT hot. The 221-foot granite obelisk marks the site of the first major battle of the American Revolution. Thus ends the history lesson. So, with Bunker Hill Monument no longer on the agenda, we boarded the USS Constitution for a self-guided tour. Photos do a much better job of describing this ship that was launched in 1797.

After finishing with the USS Constitution we took the boat back to the north end of the city to find some lunch. To say there is an abundance of pubs in the area would be a bit of an understatement, so finding a spot for lunch was pretty easy. In this case, we ended up at the Green Dragon Tavern.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful although, as we wandered back through Faneuil Hall Marketplace the storm clouds started to move in. The thunderstorms that were originally predicted for earlier in the day were finally starting to make their presence felt. And it was a pretty impressive presence as the sky darkened and the lightning flashed. We got some rain but the worst of the storm seemed to miss our hotel – it didn’t miss Fenway Park though as tonight’s game ended up being rain delayed. Of course, having been to the game last night, the rain delay had no effect on our evening plans.

Our evening plans consisted of going to a german pub, called Jacob Wirth, for dinner. While the food and drink were very enjoyable, the highlight of this particular pub was the very talented piano player who entertained the crowd with a non-stop set of hits from the last several decades. We were going to leave after we finished eating but ended up sticking around for a few more beers and a lot more songs. And special thanks to my brother Stephen for picking up the tab for the night – it may have been an attempt at getting me to gain some of the weight back that I’ve come to realize that I’ve lost on this trip. Either way, it was both greatly appreciated and a very entertaining evening. Thanks.

Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow. It looks like I’ll be staying in Boston for one more night. Depending on the weather I might head back to the Bunker Hill Monument. I also have to start getting ready to get back on the bike again, which means figuring out my route and making sure all my gear is in order. On a side note, my attempts to find the apparent leak in my air mattress have been entirely unsuccessful. The annoying part is that I know there’s a leak but, despite submerging the mattress in the bathtub, no leak has revealed itself. I’d really rather not have to buy a new mattress but it’s only a matter of time before my current mattress becomes useless. How sad. Too bad there isn’t a MEC in Boston.