Independence Day in Boston

After an exciting day of exploring the city again we slept like babies teenagers until 9 a.m. and then went to the "club" for breakfast. That place is such a nice addition to a hotel stay! Once Jackson had eaten the equivalent of six breakfasts (I'm not kidding. He acted like he had never seen food before and never would again. It was really something. He takes cheap to a new level sometimes.) we headed out to the North End because it was really the only part of town we missed the night before.

HUGE flag at my favorite place

I don't recall the name of this hotel, but I love its design. Yesterday they had an enormous flag displayed that caught the best wind and was just waving fantastically. It was very American! :) We made our way through an awesome art fair with a lot of cool goods but we did not buy anything because the prices were unreasonable. The big city prices are easy to forget I think! We had a quick scare that we'd lost our cash as I gave it to Jackson to hold and when we were in line to get an ice cream cookie sandwich he couldn't find it. We walked all the way back to our room to find that it had fallen out of his pocket when he used the restroom before we left. Ugh. Situation avoided but it totally proves why I do not like carrying cash. If you lost a credit card you'll just call and cancel it. Cash is just gone! 

SO GOOD!

We walked back to line for an ice cream cookie and were not disappointed. It was $3 for a much smaller cookie sandwich than Heidi makes me for free and it was not quite as good, but it was still a welcome treat on a warm day. (This also proves that a store selling Heidi's baked goods and her signs would be a massive success. Take note, H'ie!)

We were amazed at how crowded the city was during our outing. We don't mind crowds, but you could tell some people were a little frazzled. We kept moving and strolled through the Beacon Hill neighborhood which is a Petefish favorite. It is so old and they've tried to keep it true to its original look. It is such a throwback to years past that you half expect a little patriot dude to walk out of a building.

We had a good chuckle when we came to an intersection with police directing traffic and had the following exchange:
do not walk sign showing
Policeman to us: Come on, guys!
Me: Oh, it was a 'don't walk' so I did not want to jaywalk right in front of you!
Policeman: There is no such thing as jaywalking *looks at my "Indiana" shirt* in this state! Enjoy!
We all laughed and we kept moving. I like it when people are actually friendly around here!

A view of the crowds at Faneuil Hall 

I love this teapot on top of the Starbucks 

We walked forever and then decided to head back to our room to change for a late lunch. Yes, the six breakfasts Jackson consumed had been burned through at this point. We went back to Legal Seafoods at the harbor because I wanted their soup once more. I had the exact same meal (delicious, again!) and Jackson had fish and chips. We were not disappointed. The afternoon had turned to a bit of rain so we took a cab there and back (big spenders!!!). The rain kept the crowds away and the restaurant was much quieter for this meal.

I had a good chuckle when I went to the restroom and witnessed this exchange:
background: each restroom stall is its own room and they're in a dark hallway
*Standing in line when one of the designated men's room door opens* 
Lady in front of me: Want to take it? I'm not into men's rooms. They're dirty pigs.
Me: HA! I'm with you. I'll wait for a lady's room to open.
Lady 2: I have to go, I'm taking it.
*Man strolls up as door closes*
Man (100% seriously): This is BS. Men should never have to wait for a stall.
Lady: Oh, I didn't realize that having a dick entitled you to act like one!
Everyone: stunned silence

Ohhhh Boston!

Sangria through a straw?!

Meanwhile Jackson was back at our seat mocking the guy next to him for ordering sangria at a bar while on a date and then drinking it through a straw. He was SO proud that he was able to covertly sneak a photo. Ohh Jackson. ;)

It was then time to head over to Cambridge to catch the fireworks. 

Jackson on the "T"

The T was not as crowded as we expected and I was reminded why I like public transportation so much. It is so convenient to just hop on and not have to drive or park!

I had never really explored Harvard's campus so since we had time to kill we decided to do just that.

"Do I look smart?"

Me: I always dreamed of attending Harvard Law
Jackson: Elle Woods (from Legally Blonde, the movie) studied there
Me: *blank stare*

Kids playing ping pong instead of a real sport
This really bothered Jackson

This part of campus is actually built on an overpass
It was a brilliant use of space!
Typical. 

Havard Yard
(I didn't understand the random chair placement.)

Jackson: "This place feels like an old Army barracks."
Me: *blank stare* 

After Jackson had his fill (because I would have stayed forever) and had gotten in trouble for trespassing while looking for a restroom in a science building, we headed towards MIT to watch the fireworks. Or so we thought.

Fun fact: I thought MIT was next door to Harvard. It is not. It is like 2 miles down the road. Sigh. Off we went. 

Then I needed a restroom so we stopped in this strange food court place in downtown Cambridge. You needed a password to enter the bank or stalls so I just waited on someone with a password and followed them into the room. I did this to a small, older woman who looked back at me and said, "I had to BUY something to be able to use this room!" and out of nowhere I said back to her, "I'm a lot bigger than you, do you really want to mess with me?" She cowered into her stall and did her best to stay away from me. I am so not a confrontational person but she really bothered me. I think being able to use the restroom is a basic human right. I told Jackson the ordeal right after and he was more than pleased. Sigh. 

Anyway, we thought we'd watch the fireworks from the Cambridge side and then just cross the bridge back into the city. We were wrong. They'd closed all of the bridges and were not reopening them until an hour after the show. That would not work so we kept moving towards the city. We eventually took the T back across the river because that was the only way to cross and watched from the Boston side. 

We've seen fireworks in many places and the show itself here was second only to NYC's. The city's ability to deal with crowds, however, is severely lacking. I don't think we'll ever come back to see their show again. We walked back to our hotel and I checked my pedometer for the first time to see that we'd walked over 17 miles. Needless to say we were exhausted and fell into bed for a deep sleep! 

This morning we are off to the beach in Maine. Here's hoping for a lovely day.