Day 3 ( a day late)

Yesterday we headed out fairly early, had a slight disagreement about whether to ride the bus or walk into the city and so We drove! Playing the part of true tourists we followed Bostons freedom trail throughout the city. Though, upon our host's, John, suggestion we first toured the USS Constitution, a lovely ship that launched in 1797. You may have heard reference to her as "Old Ironsides"called such because ,we learned this on a free tour, The wooden construction was unique and during a battle cannon balls lodged in the sides without causing damage.

The freedom trail has many very interesting stops along the way including two very old burial grounds. The only name that really popped out at us though, was Cotton Mather and the Mather family tomb. They were a line of puritan minnisters, Cotton was particularly famous for influence during the Salem witch trials.

We toured Paul Revere's house.( I found it slightly more exciting that a little girl who came in after us was getting so excited about ordinary things. The first room one walks into is Revere's kitchen and there were prop eggs in a bowl. The little girl shouted with enthusiasm, "Look daddy eggs! Oh, kyle( her older brother) they have eggs!" And then a moment later "Stairs! Kyle look at the stairs!" It was quite adorable. Anyone can go into Paul Revere's house and see an old house. It takes a child's eye to see something completely different! I wish i could still be enthusiastic about plastic eggs.)

There was the north church and the oldest pub in America. And then we wondered right into the middle of a big farmers market. Everything was so juicy and ripe that we were practicably forced to buy a clam shell of blueberries! And then so distracted were we by the berries that we stumbled upon what looked like a series of large glass elevators. The reality of them was far less happy though than a Willy Wonka day dream. We has inadvertently come across the Holocaust memorial. The glass structures were not elevators at all but sculpture-esque gas chambers complete with grates on the floor of each one bellowing gray steam into the muggy air. And etched into each of these structures are tiny six digit numbers that stretch from floor to the enormously tall ceiling covering every inch of glass. There are also short tales of horror written in the glass from survivors. The one that really struck me( I suspect because I was caring a half eaten, easily obtained clam shell of blueberries the entire time.) was about how a girl found a single raspberry and kept it in her pocket the entire day only to give it to her best friend as a gift.

It is one thing to experience old, inevitable death in the quiet, musky, silence of a grave yard. It is shocking and bitter and heartbreaking to think about the Holocaust and it was a somber part of our day. None the less, if you get a chance to experience it please do.

We headed to the Boston commons after that for a late lunch. The Boston commons is lacking everything that makes central park crazy and delightfully beautiful but is nice none the less. Then we sat down at the bull and finch pub or as you may know it" The Cheers bar" and each had a Sam Adams. I'd like to say we did more but by this time I was so unbelievably sunburnt, like a dope, that we decided to head back.

Today we are driving out to Lowell MA to see where Kerouac is buried! We've been married a week today now!!!

(Somebody try out our comment system. We're curious if it works)