Adventures in Beantown - Day 2

For the FIRST TIME since we got onboard the ship, we awoke Saturday morning to sunshine and a clear, blue sky. It was still a bit chilly, we were told there was actually ice on the pool deck, but at least it wasn’t raining OR windy!! After an early breakfast, we set off on our tour, The Freedom Trail Walk.

After brief bus ride through the very quiet early morning (it was only 8:30!) streets of Boston, we arrived once again at the Massachusetts State House, the scene of the previous evening’s follies! The Freedom Trail is a walk through the story of Revolutionary War Boston and even though the State House was nothing but an open field on the side of Beacon Hill in 1775, the Trail starts there. Over the next three hours we passed by and/or visited places we had only read about in school history books (or seen on Cheers!) but never really thought we would ever see; Boston Common, The Old Granary Burying Ground, Faneuil Hall, The Old North Church and Paul Revere’s home, among many others. We even saw the site of the Boston Tea Party, which, oddly enough, considering they threw the tea in Boston Harbour, is now nowhere NEAR the harbour!! Our guide, Bob, was incredibly knowledgeable with all sorts of tales about the people and the times. We found out afterward that he has done 5000 tours over 20 years as a guide!!!

Paul Revere with the Old North Church in the background.  The church was where the signal lanterns were held:  "One if by land, two if by sea"

The statue of Benjamin Franklin in front of the original Boston City Hall.
After the tour ended we parted company with Bob and proceeded to Ye Olde Union Oyster House for lunch. This is the oldest continuously serving restaurant in the United States and is designated as a National Historic Landmark. The oyster bar is on the main floor and the dining room is on the second floor. It’s a small place with a very unique feature; an “oyster elevator” used to move shucked oysters (and beer!) from the bar to the dining room so as not to spill anything on the stairs!! Lunch was oysters (of course), clam chowder (we are in New England after all) crab cakes and fish! And it was delicious!

This being the President’s Cruise, there are a number of staff from Crystal’s Head Office in LA onboard. Earlier this week we received an invitation to dine with Mary-Catherine Wilks, the Director of Crystal Society, Crystal’s past passenger loyalty program and tonight was the night. We were seated with Mary-Catherine, Nikki Andrew, the Onboard Cruise Sales Consultant, a couple from San Francisco and two older single ladies. In the “small world” department, one of the ladies actually lives in Unionville near Markville Mall!! Mary-Catherine’s birthday had been a couple of days earlier and she had thought she had kept it secret. Wrong! The string trio, the Headwaiter and every waiter in the Dining Room came to sing her Happy Birthday! All organized by Dr. Jerry (and his wife Nancy), the other couple at the table. We got to know them over dinner (his sense of humour is similar to Larry’s !!) and as they are staying on to Miami as well, they asked us to join them at their table at dinner next segment. We found out afterward they are approaching 100 cruises on Crystal and it’s the Vice Captain’s table! Looks like we’re “moving up in the world”!!

Returning to our cabin at the end of the evening we discovered we weren’t the only ones who thought the President’s Excursion was something of a fiasco. In our mail slot was a letter from the Hotel Director apologizing for “not achieving their usual high standards” last evening and informing us that they are refunding us 50% of the cost of the excursion. A class move on their part in our opinion.