Once we completed our house sit in western Massachusetts, we drove east to explore Boston and other more touristy areas. Boston felt reasonably compact – we were able to get around nearly everywhere on foot. We also felt that with four full days there, we were able to visit all the places we wanted to.

Our favorite way for experiencing Boston was a walking tour. Of course, we were walking around the city on the hottest day since 1953, at 98 degrees, but we had a great time, nevertheless. The most amusing moment was when the tour guide stopped us at a pay phone. There were several children on the tour who had never seen a pay phone. One said, “What the heck is that?” Another asked, “Does it have data?” Times change.

There are a ton of historical sites in Boston and visiting the actual sites where history happened really enriches one’s understanding of history. Some of the highlights for me were the site of the Boston massacre, the house where Paul Revere raised his 16 children, the USS Constitution, the buildings where critical meetings were held and decisions were made. There’s so much to walk around, experience and learn about, and history comes alive all around!

I am unable to post a video directly to this site; you can see a very short video of history coming alive on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/2nQisSxe-fI

To end this post, let me offer a money-saving tip for travelers – after Boston, our plan was to fly to Europe for six weeks. Parking is expensive in the Boston area and would have added a lot to the overall cost of our Europe trip. So we went on Craigslist and searched for people offering parking at their homes. We found a place near the airport, parked our van there and took a bus to the airport. Parking for the full six weeks cost us just $150.