After a late night at Fenway, we woke up on Saturday to our third and final day in Boston.  We planned to make the most of this day and check off a few final things on Dave's dad's list.

 

With turn down service at the hotel, they left the weather for the next day each night.  Thus far, we had amazing weather.  The temperature was perfect, there was always a nice breeze and the sunshine was smiling.  Dave had begun dreading the weather for Saturday after realizing that we were going to have an afternoon and evening full of rain.  To our surprise, we had a few sprinkles but that was literally it.  We couldn't have asked for better weather!

If you missed the other posts from our trip to Boston, you can see them here:

DAY ONE
DAY TWO

Dave and I woke up early to have a few hours by ourselves in the city.  Our first stop, coffee.  Always coffee!  On this morning, we planned to visit Render in the Financial District which was about a five minute walk.

We enjoyed our favorites... a vanilla latte for Jess and a mocha for Dave while admiring the talented baristas of Boston again.  The mocha wasn't Dave's favorite, but it did the job.  

 

 It was a slow, quiet morning at the coffee shop and it didn't take us long to notice that weekend mornings in the city were much different than the hustle and bustle during the week.

We didn't have as much time this morning since we needed to meet Dave's dad earlier to get the day started.  We walked around for awhile and then headed for another coffee shop.  Because why not?  

We are ones to soak up good coffee anytime we get the chance.  We got a cappuccino with cinnamon from Caffè Nero to go and shared it along our walk back towards the hotel.  This was such a cute coffee shop and had a neat vibe.  We were wishing we had more time to hang out.

As we got closer to the hotel, we thought we'd go by Kane's Handcrafted Donuts and take one to surprise his dad for breakfast.  I'm not a big donut fan, but Dave and his dad really enjoy them.

According to Travel & Leisure, Kane's has the BEST honey donut in America so that's what we tried.  Although, they all looked really good even to someone who doesn't like donuts.  I will also admit that I had a couple bites of Dave's and it was pretty tasty.  

Once we finished, we headed to the lobby to wait on a car to take us to the Bunker Hill Monument.  There were a handful of stairs to make our way there, but it was worth the climb.

Dave's dad enjoyed reading every single thing.  Hey, if you're there you might as well take in all of the information you can gather.  He was loving imagining what things were like years ago.

This day we planned to visit several stops on the Freedom Trail that his dad really wanted to see.  Bunker Hill could be the start or end of the Trail if you planned to start at one end and work your way to the other.  

 

The Freedom Trail is 2.5 miles which isn't bad at all and you could certainly knock out all of the in one day.  Since we traveled between lots of the stops by vehicle, we made an effort to hit all of the ones that he really wanted to see and broke it up a couple of days based on what we were near.

Bunker Hill and the USS Constitution are the two stops across the Charles River.  Dave's sister and niece spent the morning checking out the Institute of Contemporary Art while we took his dad across the River to see these two stops on the Freedom Trail (which were must sees for him!).

We decided against the Museum at Bunker Hill and making the climb to the top.  We planned to keep things simple and work our way over to the USS Constitution.  This area of Boston is so neat.  There are beautiful homes and sweet local shops along the Trail.  It truly felt like we were right in the middle of someone's neighborhood while exploring such history.

When we arrived, we made our way through security so that we could go on the ship.  This was a surprise to us!  None of us were expecting that we would actually get to board the ship.  This stop on the Freedom Trail is free, but you do have to go through security upon entering.

Going onboard was SO neat.  Dave's dad was loving it!  Dave and I took the opportunity to actually climb down and see the housing quarters.  It was a little crazy to imagine the ship being used in its prime.  Another fun fact we learned is that Boston actually still sails the ship on certain days each year.

Can you imagine?  This was a fun, really interactive stop.  If you had littles along, they would have LOVED seeing the ship and climbing through everything.  The shorter and smaller you are, the easier it is to get around the visit each level.

Our next stop on the Freedom Trail was Faneuil Hall for lunch.  Dave's sister and niece planned on meeting up with us at this stop.  It was perfect for a group of us because everyone was able to pick what they wanted to eat from the market.  

 

 

This was the meal we planned to try the butter based lobster roll.  We waited in line for the Boston Chowda Co.  Side note - you will wait in line (seriously!) for a lot of food in Boston.  Whether it's a lobster roll, a cup of clam chowder or a cannoli.  Know this going into your trip and practice patience because it is all worth the wait!

Dave and I both declare that the butter based lobster roll is our FAVORITE!  That's right.  If you're going to Boston, please send us one.  We miss it (and the surplus and accessibility of fresh seafood) already.

We also took the opportunity to get a cup of their clam chowder to try.  Like a lot of the locals will tell you, there aren't many places in Boston that don't have a good lobster roll or clam chowder.  You don't have to go to the most expensive places to find them.

Faneuil Hall was packed with people.  It was lunch time and people were snatching up seats quicker than you could.  Once we found a spot, we took our time taking it all in and trying different things.  

After splitting a lobster roll and cup of clam chowder, we were still a little hungry.  We hadn't had the opportunity to try fried fish yet... Dave got us a whole platter to try.  It was all really good, and the only thing that didn't get eaten on the plate was the french fries.  We were saving room for the good stuff!

Next on our list was the Old North Church.  We waited on a car to pick all of us up that literally took us to the front doors.  It would have been a very walk able distance, but this made it much easier!  Plus we were starting to get just a few rain sprinkles.  

This stop on the Freedom Trail does require admission tickets (adult tickets are $8, children are $4, military/seniors (62+)/students are $6 and children under 6 are free).

Purchasing tickets allow you to enter and tour the church.  With admission, you have the opportunity to sit and listen to the history and significance of the church.  Founded in 1723, the Old North Church is the oldest standing church in the City of Boston.  

Old North Church was made famous by Paul Revere's midnight ride and, "One if by land, two by sea."  It was so surreal sitting in the church and seeing its steeple.  

Oh, if walls could talk.  Can you imagine the history?  We were thankful we had purchased tickets to go inside.  The church still has actual worship services on Sundays.  Isn't that cool?

There is a lot right on the grounds of the church to explore including Captain Jackson's Historic Chocolate Shop.  This little shop explores the history of chocolate (say no more!) and is the only experience of its kind in New England.  

You even get to try a piece of chocolate history - in the liquid form!  It was neat to hear the history of chocolate and see first hand how it was created in the past.  From the moment you stepped inside, you could smell the deep, rich chocolate!  

Our final must stop site on the Freedom Trail was The Paul Revere House.  This is the colonial home of American patriot Paul Revere during the time of the American Revolution.  His house is not far at all from Old North Church, so we decided to walk there.

There was a HUGE line waiting to enter the home when we arrived.  This is another stop on the Trail that includes paid admission - adults $5, seniors/college students $4.50 and children (ages 5-17) $1.  Only cash is accepted here, so plan accordingly. 

Dave's dad didn't care about going inside so we appreciated its significance from outside.  However, when Dave and I get back to Boston sometime this is a place we'd want to visit again and see inside.  With the long ling mid afternoon, we'd suggest hitting this stop earlier in the day.  Also, we loved finding this in the space across from his house.  We all know that behind a strong man is an even stronger woman.

 

From here Dave's dad, sister and niece caught a ride back to their hotels to rest while Dave and I had one thing on our mind - cannolis.  The Paul Revere House is in the north end of Boston where you'll find several Italian restaurants and shops.

We were around the corner from all of this, so we stuck around to check this off our list.  There are two places along Hanover Street where you can get delicious cannolis (or other sweet treats).  Mike's Pastry has been around since 1946 and is known more by the locals as the "touristy" pastry shop. 

After we heard this from a couple of people, we headed for Modern Pastry which was created by the family over 70 years ago.  Both pastry shops have history and you'll wait in line OUTSIDE for both, but once we heard this was more of the local place, it made our decision between the two easy.

We ordered four cannolis and they were HUGE.  Two would have been plenty for us so we got the two extras boxed up and took them back with us to share with everyone else.  They were SO good and were worth the wait.  It is all just part of the experience!

You'll want to keep in mind that cash is the only form of payment accepted.  A couple of tricks you might want to keep in mind (especially if you're wanting a shorter wait)... there is a seating area to the right.  

You are welcome to wait in this line and can order whatever you'd like, you'll just need to of course tip your server.  Sometimes you can luck out with this, but other times it could be as bad as the in and out line.  It is a nice option though if you want to make this stop more of an experience and plan to order a drink.  

The other is that there is actually a basement in Modern Pastry that serves real food.  They have a limited pastry selection that can be ordered down there, but our cannolis were on that list.  Before you commit to downstairs, you might want to double check to ensure you can order what you want.  It was a quiet space and would have been perfect if you had littles along that needed a little more space.

If you find yourself in Boston, take our word for it that it is worth waiting in line at Modern.  Once we finished, we walked from Modern back to our hotel and enjoyed the time together just exploring the city.  Boston is a wonderful city and we were falling it love with it.

We had a little bit of time before meeting back up with Dave's dad and Dave had really been wanting to check out the pool/sauna/jacuzzi so we changed and headed there for an hour or so.  The spa, pool and workout facilities at The Langham were very nice.  We would highly recommend treating yourself to some time in this area if you're staying at the hotel.  

  

The Langham also has a very nice restaurant and lounge, BOND.  We were going to have some extra time after getting ready and asked Dave's dad if we wanted to meet us there for a drink before heading out for the evening.  We thought it would be the perfect way to kick off our last night in the city.

It was gorgeous!  Even if you aren't staying at the hotel, this would be a great place to stop by and grab a drink if you're in the city.  The atmosphere was great, the drinks were yummy and it was a beautiful space.

After a drink, we got a ride and headed for the original Cheers.  Dave's dad had this on his list and it was the last official thing to cross off our list for him.  

There are two locations in Boston, one in Faneuil Hall and one in Beacon Hill.  Beacon Hill is the original, so if you care about that - make sure it is the one you visit.  It's the real thing, people!

Dave's sister and niece were packing things up to prepare to leave the following morning, so they had planned on meeting us there a little later.  I must disclose that I have actually never seen Cheers (gasp, I know), but after visiting it almost makes me want to start watching.  HA!

There are three restaurant/bar seating areas in the original Cheers.  The original set bar where the show was actually filmed is located upstairs.  The entire place was absolutely packed while we were there (keep in mind it was a Saturday evening).  

We ended up finding a few seats at the actual set bar and enjoyed our time there.  The vibe at Cheers was really fun.  There were major fans that waited to sit at their favorite character's seat at the bar and people like me who had to admit they had never actually seen the show.  Nevertheless, everyone seemed to appreciate the experience.

Unfortunately, while we were there Dave's dad started not feeling very well so we ended up taking him back by the hotel before heading on to our dinner reservations that evening.  It was SO sad and he wanted to go to dinner SO bad, but everyone could tell that going home is what he really needed.

We had 7:30 PM dinner reservations back on the north end of Boston at Cantina Italiana.  There are so many wonderful Italian restaurants located in this area, which is also where the pastry shops are.  Dave's dad had picked out this restaurant, so once we arrived we were all a little sad about him missing out on it.

When you travel, things happen.  Sometimes people get sick, sometimes flights get delayed.  Sometimes things simply don't go exactly how you have planned.  This is exactly what happened this evening, so we tried to make the most of things with Dave's sister and niece.


The food was good, but it wasn't great (keep in mind our standard for good food is set pretty high... thanks to Dave).  The best things were the appetizer and the wine.  Again, all of the food was good.  It just wasn't so good that we'd have to go back here if we visited Boston.  We've heard raving reviews about a lot of the Italian restaurants in Boston, so when we go back we'll probably do a little more research and reading reviews to find the one we want to eat at. 

To that, I will say that every seat in the restaurant was full and we did enjoy our meal.  We just didn't love it.  Maybe it's the fact that we had high expectations and were really looking forward to our Italian dinner?  This guy makes everything about life fun.

Dinner didn't exactly go as planned obviously with Dave's dad not being about to join us.  Although, I will say that we ended up having a really special evening with Dave's sister and niece that evening.  Sometimes things don't necessarily go as planned, but that doesn't meant they don't work out.  In this case, I think we were supposed to get that time with them.  It's weird how things work out!

We didn't end up getting dessert at dinner and since we were so close to all of the pastry shops, we decided to go back to Modern.  This time, we waited for a table and sat upstairs where you could enjoy the view.

I was still pretty full from dinner (and thought that eating two cannolis in one day was a little much, even in Boston), so I ordered a cappuccino.   Dave, his sister and niece all had dessert.  Out of everything that was ordered that night, we thought the plain cheesecake was the best.

We headed back to our hotel to check in on Dave's dad and get all of our things packed to leave the next morning.  Our flight left around 9:30 AM which meant that we would be back in Nashville around lunch and back home by the early afternoon.  This gave us time to settle in and rest up before Monday.  

We were so very thankful for this trip and the special memories that we made with Dave's dad, his sister and his niece.  From embracing the history around us to Dave getting a foul ball at Fenway Park, it was magical.  Taking his dad to Boston will be something we treasure forever.

If you missed the first two posts, here they are again...

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

And, because I was super annoying with extensive photo taking on this trip (because I REALLY wanted some great ones of Dave and his Dad) these are for your enjoyment...


The struggle was REAL to get photos with eyes open, eyes looking at the camera, not talking and an actual smile.  But, it was all worth it to get some great ones of the two of them.  Take as many as you need to for the perfect one, especially when you travel.  These memories are ones we will cherish for years and if these were the only photos we had at the end of the trip, I would have been pretty bummed.  HA!