Our second day in Boston was one of the wettest days of our trip, with rain hampering our efforts to get out and about.
The day started with a Duck Tour (y'know, one of those buses that's also a boat so you can go cruising on the water) of Boston, led by a hilarious guide who apparently used to be a motorcycle stunt rider. It covered everything from bits of the Freedom Trail, the history of Boston, and some of the other big attractions of the city, as well as look around the harbour.
Once we got back to the city, we decided not to let the near torrential rain get in our way. It was time to do some indoor activities including looking inside the Boston Public Library, the first major free library in the US. But its main draw card is its striking architecture and majestic Bates Hall - just remarkable.
I mentioned earlier about the rain and how it wasn't going to get us down. Well it was around mid-afternoon when it started to get to us as we wandered to have a look in some of the historic churches of the city, including Trinity Church. It turns out on Tuesdays most of these churches are closed, which left us wandering around the city, getting drenched and looking for some respite from the weather.
After parking up in a cafe for an hour or so (and when the rain started to die down) we ventured to the Faneuil Hall Marketplace - a nearly-300 year old marketplace and a meeting hall which was also where several key speeches by historic figures including Samuel Adams. Looking through the market, we found a well-known bar where everybody knows your name... well at least a copy of it. The city had two Cheers bars - one near Boston Common which was used as the exterior for the sitcom, and this newer one which is a replica of what the set looked like. Here we enjoyed a few beers while we started to plan and book a few things for the next leg of our trip, before getting dinner and calling it a day.
Attractions and Tips
Boston Duck Tours - if you book a tour online for before 10am, you'll save a few bucks
Boston Public Library - worth spending 30 minutes to an hour here to take it all in
Cheers at Faneuil Hall - great place for a cheeky beer and to pick up some Cheers merch - but not everyone will actually know your name
Trinity Church - note it's generally closed on Mondays and Tuesdays
