After tapping “snooze” a few times on my phone alarm, the older kids and I decided to get ready and start the day with a quick Uber trip to Katz Bagel Bakery. Doing business in the same building for more than 70 years, the bakery stood out as a must-try breakfast spot when researching the environs around our nondescript hotel.
Noah and Emmie immediately gravitated to the tray of warm bagel-wrapped hot dogs which had just left the oven. I tried their famous pizza bagel, and we grabbed salt, garlic, and blueberry bagels to go along with a small container of cream cheese to take to the rest of our party at the hotel. The kids and I traded in the Uber ride for a 15-minute walk back to the hotel, finishing our breakfast along the way.
Noah and Emmie pose with their hot dog bagels.
With luggage occupying the space where you’d usually find a third row of seats, the Uber ride to South Station was crowded for everyone except me.
We left our luggage in Boston’s South Station then took a short walk to the Tea Party Ships & Museum, where Amanda and Joy purchased tickets for a 12:00 tour. With more than an hour of time before the tour, we walked across the street to Starbucks for refreshments and downtime to plan the rest of our half-day in the city.
Emmie and Amanda went to Starbucks… for water.
Eilidh is always excited for green tea!
Tea Party Ships & Museums
Written by Amanda
After dropping Brian and the kids at the Children’s Museum, GeeGee and I walked for a few minutes to reach the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. After we were assigned our fake identities, we listened to period actors including a Samuel Adams staging events before and after the Boston Tea Party of 1773. For the tour, GeeGee and I were assigned to be the brothers of Lendall and Samuel Pitts.
The 75-minute interactive tour began in a room meant to resemble Boston’s Old South Meeting House, where a town hall meeting hosted by the Sons of Liberty organization was taking place. After some brief discussion, our group of patriots promptly voted to oppose English taxation without representation by dumping some English tea into the Boston Harbor.
We boarded one of the vessels owned by the United East India Company and, after touring the vessel, we were able to heave some tea overboard and hear some stories of the real patriots. Following this act of treason we were escorted down into the basement museum where we learned how ‘our’ courageous act helped to bring about the American Revolution and independence for the colonies.
Though cheesy at times, the experience really did lend some great background into the events leading up to the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution. GeeGee and I both had a good time learning about our country’s history. A break from traveling with children was also much enjoyed.
Boston Children’s Museum
The kids and I went across the street to the Boston Children’s Museum, which provided entertainment in rooms spanning the building’s three floors. While several attractions kept their attention, Noah and Emmie most enjoyed the unique staircase near the museum’s entrance. Of their three endeavors, Noah recalls making it to the top “at least once” while Emmie reported she “almost made it to the top” on the last time.
Noah, near the top of the three-story climbing tower.
Eilidh was obsessed with the safety goggles in the construction zone.
Emmie sits on the golf ball chair, in a room where said balls were used for gravity experiments.
Note Noah peering in through the right window, with Eilidh behind.
Emmie filled up a few baskets in the play grocery store.
Noah and Emmie got in a little steel drum practice.
Eilidh wouldn’t look at the camera.
The weather was perfect, as was the view from outside the children’s museum.
When Amanda and Joy were done at their museum, we reunited for a walk to Pastoral Artisan Pizza, which we’d earmarked for lunch. The kids enjoyed coloring the “Pizza Crew” character while we waited to place our order; that part of the dining experience was unfortunately slow, but our food came quickly and service was great after we placed our actual order.
Emmie’s awesome pizza crew drawing.
We finished nearly every bite of the food, with the Napolitana pizza being the highlight of the meal; it was topped with a spicy salami, green castelvetrano olives, and red onions. Noah and Emmie even enjoyed a slice of the pie, even if it was mostly a consequence of the margherita pizza being entirely eaten.
The Napolitana from Pastoral Artisan Pizza.
Noah and Emmie inside Pastroal Artisan Pizza’s wide-open windows; immediately after the photo, they walked out of the restaurant… through the window.
With the Tula left with our bags in South Station, shoulder-riding was a common mode of transportation for Eilidh.
While not being carried or riding on someone’s shoulders, Eilidh loved exploring, including these large purple flowers in a downtown Boston park.
After discussing a number of potential afternoon options, we decided on the mile-long walk through the city’s business district to the Boston Public Market. After assessing the available dessert options, Noah and Emmie decided upon ice cream from Crescent Dairy, Amanda opted for a sample-sized piece of caramel apple bread from Red Apple Farm, and I bought a few ounces of uniquely-spiced nuts: chocolate mushroom almonds and limoncello lavender cashews from Q’s Nuts.
The menu and flavors at Crescent Ridge Dairy in the Boston Public Market.
Noah was upset I ordered him the “Tiny Tot” size of cookie dough ice cream, even though it was more than generous in size. Despite the complaint, neither Noah nor Emmie finished their large servings of ice cream.
Eilidh was out; the crowded market left few open seating spaces, but Amanda found a low-traffic area in front of an electrical closet.
The resulting selfie.
Before our trip to Boston, I reached out to a high school friend living in the area for advice. She sent an extremely detailed and helpful email which had enough dining and entertainment destinations to spend a week in the city. While we were unable to incorporate most spots on the list into our itinerary, we did take a walk north from the market to the touristy but recommended Mike’s Pastry Shop.
Each order was wrapped in various sizes of these cute boxes.
The experience was a bit overwhelming at first with a line reaching the door and a wall filled with photos of the seemingly endless varieties of its famous cannolis. The amaretto option caught Gee Gee’s eye; I went for the classic ricotta filling. In the end, we had our dessert pretty quickly and crammed around a small table to eat within the store.
Noah never fully fell asleep but was pretty tired at our stop.
Our return to South Station led us by a water feature within the North End district of the expansive Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, the 17-acre public park which sits on top of Boston’s Interstate 93 tunnel. Eilidh and Emmie were especially curious about the fountains but both showed enough restraint to avoid getting wet. After a brief rest and a few photos we continued the walk to the station.
Eilidh looks longingly at the park’s water feature.
Emmie posed in front of the fountains but showed restraint to not explore and get herself wet.
Our time at South Station was a whirlwind, starting with a visit to CVS for some bottled water, and to get a stopper for one of Eilidh’s medicine, which our Iowa pharmacy failed to provide when we picked it up before the trip. We then retrieved our baggage, took turns making trips to the restroom, and carried bags up and down a set of stairs as we entered, and subsequently left, our mezzanine seating area. About 15 minutes prior to our scheduled departure, Noah saw a track number had been assigned for our train; we hurried to Track 9 and walked nearly the length of the train before finding a car with available seats.
Noah had to do some summer “homework” on the train before we let him play a little Minecraft.
The ride was slow at times and we were 20 minutes late getting into Providence. This eliminated our planned public transportation option to get to the airport, so we crowded into a Toyota Highlander, ordered via Uber, for an efficient, 15-minute ride to T. F. Green Airport. The process to check-in for our Norwegian flight was refreshingly smooth; bag check and security took only a few minutes, leaving us with well over an hour in the terminal before boarding was scheduled to begin.
Our very short time in Rhode Island, the nation’s smallest state, has little documentation aside from this photo of the Providence Train Station, with the state capitol dome in the background.
The worst part of the long layover may have been the airport’s dining options… or lack thereof. Amanda, Gee Gee, and Eilidh took the first eating shift. After being warned of a 30-minute wait time for burgers at Johnny Rocket’s, they went to the adjacent Sbarro-like pizza place where their attempt to order garlic knots and pepperoni pizza was shot down when the worker informed then the establishment had exactly 3 pieces of cheese pizza and 3 meatball sandwiches available to purchase.
Hoping to avoid the aforementioned experience, Noah, Emmie, and I walked the length of the terminal in search of an alternative. Most food establishments were closed, as apparently most of the day’s flights had already departed. We settled on pizza for Noah and Emmie (which included a slice of pepperoni which had previously been unavailable) and a below-average, overpriced sandwich from the nearby Starbucks.
Nearly everyone switched into warmer clothes for the plane ride. We had an on-time departure, and a favorable tailwind meant we were expecting to land in Belfast more than 30 minutes ahead of schedule.
Eilidh was much happier here…. versus when she had to buckle her seatbelt and sit down in her seat.
Looks like a full day. Love the pictures.