Friday morning we woke up and started heading east towards the coast. We grabbed breakfast at a tasty joint that I can't remember (sigh, sorry) and then got to the start of the Freedom Trail http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-78FB5YbQONE/T-...7.29.06+AM.png. We kind of had to do a self guided tour at our own leisure as opposed to joining an actual guided tour because we had to be somewhere at noon. Anyway, we started at Boston Common and followed the trail until we got to the Old South Meeting House. So along the way we saw Ben Franklin's parents' monument, the grave of Sam Adams and Paul Revere, and the Boston Massacre site.

We needed to head over to the New England aquarium and be on board our boat at 12 noon for our whale watching tour http://www.neaq.org/visit_planning/whale_watch/index.php. This was about a 3 hour adventure and we did see humpbacks as well as a finback which are apparently not that common on the tours. There was a place to buy snacks/drinks/beer on board if you needed to, but the line was pretty slow. Overall, it was really cool. First time I saw whales in their environment in real life.

Once we got back to land, we hung out around Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. We bought a Christmas ornament and magnet and some other souvenirs then went and grabbed some beers and a bowl of chowder at http://www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com/restaurant/ned-devines-irish-pub/2137020892/2138767382. A quick note, the "actual" Christmas store at the Market had everything mass imported. I was bummed out because I want some local flavor, so I didn't buy anything. But then I found a stand inside (sort of near Cheers) that had locally made ornaments and magnets. We got a sand dollar with the Beacon Hill Cheers barfront painted on it.

Anyway, we got back to our room and got cleaned up. We wanted to try out North End and settled on Giacomo's...then realized there was a Giacomo's right near our place. So we went to that one instead http://www.yelp.com/biz/giacomos-boston . We put in a res but still had to wait about 25 mins or so, and it's a cash only operation, but tasty Italian food for sure. At this point it's about midnight and we walked over to the Prudential building to have a night cap at Top of the Hub http://topofthehub.net/. There were plenty of open tables, but we weren't allowed to sit at one unless we each dropped $25. We were both stuffed so food wasn't an option, and $50 more worth of booze could have been rough, so we just sat at the bar and watched the Royals/Orioles. Being 52 stories up at night as sweet, just would have been cool if we could be near a window etc.

Will pick up with Saturday soon!

Made part two its own thread so it is easier to archive.

Is there a season for whale watching? Both of our visits have been in July.

We were able to get seats at the bar at the Top of the Hub. Drinks were pricey but I believe a drink each and a shared appetizer wasn't too bad when we all was done?

According to USA Today, the best time for whale watching in Massachusetts is from April to October.

We got seats at the bar as well, but we wanted seats in one of the rooms so we could sit by a window. To get a table in one of the two rooms $50 needed to be spent, and we were already stuffed from dinner so apps and desserts were out, and we had 2 bottles of wine at said dinner on top of all the pre-dinner dranks...so trying to force $50 worth of drinks just didn't seem worth it at that point. There's no minimum that needs to be met at the bar though, just don't get the primo views.