Saturday, August 16, 2008

The Shopping Freedom Trail

Helene has been trying to get me to walk the Freedom Trail with her ever since we started coming to Boston. The Freedom Trail is a walk through Boston which goes past numerous historical sites. It generally runs from the Boston Common to Faneuil Market - about 2.5 miles.

Needless to say I have resisted.

Thursday started as most of the days this week. We assembled at Panero's Bakery for coffee with Jay and then went back to his place for lunch.

The afternoon was going to be devoted to shopping and walking the Freedom Trail - or so we thought.

We took the T to the Prudential Centre. When we exhausted the shops there we decided to walk towards downtown. Filene's Basement and DSW - we both need shoes for the rest of this trip - seem to be places we regularly frequent when we are in Boston. We knew that Filene's had been taken over by Macy's and had heard that the store across the street from DSW had been closed.

But within a few blocks of thew Prudential Centre we discovered a Filene's Basement outlet. Helene couldn't find anything but I was able to find a few things.

When we got back to Newbury Street it had started to rain but we decided to forge ahead anyway. Within minutes we were in a deluge. We found shelter under an awning and stood for 45 minutes watching low, thick, grey clouds dump gallons of water on the streets. The rain wasn't in sheets but it was hard and constant. An atmosphere like that in Saskatchewan would cause rains that would last days. Fortunately in Boston after 45 minutes of hard rain the sun broke through the clouds and within minutes we were back in a bright, sunny clear day - incredibly hot and humid.

As we passed the Common we realized we were walking towards Faneuil Market. We decided we were walking our own freedom trail- if not for historical purposes at least for shopping purposes.

We made it to DSW shopped and bought (again it was me buying as Helene couldn't find anything) - and then made our way home on the T.

We met Dori's brother, Jeff, her sister-in-law, Leslie and her niece, Madison (a beautiful three year old little girl) for dinner at a local Japanese restaurant called Fugakyu. Besides the excellent food this restaurant has historical significance - it was the site of Jay and Dori's first date.

Thursday Dori's brother and family - Friday Dori's parents!

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