Dog tags

Our first full day in Boston and we decided to follow the Freedom Trail which is a 2.5-mile walk from Boston Common to the USS Constitution in Charlestown. It's easy to follow as there is red (mostly brick) path which connects 17 significant historic sites although we were a third of the way using the map before we spotted the path! One of our first stops was the Massachusetts State House which contains the Governor's office and the Massachusetts Senate occupying the former House of Representatives Chamber under the dome. The Massachusetts House of Representatives occupies a chamber on the west side with a 'Sacred Cod' hanging over the chamber which was given to the House in 1784 by a Boston merchant to symbolise the importance of the fishing industry to the early Massachusetts economy. We were lucky to meet a great security guard who gave us a full run down of how state politics works and interesting details of the elected representatives. He also told us that David Cameron had been there the day before meeting the Governor before touring the bombing sites in the city. The building itself was stunning with beautiful wall paintings, wood panelling and the dome.

We carried on along the path reading about each site as we went and enjoying strolling at a leisurely pace in the warm sunshine. The path took us through markets, old schools, statues, halls and then we decided to go into Paul Rever's house which is a wooden structure dating back to 1680 and is downtown Boston's oldest building still in existence. It was interesting to see how the interior would have looked at the time but we moved through quite quickly as there was only a couple of rooms to see. We then crossed the bridge over the Charles River to the see the USS Constitution.

The USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy which was named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the USA and is the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat. The scale of the boat is huge and you can only imagine what life would have been like on-board when is was launched in 1797. After a visit to the museum we took a boat back to the hotel as we were ready for a rest.

We had dinner at Umbria Prime and Matt managed to get through a steak as big as the plate and I had my first taste of truffle on a yummy plate of chicken ravioli.

The picture is of a memorial outside a church on the Freedom Trail and honours the men and women of the Armed Forces who have lost their lives in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The dog tags made a lovely peaceful noise as the wind hits them and I thought it was a very effective piece of art.