Well we didn't get to bed until 3.15 this morning so so much for our early start. By the time we got up, ready and had something to eat it was around 2pm. We decided we'd still go and do the Freedom Trail although we knew we wouldn't get it all done in the day as the route is so long. There are 16 sites that make up the Freedom Trail- the majority of which are located downtown.

55 years ago the city of Boston realised that these sites were so historically significant that they had to preserve them for future generations. The first stop was The Boston Common which is America's oldest park. It started off being used as a pasture for grazing cattle and later became used by the British as an army camp during the occupation of Boston. It has had many uses over the years; it was a place to hang pirates and witches, it has been used as a place for public speaking; reverend Martin Luther King spoke there and Pope John Paul II said mass there.

Next we came across The State House which is one of the oldest buildings on Beacon Hill built in the 1700's. Today it is where 'senators, state representatives and the govenor conduct daily business of the commonwealth'.

Next was Park Street Church, founded in 1809. It has a 217ft steeple so it was once the first landmark that travellers saw on their approach to Boston. A lot happened in this church from the beginnings of prison reform, to the support of women's suffrage, and some of the first protests against slavery took place within the church.

Next was the Granary Burying Ground where some of America's 'most notable' citizens rest, including John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and all five of the Boston Massacre victims to name a few.

There were a couple of sites we didn't see such as King's Chapel and Burying Ground, Benjamin Franklin Statue and Boston Latin School.

We saw the Old Corner Bookstore which was a 'flourishing literary center in the mid 1800's', the Old South Meeting House which is a National Historic Site and is where the revolutionary Boston Tea Party all began. In 1773 5000 angry colonists gathered at the Old South Meeting House to protest a tax on tea!!

We also saw the site of the Boston Massacre and Faneuil Hall which was built in 1741 and has served as an open forum meeting hall and market place for more than 250 years.

There were a few places on the trail we didn't make it to as it was fairly late when we left this afternoon so we couldn't really see much in the dark plus it was freezing and we were hungry so we decided to grab some dinner out and maybe carry on with the rest the following day. We went to a place called 'Be Good' where I had the tastiest burger I have ever had in my life! :)