On our first full day in Boston we booked on a tour of the Freedom Trail. The two and a half mile walking trail passes sixteen historical sites which are all connected to the American Revolution. The tour began in the Boston Common which is one of the oldest parks in the States. Originally used as a cow pasture, later as a camp for the British before the Revolutionary war and also for public executions carried out by the Puritans. The next stop, past the State House and Church, was the Granary Burying Ground. Its the third oldest cemetery in the city and is the resting place of three signers of the Declaration of Independence and also victims of the Boston Massacre. Samuel Adams, one of the signers has a beer named after him. As his grave faces a pub we were informed that we could enjoy a Samuel Adams in front of Samuel Adams! Walking further we came to the Benjamin Franklin statue which stood in front of the first public school. The Old South Meeting House was the next stop. Meetings took place here to debate the British taxation as people became annoyed about 'taxation without representation'. After one of the meetings, the group raided some ships full of tea. They boarded the ship and destroyed the 'taxed tea' by throwing it into the harbour. This action against the British government became known as the Boston Tea Party. Moving on we came to the site of the Boston Massacre. At this spot five people were killed by British troops after riots. This, along with the Boston Tea Party, was an important event that made the people of Boston turn against the British. The British enforced its control and this led to the rocky relationship between Britain and the colonies resulting in the American Revolution. Our tour finished at Faneuil Hall which was another meeting place for the people of Boston. In the afternoon we finished the Freedom Trail on our own by following the red bricked path. We walked past Paul Reveres house and saw the Old North Church. There was another graveyard before we arrived at the Bunker Hill Monument. After we'd finished the Trail we went to look around the Red Sox Fenway stadium. There was a game on so the surrounding area was full of fans. Although we didn't buy tickets we managed to have a look at the ground when we went into a bar. The bar had a window which looked directly out onto the pitch, at pitch level. After walking round the outside of the ground before heading back to our hostel. Walking around town the following day we came across some street performers who could have been very good contestants on Britain's Got Talent. Their break dancing show was very entertaining. They worked the crowd with sayings such as 'Obama wants change - we want dollars' and tried to increase tips by saying that donations keep them out of two places - the courthouse and your house! We enjoyed some drinks in the Oldest Tavern in the US of A and had a nose in both the original and TV set of Cheers. For lunch we grabbed some food from the market. There was a long corridor completely full of food stalls and making the decision on what to eat was very very hard! We walked up several times just sampling the free macaroni and cheese on offer. Afterwards we passed some American troops who were showing vehicles, machines and army gear to the public. Si hopped in a vehicle and also tried on a jacket which was mega heavy!! Before dusk we explored more of the Common. We sat near the pond and people watched for a while. As we left we noticed sky writing about fan loving the sox! True fans!! On our last night staff members in our hostel asked us to move rooms as they needed a single sex dorm and ended up giving us money back! It was no hassle to us and we'd have done it for free but it was bonus!!