You can walk the entire trail from Lexington to Concord. We walked a good portion of it today."Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere..."
The first highlight was the spot where Paul Revere's midnight ride ended when he was captured and detained by the British. It was cool to read how because of his and William Dawes efforts to warn the colonists that night 20,000 people were alerted in just a few hours.
After Paul was captured, we headed on to the Old North Bridge. Now, for those of you that are not history nerds like myself, this is the place where the first battle of the Revolutionary War occured. Or, "the shot heard round the world." We had a great lesson today on what that phrase means! It was pretty amazing to stand in the place where the first patriots of democracy made the decision that a government of the people, for the people and by the people was worth dying for. It is also breathtakingly beautiful. We entered first on the side where the British were. And on the way to the bridge, passed this mass grave... |
| "They came three thousand miles and died to keep the past upon its throne. Unheard beyond the ocean tide, their English mother made her moan." April 19, 1775 |
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| Old North Bridge |
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| Minute Man Statue On the side of the bridge where the colonists took their stand. |
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| This was me trying to be all artistic with my shot of the bridge! |
We walked up to the visitor center, which is in a historic home from the time. It was also, the muster station for the minute men. The house has beautiful gardens...
We then went to Main street in Concord for some lunch and shopping. Concord may just be one of the most beautiful towns in America. So quaint and picturesque.
After lunch we decided to check out Harvard. Absolutely nothing like I had in my head. I was thinking a quiet, ivy covered campus like "Goodwill Hunting" and "Dead Poets Society." Nothing like that. Reminded me a lot of SMU. Right in the middle of a very high traffic, populated, busy area. Very noisy and tons of people. The old part of campus is sort of like you see in movies, but crowded. I did get a picture of Thomas and Grace trying to look scholarly in Harvard Yard...
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| The schloarly pose came after Grace tried the diva pose, which was just a little too "Elle goes to Harvard."!! |
We spent a little time having some Pinkberry and doing more shopping in Harvard Square (world's ONLY Curious George store is here), before we headed down the road to MIT.
They all have their eyes closed, hands up and are chanting. They were all still there several minutes later (except for the guy on the right in the blue shirt, who had to stop to answer his cell phone) when we walked by on our way to the student building. It was some sort of meditation class. Right on the street. The kids thought this was hilarious.
Top 5 for Thomas today were:
1. Old North Bridge
2. Harvard
3. "The meditating people"
4. MIT
5. Paul Revere's caputure
Grace:
1. Walking the trail from Lexington to Concord
2. Old North Bridge
3. "The mditating people"
4. Harvard
5. MIT
Mandy:
1. Shopping
2. "The meditating people"
3. "Standing in the sculpture"
4. Old North Bridge
5. The gardens at the North Bridge Visitor Center
Don't you just love it when you take your children halfway across the U.S. to see and experience our nation's history and to broaden their thinking about college universities and the thing that makes all three of their lists are the people meditating on the side of the street?!
Here are a few pics of some random stuff we saw today...
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| John Harvard |
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| "Hancock Cannon" actually used on April 19, 1775 |
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| Home of the Boston Pops |
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| Don't know what this building is/was, but it struck me funny because it looks like a face!! |
Patriot Blessings,
Leslie
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