We woke up to sunny skies and the sounds of construction. There is a building demolition going on across the street and they start early, or at least it seems early when you are on vacation. We headed to the T (Boston Transit) to head back downtown. 

A giant tea pot over the entrance to a Starbucks.

Faneuil Hall.

To get to the New England Aquarium, we had to retrace our steps from yesterday, passing by the Quincy Market.

Angela and Claudia with a penguin buddy outside the aquarium.

Penguins are their big attraction.

There are three types of penguins at the aquarium. Here are the African Penguins (Spheniscus demersus).

This guy was the loudest.

This is a Little Blue penguin (Eudyptula minor).

There are also California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus).

This was the biggest one, having a shake after getting out of the water.

This is the Southern Rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome).

Angela and Claudia trying to touch the Cownose Ray.

In the middle of the building there is a giant ocean tank that is four storeys high. It 26 feet deep, 40 feet wide and holds 200,000 gallons. There were a couple of giant sea turtles swimming around.

They had a couple of divers in the tank feeding the fish.

A sea nettle.

The top of the Giant Ocean Tank.

The sea turtle popping up for some air.

A spiny urchin.

Looking back down at the penguin pool from above.

This sea turtle was having a rest.

A puffer fish.

It was a good aquarium and in the morning it wasn’t that busy. Here are the girls outside, notice what Claudia is carrying. When I agreed, I was thinking of G-ma and G-pa saying buy what they want no matter what your parents think. They were willing to carry it for the rest of the day. Not sure if they put the 50% off sign on it just to make you think you got a deal.

The New England Aquarium.

After lunch at the Beantown Pub, we walked over to the Kings Chapel. Here are the girls sitting in a pew.

The pulpit.

There is also a burying ground next to the church. This one dates back to 1630.

Next it was over to Boston Common. We walked along Beacon St. past the State House.

A statue of John F Kennedy. There was a locked gate between us.

We went by the original outside of the Cheers bar.

There were too many people at the sidewalk level taking photos, so I had Angela take one from below.

A monument in the middle of Boston Common. Look at the guy laying a the foot of it.

A closer view, not sure what was up with that, but eventually he got up and walked away.

This morning we woke up to rain and thunderstorms and a forecast of much the same for the rest of the day. The plan was to head downtown and hit the New England Aquarium. By the time we headed out the door the rain had stopped and as we drove to Riverside Station to take the subway, the sun came out. Claudia and Angela on the Greenline subway train.

Our first stop of the day was the Granary Burial Ground. This is in the heart of Boston and is the final resting place of Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin’s parents, Samuel Adams and John Hancock to name a few. The cemetery dates back to 1660.

Paul Revere’s tomb.

A lot of the headstones had these skull and crossed bones.

The headstone for Samuel Adams, one of the founding fathers of the United States. Also the namesake of some pretty good beer.

Looking down along Tremont Street.

Statue of Benjamin Franklin at the Old City Hall.

The front of Old City Hall. It now houses a Ruth Chris Steakhouse.

The top of the Old State House, it was built in 1713.

The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile, brick-lined route that leads you to 16 historically significant sites .

A view of the front of the Old State House.

We had lunch at the Quincy Market Colonnade. I had New England Clam Chowda and Angela had lobster Mac & Cheese from Boston Chowda Co.

The area between Quincy Market and the South Market.

We started to make our way over to the aquarium, but we were distracted by the sunny weather and no rain.

The line-up at the Aquarium was crazy long and we decided we would come back tomorrow earlier in the day.

The girls with Kevin White, a four term mayor of Boston.

Faneuil Hall Marketplace.

We headed over to the fishing pier for dinner at the No Name Restaurant. We walked over from downtown, it was a good hike along the water to the Seaport District.

The Spirit of Boston.

Our dinner destination, the Boston Fish Pier. It is 100 years old this year.

We all had the lobster dinner at the No Name Restaurant.

It started with bread, cole slaw, fried shrimp and scallops, french fries, and then lobster with corn on the cob.

It was a good meal and we needed to do the walk back to the subway to work it off.

The back of the fish pier.

We made our way back to Riverside Station which was only about a 10 minute drive from our hotel in Waltham. MA.

We started our summer vacation today. We are heading to Boston and Cape Cod for about a week.  From there it is up to Danvers, MA north of Boston and then back home with a stop in Syracuse, NY. One of the trip highlights is going to Fenway Park on Tuesday night to watch the Red Sox play the Blue Jays.

It is just the four of us going this year, as Gillian has stayed home due to work. She’ll have Chloe to keep her company. Here they are this morning before we left.

Claudia and Angela ready to go.

Our route today. Home (A) to Waltham, MA (B).