New England Trip Day 1

We went to Minuteman Historical Park today. This place is located in Concord, MA, about 25 miles from Boston's Logan Airport.

 
You can get here by public transportation but there's a lot of walking involved. I'd recommend a car.

Minuteman Historical Site is considered the site for the opening battle of the American Revolution. On April 19, 1775, ordinary farmers were pushed to their limits by the British Government. The "Shot Heard Around The World" was fired in this park at this bridge:

What I found interesting was that the "shot" was actually the command from the American Militia to fire back. It wasn't as much the shot itself, but the command to attack the British troops, which was treasonous. This skirmish, followed by years or war, eventually led to the Treaty of Paris (1783) where the Revolutionary War ended and the US became a sovereign nation. A group of rag-tag farmers revolted against a powerful empire. It was interesting to learn about the Natives and people of African descent that fought in the Revolutionary War. They were fighting for inalienable rights, but the Declaration and other documents that followed almost had an asterisk with exceptions to women, Blacks and Natives.

Politics aside, it was an inspiring location. I always enjoy learning about some butt-kicking against the Brits. It's not that I don't like the Brits; I have been accused of being anglophile. But my Nepalese nationalism takes over because of how unfair the Sugauli treaty was settling the 1814 Anglo-Nepalese War. So this was an interesting take, where the British had to sign an unfavorable treaty themselves.

After the Minuteman Historical site, we grabbed some lunch at this place called Chicken & Rice Guys. It was cheap and fast service--highly recommended! The parking is a pain though. I am not good, at all, at parallel parking. In fact, I went to a different county than mine to get my driver's license, because they didn't require parallel parking! I should have trusted A on her mad skills, but I didn't. So instead of 2-point parallel parking, I ended up doing an 8-point park job. Oh well, it's not like I live in a city or anything (sarcasm--I live in DC. I better learn this fast).

We went to the USS Constitution after lunch. This was a pleasant surprise! Although we did not get to go into the ship itself (there was a special event with the Navy), it was still great learning about American war ships. This specific one was commissioned by George Washington himself in 1799 and it is amazing that it is still floating. The Old Iron Clad as it is called, has been reinforced multiple times and is getting restored to its old glory with contributions from people that love history.

  

Although the USS Constitution was closed, we ended up going to a little boat nearby. I'll zoom in here

Oh hey--not really very small. It  is the USS Cassin Young. This destroyer, described as "all purpose ship" housed 395 crew members and served in World War II and Korean war. It displays amazing engineering as well as innovation that occurred in WWII.

We strolled around Boston after that meeting up with A's college friend. We went to Paul Revere's House

 We then went to the Old North Church, where Paul Revere signaled how the British were headed to Concord to control the rebels.

 After dinner we headed to Faneuil Hall that served as a town-hall for Bostonians, and is said to have been the site where Samuel Adams and James Otis gave speeches to encourage independence from Great Britain.

Boston has a good public transportation system, so we mainly just took train. The day pass is $12 and is highly recommended as you can get unlimited rides on the train and the bus. The main spots we saw were close to one area, so you can see the essentials along the Freedom Trail. We did not make it to Harvard or South Boston, but I guess we have to leave things for next time!