Boston has another advantage for the budget-conscious. Its public
transportation system is cheap (we purchase 3-day unlimited "T"
visitor passes for $18 each), and decipherable by an 11-year-old.
After scanning Boston from on high, we plunge down into the subway.
We are looking for the train to Park Street, but apparently I am
not looking quickly enough.
"Can I see the subway map, Dad?" asks Cullen.
His brow wrinkles.
"Let's see … Green line to Park. And then, if we want to go on,
maybe the Red line to Quincy Market."
Any parent knows it is only a matter of time before we are
eaten.
Visiting Boston and ignoring the Freedom Trail - 16 nationally
significant historic sites along a 2.5-mile walk make for the
world's easiest history lesson - is like visiting Venice and
ignoring the water. History is not always the primary interest of
the young (Graham: "When can we swim in the hotel rooftop pool?"),
but as a child my parents dragged me to museums. Now it is my turn
to get even.
Exiting from the Park Street station, we find ourselves at Boston
Common. Bostonians love to eat ("Bostonians," crowed one info
plaque, "are the biggest consumers of ice cream in the U.S.").
There are restaurants everywhere, and where there aren't
restaurants there are street vendors, their carts wafting the scent
of everything from sweet Italian sausage to fried dough topped with
custard.
The boys sample the latter.
It is my job to ask the stupid question.
"Good?"
Preoccupied with consumption, no one gives me an answer.
Boston bills itself as America's Walking City and it's true.
"It's safe and easy to walk all over the city," a local had told me
earlier. "Plus, you don't even want to try driving a car."