We only had two days in Boston and we wanted to make the most of them, so we got an early start Saturday morning to drive to the city from Cape Cod. We returned the rental car and dropped our luggage at Harborside Inn, which was a great location for the weekend. We had some time to wander around Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market before meeting our guide for Boston By Foot’s Heart of the Freedom Trail tour. This informative walking tour ended up being about 1.5 hours and took us by some of the famous historical sites, such as the Old State House and The Granary Burying Ground. It was a beautiful day and perfect for walking and learning some history.

From where our tour ended we walked through Downtown Crossing to Chinatown. We had lunch at Tora Ramen and bubble tea from One Zo. After checking out Chinatown we made our way to the Boston Open Market at Copley Square (market featuring local artists, designers, and makers) and then walked back to Harborside Inn, choosing a route that took us through the Public Garden and Boston Common.

One thing we really miss from the East Coast is Italian food and we were excited to return to the North End (we loved that our hotel was a short walk from there). We had delicious pizza at Locale, walked around the North End, and saw a show at Improv Asylum. Even later in the evening there was a long line at Modern Pastry, but it was worth it to wait (plus, the line did move pretty quickly). The various pastries and cookies we got were top notch.

We were back in the North End Sunday morning for a history and food tour with Intrepid Urban Adventures. This was a terrific tour! We started at Christopher Columbus Park, although this is somewhat of a misnomer now as his statue was beheaded and thrown in the water. Nevertheless, this is the gateway to the historic North End and we headed to Hanover Street, the heart of the North End and had dessert first at Caffe Vittoria (the oldest Italian Cafe in Boston since 1929). The fresh filled cannolis and cappuccino were spot on! The second stop was a shop called Bricco Panetteria, located in a little alleyway (easy to miss unless you know where you are going) and had a delicious parmesan and prosciutto stuffed Italian bread. Also delicious were the Italian sandwiches from Monica’s Pasta Shop. I’ve had my share of Italian sandwiches and this might have been the best I have ever had. We ate our sandwiches in a little park by Paul Revere’s House and also caught a viewpoint where we could see five centuries of architecture. Our next stop was Old North Church, where we learned about its historical significance (the famous “one if by land, two if by sea”) and walked through the church. I have never seen a church with the boxes and was also amused by the official pokey thing used if people fell asleep. We had a nice view of the steeple from Copp’s Hill, where we also learned about the Spite House and the Great Molasses Flood of 1919. We had one last food stop at Regina Pizzeria. On the way there we walked by Prince Street (where Prince Pasta was founded and a famous Prince Spaghetti commercial was filmed). We really enjoyed our tour - it was a great mix of food and history!

In the afternoon we met friends at the New England Aquarium. It’s a great aquarium, but it was very crowded so we didn’t stay as long as we normally would. We had some bubble tea outside from the food trucks then made our way to Chinatown via the Greenway. I went to college in Boston many years ago and remember this area of Boston before and it wasn’t pretty. The Big Dig was an insane project but the end result is so much nicer and better for walking in this area of the city. We enjoyed a tasty hot pot dinner and desserts in Chinatown before calling it a night. Our time in Boston was short, but we managed to pack a lot in and had a fantastic time!