[Customs House and Columbus Park on the Boston waterfront; 7/21/12]
Saturday was one of those rare perfect weather days, sunny and dry, and unimaginably beautiful on the waterfront when we got to the Long Wharf marina. A salty breeze blowing in off the water, cool spashes washing up against the seawall. Even the midling throng of weekend tourists was pleasantly tolerable.
Our destination was Charlestown, another peninsula neighborhood of Boston, across the Charles River from the North End. We have been to Charlestown before, a couple of years ago to stroll around the Charlestown Navy Yard (one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the US Navy and home to the 1797-built USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides") and last year to visit the iconic Bunker Hill Monument. But we hadn't been along the rest of the Charlestown stretch of the Harborwalk project. We thought we might take the ferry from Long Wharf, but the line for tickets (for various destinations) was long, so we decided to walk over via the North End Harborwalk.
[Tudor Wharf (Bunker Hill in background) in Charlestown; 7/21/12]
After meandering along the wharfs in Boston's North End, stopping for clam chowder and beer at the Sail Loft, exploring the newish Fairmont Battery Wharf Hotel, Puopolo Park, the old dilapidated Submarine Signal Building (soon to be renovated for condos), and crossing the Charlestown Bridge, we finally made it to Charlestown.We avoided the lines to tour the Constitution, strolled onto the WWII-era destroyer ship USS Cassin in dry dock, then continued along to new territory for us: the marinas past Constitution Wharf, where houseboats gently rocked at their moorings.
[Houseboats, Shipyard Marina, Charlestown; 7/21/12]
Past wealthy wharfside condos (the parking garage full of Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, etc) and a few less high-falutin' digs across the way, we came across an enormous building project on the point which turned out to be the new Spaulding Rehab Hospital facility (being built to the tune of $220M).
We did manage to get the last ferry back from Charlestown at 6:30pm for a brief but lovely boatride back to the city. I dragged from there to the T stop with sore hips and knees, then from the T in Back Bay home, with a stop for some Thai food on the way.
So then a rest for Sunday, you might ask? Well, sorta. In the early afternoon, after reading the paper, we had a hankering for guacamole made tableside, so we took the T over to South Station and walked the block or so across the canal to Papagallo for guacamole and tortilla chips and some empanadas. But we were so close to yet another stretch of the Harborwalk project that follows Fort Point Channel past the Boston Children's Museum and over to Fan Pier. It was an easy stroll, and another lovely day. It did, however, require trekking several blocks (or wharfs) back along the waterfront to the nearest T station. We certainly got our share of walking and sunshine.
[Seaport Blvd bridge over Fort Point Channel; 7/22/12]
The whole (vastly edited) batch of photos from the weekend is here.
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