As we made our way up the steps of the Massachusetts State House, we spotted two apparently aging Golden Retrievers, trying to catch up. We were five minutes late for our 12:30 p.m. tour reservation, but we were able to hop on the solo tour of an apparent college student from Hilton, NY (near Rochester), a tour we were told had already been going on for 20 minutes, so where was our 12:30 tour guide? Regardless, Mary, Colleen believes her name was (she was trying really hard to see her name tag), was there to lead us through. She was a great storyteller, but sometimes her fear that she was being too long-winded caused her to miss some things and even lose her place. Toward the end, Colleen and Jon had to do much encouraging just to get her to finish a sentence. Colleen's question about when lawmakers are in session went unanswered (Mary just said that they are required to be in session every 72 hours, so apparently they don't get a break for Christmas.)
Highlights included the Great Hall featuring flags from all the Massachusetts counties and the state seals from past to present. The Senate chambers were quite intimate and the perfect wedding reception set-up. A surprise was that John Adams' tribute was incredibly puny.
We had planned to go ice skating on the Frog Pond but nixed that when we saw it was $8 for the skate rental and another $4 for "admission." At least seeing the frogs was free. Also free, hot chocolate from Starbucks using year-old gift cards. Following the Freedom Trail led us to one, after stopping in the King's Chapel cemetery and the Dominick the Donkey statue.
We then stumbled upon a cute little museum inside the Old South Meeting House, where people paid to sit backwards (we were told they'd put the kids there).Then it was home for hamburger helper, day two of Dick Cheney (he lost) and American Idol. --POSTED BY COLLEEN
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