We await a Red Line train in the MBTA's Porter Square station, Somerville.

Approaching the Massachusetts State House, home of the 'Big Dig' budget deficit extravaganza.

The Granary Burial Ground next to the Park Street Church is the resting place of many famous people, including Mary Goose, the author of the Mother Goose nursery rhymes.

Paul Revere is also buried at the Granary Burial Ground, along with Samuel Adams, James Otis, John Hancock and the victims of the Boston Massacre.

The King's Chapel at the corner of Tremont and Beacon Streets is decorated with silver ornaments donated by King George III prior to the American Revolution.

Now a popular restaraunt, Boston's beautiful Old City Hall stands just a block away from its modern, concrete replacement.

Now eclipsed by the skyscrapers built in the ninteenth and twentieth centuries, the Old State House was made famous by its inclusion in Paul Revere's popular etching of the Boston Massacre (inset). The massacre took place on King Street, now State Street, when the building was called the Town House and served as a barracks for British soldiers.

The group pauses between Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. Now a place to eat, drink and see comedy, Quincy Market was once a center of New England commerce. Boston's old shoreline allowed ships to exchange cargo directly at Quincy Market. The tower in the background is built atop the old Custom House.

Paul Revere's house, located in the Boston's North End, is not far from some of the city's best Italian restaurants. Built well before Revere owned it, the house is the oldest surviving urban residence in the United States.

We head across Hanover Street, the hub of Boston's historic North End, toward the Old North Church. Built in 1723, Old North gained its fame in 1775, when its steeple bore the twin lanterns that signaled Paul Revere to warn the people of Lexington and Concord of an impending British invasion from the Charles River.

A statue of St. Francis of Assisi in the garden next to the Old North Church.

Walking up Hull Street along the wall of the Copp's Hill Burial Ground. The crest of the hill is now dominated by the new Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, part of the Central Artery Tunnel Project, or "Big Dig."

The steeple of the Old North Church peeks over the North End's brick buildings at the Copps Hill Burial Ground. Like other downtown cemetaries Copps Hill dates to the eighteenth century. The slate tombstone of a separatist colonial bears the round marks of British musket shells.

Crossing the Charlestown Bridge. This bridge is the most direct link to Charlestown, where the freedom trail leads to the USS Constitution and the Bunker Hill Monument, the latter of which is visible on the horizon at center.

Constructed as part of Boston's Big Dig, the new Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge is the widest cable-suspended bridge in the world, and the only one that is asymetrical (it has an extra lane on one side). Its towers are designed to emulate the obelisk design of the nearby Bunker Hill Monument.

Emily (center) snaps a photo of the new Bunker Hill Bridge from the entrance to the Charlestown Navy Yard. The Navy Yard is the permanent home of the USS Constitution.

The USS Constitution, originally built for service in the War of 1812, earned the nickname "Old Ironsides" when it repeatedly withstood enemy cannon fire. It is the oldest commissioned vessel in the world. Admission is free, though security is tight since 9/11.

The Navy Yard around the Constitution affords excellent views of Boston.

A forward view of the Constitution.

An aft view of the Constitution.

Waiting in line for the Constitution.

Sam, Emily and Katie on board the Constitution.

The Constitution's mast and rigging.

Katie, Sam and Steph pose at the bow of the ship.

Emily, Katie and Sam amid canon on the deck of the Constitution.

Jennifer, Katie, Emily and I pose at one of the ship's retired anchors.

A gas-lit street in Charlestown, looking downhill from Monument Square. Charlestown dates to the 1630s and was settled a few years before Boston.

When in 1775 the minuteman militia received orders to secure Bunker Hill from the British, they proceeded to secure to the fort on nearby Breed's Hill instead. Thus began the Battle of Bunker Hill - on the wrong hill. Here we climb the first few steps to the ninteenth-century Bunker Hill Monument; the real Bunker Hill is a few blocks to the north.

Jennifer and Emily pause at the top of the Bunker Hill Monument after a climb up 294 stone spiral steps.

The view Southwest from the Bunker Hill Monument includes most of the city skyline, the new Bunker Hill Bridge and bits of Charlestown.

The view due South from the Bunker Hill Monument includes part of the city skyline, the Charlestown Navy Yard with the USS Constitution and bits of Charlestown.

Brian, Jennifer, Emily and Katie attempt to demonstrate the enormous size of the Monument by standing beneath it.

Jennifer, Emily, Katie, Sandy and Steph at the entrance to the Monument's informative museum.