Tall ships weekend

We are trying to get to Nantucket Island, but unfortunately by the time I realized I needed to buy ferry tickets in advance, the times we wanted were sold out. So, we took advantage of all the fun stuff going on in Boston this weekend. It's kind of a Harbor Week/200th anniversary of the war of 1812/Fourth of July/Tall Ships festival all going on under one umbrella master event.

Six tall ships sailed into the harbor from the militaries of several countries. These are the huge old sailing ships, towering three mast vessels with lines and rigging everywhere, although the hulls are mostly steel these days. There were ships in from Brazil, Ecuador, Indonesia, Columbia, and also modern battleships from Denmark and Norway and Canada. The coast guard training tall ship, the Eagle was also in port, alongside the Constitution which permanently resides here.

We took a cheap hour long harbor tour in a small open top boat where we got to see everything from the water level. Really amazing views of the tall ships, fluttering with flags, and really giving a feel of what Boston must have been like in the earlier days when its harbor was filled with ships like these.

We've also been seeing a lot of the sailors in town, each in their own distinctive uniforms. The main event we sat in on saturday was the international tug-a-war competition where teams of six sailors from each ship competed, which was a lot of fun. The Constitution crew put in a good fight, coming in second place, but the winner went to a Canadian team.

We wandered around the Danish warship, taking the harbor ferry over with our MetroLink passes, which was very cool. It's strange to be in something spatial and architectural which was designed and made in another country.

For a late lunch, we attended the 31st annual Boston Chowderfest, where eight restaurants competed to see who had the best chowder by popular vote. Tickets were $12 a pop, but once you were in, it was all you can eat chowder-wise. I thought the Ipswitch clam company had the best chowder, but Saori disagreed, giving her vote to Anthem.

Finally, we ended up going to a heavily abridged version of the trial of the British soldiers accused of the Boston Massacre, which was held in the historic Old State House, where the original office of the British Crown resided in colonial times. John Adams and Robert T Paine were both in period costume, and other than the historian playing Adams being far more overweight than Adams was at the time, did an excelling and compelling job. It was actually a lot of fun, and they asked for volunteers from the audience to be the clerk, accused soldiers, witnesses, and jury. We found the soldiers not guilty except for two, who were found guilty of manslaughter.