Boston Blinks & an evening downtown

Wednesday night, we met some friends in Boston to see the new lights show at Faneuil Hall, Boston Blinks!

Since we don't get into Boston often enough anymore, Travis and I headed downtown a few hours early so we could wander around for a while.  We started at Boston Common and saw the first tree of the evening, which was a gift from Nova Scotia (thanks Canada!).  There was also a tree in front of the State House (you can kind of see it in the distance there).

Our pretty church, Park Street!

Then we wandered over to Government Center, where we decided to take a carriage ride!  (Travis and I love being tourists in our city.)  The horse was super sweet and was all dressed up for Christmas.

After the ride, we were significantly windblown and frozen, so we did a little shopping.  (Basically, we went in every store we saw...even if we weren't interested in what they were selling...because they had heat.)  Then we met our friends Ann, Terence, and Jerin for dinner and the lights show.

Dinner was at Durgin Park, an authentic tavern-style Boston restaurant serving New England staples and comfort food.  Their shepherd's pie is fantastic (3 of the 5 of use got that), but I think the real winner was Travis' corned beef and cabbage.  SO good.



Then for the lights!!  There were lights everywhere - over 350,000 LED on two massive Christmas trees, wrapping around the trees lining the cobblestone walkways, and outlining the buildings.  Then, every 30 minutes (or so they say, since nothing happened at 8pm...) the lights put on a show to the Pops performing the Hallelujah Chorus.

Faneuil Hall

We thought that tree was big until we saw was was waiting for us on the other side of Quincy Market.

If you're interested in seeing Boston Blinks, you have until January 1, 2013!  The show runs nightly from 4:30  to 9pm (7pm on Sundays) and is definitely worth a trip downtown!  Check out their website for more information.