It was a fairly early morning today as I had booked a tour of Fenway Park for 9:00. As it took a bus and two different subway lines to arrive at Fenway Park from the hotel I left a bit earlier as needed to have a buffer as the wait time for each subway and bus could vary depending on when I arrive at the transfer points. When I did arrive at the subway stop for Fenway Park it was decorated.
Immediately after exiting the subway station I saw the iconic CITGO sign which is always visible during the baseball game telecasts.
I arrived a bit early, so I explored around the outside of the stadium while I waited for the 9:00 AM tour.
After going through security and a metal detector (lots of fun when you travel like I do – with a GoPro, Mirrorless Camera, batteries, phones, etc. Eventually I made it through security. The entrance reminded me of Wrigley Field.
The first stop was the blue chairs which are the old wooden seats with iron supports. If I remember correctly the blue seats date back to 1934! They are very similar to the seats I sat in at Dunn Field in Elmira, NY which used to have a single A baseball team affiliated with the Red Sox.
the blue seats the blue seats view from the blue seats
The tour group then went up towards the Sam Adams deck. I took a couple of pictures of the Boston skyline and the TV trucks which were there for the game at 1 PM today.
TV trucks
From this location way down the right field line the group walked towards home plate (as much as you can from the stands).
Easy to see the CITGO sign in this photo. The scoreboard is still operated by 2 people manually in a very tight unairconditioned area
I got a photo of the Fenway Farms which supplies 30% of the produce used at the park – although I don’t think there is much produce inside a hot dog, I’m not really sure what actually goes into a hot dog.
The next area had a great angle with some of the skyscrapers from Boston behind the outfield stands.
The final stop was the Monster seats. The only way to access these seats (during a game) is to have a ticket for them. The seats apparently sell for as much as $600 a game. I’m not sure it’s the best view, but it is certainly special to sit on top of the Green Monster.
Monster Seats the view from the seats
This was the end of the tour, they told us about the foul pole when Carlton Fisk waved his ball fair during Game 6 of the World Series (not Game 7 – they lost that game). They had a picture of Carlton Fisk nearby and I took a picture on my way back down. I took a few more photos of the outside of the stadium.
The monster seats from outside
The tour was priced quite reasonably, in fact I thought it was a much better value than watching an actual game. I got to see the view from multiple different angles, take plenty of photos, learn a little about the history of the stadium and the Red Sox. So, yes I would recommend it to anyone visiting Boston even if you don’t care much for baseball, it is an interesting historic building.
It started to rain, so I made my way back to the city to have lunch. Along the way I found this nice bridge as well as a good view of the Prudential building.
I took the metro back downtown… the green one. Just in case you don’t know what color the line is they painted the subway the same color. I feel bad for colorblind people.
Since it was a rainy, gloomy day I decided to try to have lunch at the Neptune Oyster place, I arrived shortly after they opened at 11:00 AM and there was a very long line, and it is a very small place. At the front of the line I was told it would be an hour wait for a table, but in fact it was closer to 90 minutes. I accidentally found the holocaust memorial which was nearby when I was exploring while I was waiting.
I walked over to the Old State House and only saw the subway station in the basement. I didn’t walk around the entire building, but took the subway back to the restaurant.
the Old State House
I walked back to Neptune Oyster and waited until the table was ready. I sued the time to book myself a flight to Miami for $97 round trip.
Oysters in the window Oysters front of the restaraunt Lobstah roll Spanish octopus Clam chowder
After I was seated I had yet another Lobstah roll. It was good, but I think I like the one at Row 34 better, it had more butter. I suppose this one tasted more like lobster and maybe that was the point of not drowning it in butter.
After lunch I went to the museum side of the Old State House (as opposed to the subway station in the basement).
The ticket for the Old State House also included admission to the Old South Meeting House, so I went there next.
I walked across the street to a CVS or Walgreens to get a coke and some ice cream for a bit of a break. There were some statues across the street from the Old South Meeting House.
I walked down the Freedom Trail a little further to see King’s Chapel and also discovered what looked like the bridge of sighs in Venice and Old Boston City Hall.
the Bridge of Sighs in Boston? King’s Chapel Venetian styled facade
Continuing along the Freedom Trail I came across the Granary Burial Ground. Quite a few notable people are buried here – Paul Revere, John Hancock and Samuel Adams.
the people killed in the Boston Massacre
My next stop was the Boston Commons, which was a bit boring to me. The Public Garden next to it was much nicer.
The Public Garden even had swan boats.
I walked a little further and took some pictures of more churches along the way.
I took the subway to Chinatown, and the station had a couple of antique subway cars on display. Chinatown was nice, but it was not as impressive as the one in Sydney, Australia.
Dinner was an Uber Eats delivered pizza. I was tired of all the fancy food and just wanted normal food for a change. It took a while to arrive, but it did satisfy me.