History and Hip-Hop in the Big City

My husband's sister is here visiting with her five children, a nephew, and her three dogs, and we are so busy and having so much fun that I forgot all about blogging yesterday. Well, I didn't really forget; it was more like I played hooky. We had a full day, though; there wasn't much time for sitting at my laptop.  There was a lot of bacon to fry in the morning, of course, as well as a lot of chatting to do with a dear sister-in-law with whom I don't get to visit often enough.  And after a huge Sunday brunch together in the dining room, our seven house guests, my husband, my youngest son, and I all set out for a day exploring nearby Boston.  (The dogs stayed home and held down the fort.)


We rode the T in and took a Freedom Trail tour, which is a walking tour that highlights different historical spots throughout Boston--the city that is known as the birthplace of the American Revolution.  We started the tour in Boston Common, led by an enthusiastic tour guide dressed in Colonial garb.

We saw such sights as the Old State House, in front of which the Boston Massacre took place.  In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was first read to the citizens of Boston from the balcony of this building.

Just after the tour ended, we happened upon a street show that was, as true Bostonians would say, wicked awesome.  There was a group of young men (eight of them, I believe)  break dancing and doing the kind of forward and backward flips, handsprings and whatnot that you see in the floor routines of Olympic gymnasts--and they were doing it without mats!  At one point, they lined up four young ladies and had them bend over, and one of the guys got a running start and flipped in the air over the girls' backs (sort of like Evel Kneivel jumping his motorcycle over four buses in a row).  That show was the icing on our cake.

Our adventure in the big city ended at Faneuil Hall, where we got some dinner and ice cream before heading back to the T for the trip home to NH.  We'd seen a lot of history--such as the Old South Meeting House where the Boston Tea Party was planned, Paul Revere's grave, and the Old North Church of "one if by land, two if by sea" fame--and then at the end of our historical tour we were fortunate enough to be entertained by a group of thoroughly modern, athletically gifted (and wicked funny to boot) hip-hop dancers.


It's because of 18th century Bostonians like Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and all those "Sons of Liberty" who roused up their fellow Americans to fight the tyranny of the British government that we live in the freest country in the world...a country where dancers and other artists have the freedom to perform on the streets of our cities any time they wish.  The American Revolution was fought and won by all those brave Patriots long ago, so there's no need for a Dance Dance Revolution today.  (Bad joke.  I'm sorry.  I'm going to go now.)