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Start the USA’s 250th party early

7th July 20257th July 2025 funtime65

Paul Revere has long completed his Midnight Ride and the first shots have been fired at Lexington and Concord, so we can start the USA’s 250th party early, right?

The USA is in full excited preparation mode for next year’s Semiquincentennial celebrations as we discovered at its travel fair in Chicago.

Quite a mouthful, although the Classics-loving Founding Fathers would no doubt have approved.

The veritas est (that’s one for my old Latin teacher ‘Weed’ McCafferty) America’s revolution is played out daily across the old 13 colonies.

The Cradle of the Revolution

And nowhere more so than in the Cradle of the Revolution Boston.

Where visitors are invited to channel their inner Patriots, holler Huzzah and throw a crate of tea (on a pulley) into the harbour.

At the award-winning Boston Tea Party Museum.

Or walk the 2.5kms Freedom Trail to take in 16 of the sites critical to that first year of the Revolutionary War.

That there isn’t a plaque marking my time working in Faneuil Hall, or the Irish bar institution that is The Black Rose, is probably an oversight.

But we’re sure that our friends in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will have that rectified.

By the time they invite us out for the 250th anniversary of the actual signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Bustin’ for Boston 250

Boston will, of course, do American proud as it did back then and has been ever since.

It has an ongoing hub to curate projects aligned to Boston 250.

And the city’s enduring contribution to Freedom.

With Martin Luther King’s rally in Boston in 1965, a momentous year for the world with the birth of one very important travel blogger, commemorated.

With the dedication of Freedom March Square at the entrance to Boston Common.

A Common purpose

The Common is the oldest (and Boston has a lot of those firsts) public green space in America, dating back to 1634.

And Bostonians are rightly proud of their playground which will be central to next year’s festivities.

Our Beantown Buddies, of course, have proved with blood, bravuro and beer that they will defend their liberties to the hilt.

But that respect, of course, is twofold, particularly when you’re a visitor from its old overlords.

Which is why we observed the no unlicensed drinking of cans on the Common or outside at all.

But Nick the #&%*, a randomer on our plane who had attached himself to us, arrogantly ignored the rules and landed himself a fine.

A mistake we won’t ever be making. Because Bostonians still live out their Patriot days daily here.

Which is why they would every right to start the USA’s 250th party early because this is where it all started.

Countries

Frasier bustin’ for Boston again

22nd February 202322nd February 2023 funtime65

Time, if not life, has been kind to our favourite TV psychiatrist as we go back to the future for the reboot of his story, with Frasier bustin’ for Boston again.

And who can blame Dr Crane for returning to Boston tee-hee party after three decades?

We retraced our footsteps too in Boston last year after 35 years.

Frasier, of course, crashed onto our consciences in Cheers, and the Doc will find it is still there down the stairs.

And everyone will know his name if he walks through the bar.

With the rebranded drinking den (it was known as the Bull & Finch) a magnet for television sitcom fans who gladly pull up Norm’s stool for a beer.

The Merch of Boston

Boston, as American cities do but we here in Europe tend not to as much, was quick to see the possibility of merchandising the programme.

When we first visited, and stayed back in 1987.

It was the height of the sitcom’s popularity and my travelling pal Neilly manned one of the carts around town.

And, of course, we returned with t-shirts, tankards, you name it…

Alas, all of which have been lost to time, extended girths and moves around this and other countries.

The Bull & Finch, or Cheers, on Beacon Hill, past the Common, is, of course, one of just a host of great traditional bars around Boston.

Rose of Boston

And it was good to see that The Black Rose, State Street, Downtown, had lost none of its lustre.

In the years since I poured beer, waited tables (though no Carla me) and manned the door.

As the 24th biggest city in the US with a population of 675,647 and with land reclaimed from the harbour Boston is spacious.

But also a nice cosy hub down by the historic Old Boston, by Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market.

Best bar none

And anyone who goes down there should bar hop from the Bell in Hand Tavern to the Green Dragon Tavern to the Sam Adams Downtown Boston Taproom.

There is naturally competition among the bars down here as to who is the oldest.

And claims too of Sam drinking down there, while the Taproom also sells the best Adams merch.

The irony may be that the modern-day Sam and Frasier’s rival/friend metamorphosed into a bar owner who doesn’t drink.

But that won’t stop you… and to bluff it as a local then you should ask for a Sam (that’s Adams, not Malone, keep up) at the bar.

Sleepless since Seattle

We’d hope that the years since Seattle for Frasier have been kind in Chicago, a blue-collar sports city which has much in common with Boston.

Because Carla, and we do hope she makes an appearance having had a cameo in Frasier is there to meet him with the old gang.

As we hear much of the Frasier cast won’t be returning.

And with Frasier bustin’ for Boston again, so are we.

And when you do then we’d recommend flying out of Dublin with Aer Lingus and a sample weekend trip in April would be €603.92.

With you avoiding pre-clearance and staying at the Envoy Hotel which looks out over the Boston Tea Party Museum.

America, Countries

Flagging up Betsy Ross and Philly

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And so I put a hat on it at the US Soiree in Dublin and planned all things Philadelphia with the sponsors… and the chance to be flagging up Betsy Ross and Philly.

Because I’ve been known to drop everything to wrap myself up in the Stars and Stripes.

And even got up at the crack of dawn to take an eight-hour round trip from Washington DC to Philly to see an old bell, and a cracked one at that.

Of course, you can’t do everything in Philly in an afternoon.

Phillyphiles

With my old pal and Britain’s biggest Phillyphile Greg Evans spending a lifetime promoting the City of Brotherly Love to all us travel professionals.

And that is why the most famous Philadelphian woman of them all and her house remain on my to-do list.

No, not Adrian, Rocky’s beloved…

Ross the boss

But Betsy Ross who bequeathed to future generations the Stars and Stripes.

Betsy, as it happens, would be 270 if she were alive today.

But in fairness she looks good on it at the Betsy Ross House.

You’ll see her as small as life (women in those days were legally obliged to be tiny).

At the end of your tour of the house.

That’s fare

Betsy is the perfect host in her upholstery shop where she will lead you through her exciting life and times.

Now Betsy’s welcome extends to only charin adults $8 for a ticket or $10 for the audio tour.

While children, seniors, military and students can find out how Betsy is woven into the American tapestry.

For just $6 and $8 for the audio.

And if you’re under three or a senior citizen then it doesn’t cost you anything… this really is the land of the free.

Free yes with freedom of expression which means freedom to expound nonsense.

Part of the American tapestry

Scots were here: The Clearances and Philadelphia

And that is what Macy Gray and the current cancel culture’s latest hobby horse of changing the American flag is all about.

If nothing else this dismisses the work Betsy and the women of the revolution did for the cause as I found out at the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum on my recent East Coast travels in New England.

Betsy only persuaded George Washington and two pals Robert Morris and George Ross when they visited in 1776 that she could improve their sketch.

And she convinced Washington to change the shape of the stars from six-pointed to five-pointed by demonstrating that it was easier and speedier to cut the latter.

Ross made flags for the Pennsylvanian navy during the American Revolution.

After the Revolution, she made US flags for more than 50 years, including 50 garrison flags for the U.S. Arsenal on the Schuylkill River during 1811.

And that’s why we’re happy to be flagging up Betsy Ross and Philly.

And we’ll obviously be keeping you updated with all the new charms of Philly and all our Stateside friends.