Old North Church Boston- The Lantern Lighting Ceremony

Well hello. It's me the absentee blogger. I am so sorry for the lack of blog posts lately. The good news is I have been keeping busy with some really fun events and I will take you along with me through my posts. So there is lots to talk about in the next few weeks.

Tonight I am posting about an event I attended last weekend, the Old North Church Lantern Lighting Ceremony. If you have walked the Freedom Trail in Boston you inevitably passed by the Old North Church.

Prior to the ceremony, we spied reenacters who would later ride by the church. Surely you recognize Paul Revere and William Dawes. They saw the two lanterns in the belfry of the Old North Church and rode through Middlesex towns shouting the warning, "The British are coming!"

Single pew seats were quite expensive so my sister, our friend Debbi and I opted for the balcony seats. We had a nice overall view.

Also, we had a wonderful view of the 1st Michigan Colonial Fife and Drum Corps. The beating of the drum was music to my ears and went right through my body, building the excitement of what was to come.

 Minutemen from various towns processed in the church.

The church is stunning and it is overwhelming to me to think of the history associated with it. The bells were rung before the ceremony. Just beautiful!

Such a spectacular organ, and we were sitting very close to it. I really enjoyed my vantage point.

The Old North Chamber Choir sang a number of songs including America and America the Beautiful. It was so poignant.

Our new Mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh, was the keynote speaker. The poem Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was read. I had to memorize it for school perhaps you did too.

The two lanterns were lit and hung in the steeple.

When we exited the church, a crowd had formed on Salem Street and surrounding streets in the North End.

We saw the two lanterns hanging in the steeple and then Paul Revere rode by on his horse. I guess he saw the lanterns too.

The North End of Boston has no less than 6o restaurants lining it's streets. We walked around the area on our way back to the subway at North Station. We found a nice little café and had a caffeination break. This is my sister's hot chocolate.

I could not pass up the chocolate mousse cake. The North End cafes are known for wonderful coffees and desserts. Parking is difficult as many of the streets are narrow and one way. It is so much nicer if you take the subway in as we did.

We decided to take a particular route back to the subway so we could see the Zakim bridge illuminated. I wanted to snap a photo. It is illuminated with many colors of light so it changes from blue to red to purple to yellow.

And the skyline was as fantastic as always as we approached our North Station subway stop.