Kind of a Hogwarts moment

Some of my very favourite travel memories are brought about by surprise. Several years ago, we discovered the Needle's Eye, and it was a fantastic adventure that would not--could not--have had the same effect on me if we had planned it ahead of time.

The Boston Tea Party Museum was another such surprise.

I have to be honest here--I'm a bit cheap when it comes to admission prices for things, and at $27 a person, it is unlikely that I would have chosen to go in.  Oh, I get that it's hard to keep museums and special attractions afloat without a source of income, but while I want to support such ventures, it's hard to swallow a $60 expense for the privilege of walking in the door.  So often it just isn't worth it.

There were three of us however, and we had just enough time to go to the museum before we had to check out of the hotel.  It won by virtue of being close, I think. And it was terrific.

The tour guides were all in period costume and took on personalities of the day.  They were knowledgeable and fun, and very good at inciting us to riot.  We were given feathers for our caps--a sign that we were revolutionaries, after all, and character cards so we'd know who we were representing.  After agreeing to take part in the revolution, to never drink British tea again and to show our support to never buy British products again,  we went down to the boat, and there the guys really got into throwing the tea overboard.

After they exerted their muscles, we were all guided into another part of the museum where there was a holographic movie, more opinions from the people.  There was another display after that, where we all listened to the great granddaughter of someone who happened to save the very very last tea box from the big day.  Okay, this part was a little silly actually, for the tea box was given such reverence--a rotating stand with special lighting, a voice over to hear about the box.

After that though, we turned around to see the portrait gallery, and this by far, was my favourite moment.  Framed like the other portraits, but not at all the same, the King of England and Sam Adams (the guy, not the beer) started debating the issues.  The portraits came alive a la Hogwarts, and it was so well done.  Following that was a movie about Paul Revere's ride.  I was so glad to see that the King and Sam Adams hadn't actually changed into other actors.  Somehow, that would have ruined it for me.

It was the last adventure, but it was great.  Go see it.