Momboisse Family Adventures, Boston Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts

With the limited amount of time we had available to us in Boston, we choose to take one of the Princess organized tours. If given the opportunity to see Boston again, we would tour on our own using this tinyurl.com/ycpjem9a we created before leaving home.

Our 2 1/2 hour tour ($54 per person), focused more on shopping options than history. With that said, here are the highlights.

Our tour bus drove us two miles and dropped us at The Tudor (built in 1886 and converted to condos in 1999) at the intersection of Beacon and Joy Streets. Our group filed down the steps leading to Boston Common where we met our tour guide.

We strolled .1 mile along the edge of Boston Common before exiting at the next set of stairs to view the Massachusetts State House.

Today, the seat of Massachusetts state government, the Massachusetts State House was completed in 1798. Bostonian Charles Bulfinch was so successful with this architectural design, that he was hired to design the state capitol for Connecticut and Maine.

The dome was originally covered with wooden shingles, but they leaked so in 1802 Paul Revere's firm clad it in copper. It was gilded with gold leaf for the first time in 1874. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).