We took this photo in November of 2000 from the Rose Wharf Hotel looking back toward the city.  The six lane highway cutting through the city was Route 93.

This was the view this weekend looking from the North End back into the city.  There is still a lot of construction happening in the middle, but the entire highway has now been moved underground!

On most Saturdays, the Haymarket in the North End is hopping with both tourists and locals.  Many come to shop, some just to look around.  Just remember this little tip... don't touch anything unless you plan on taking it home.

The Haymarket is famous for its low prices and huge selections on everything from produce to fish.  If you want it fresh, you get it here or at WholeFoods... the price difference is about 300%.

The North End is home to many wonderful Italian restaurants, bakeries, and coffee shops.  We started our day at Cafe Pompei with a triple espresso and a hardy breakfast.  

We immediately followed it up with a stop at Mike's Bakery.  The bakery is famous for its wedding cakes, pies, and cannoli.  They are pretty good at making stuff with mazipan as well :-)

After the infusion of caffeine and pastries, we were ready to tackle the North End.  Our first stop was The Old North Church.  We are going to see if we can arrange for a visit to the tower itself.

As we walked around we couldn't help but notice all the changes in this neighborhood now that the Big Dig is winding down.  Much of the old charm of the North End is still here, but the neigborhood is moving forward. 

Back in 2002, before the Zakim bridge was opened for car traffic, the city had a day when folks were invited to walk on the bridge.  Of course, RainyDayMagazine was there :-)  Much of the steel overpass for Route 93 was in the process of being dismantled.

It is great to see how much progress had been made since then.   We are sure many of the long time residence are happy with the changes... especially with the great view of the Zakim Bridge now that Route 93 is under ground.  Now if they would just FINISH the BigDig so we can enjoy the parks and outdoor spaces they promised us when it all started!

We've decided to do things differently on RainyDaySports in 2006: instead of doing individual FirstUse reviews for each piece of gear, we'll be taking a bunch of gear with us on planned outings and reviewing them as a group.

Our 2006 SpringOuting will be an “Urban Hike” in Boston.  Many cities have beautiful outdoor spaces such as arboretum, parks, and converted railways which are perfect for day hikes and picnics.

Often, we stroll in them for a short period of time and then go back to our daily grind.  We thought...what if we planned a hike in the city the same way we would plan an outing in the country?  What would we bring? Where would we go?

In our planning meeting we realized that because it was local, we had planned WAY too many activities for this outing and it would be impossible to get it all done in one weekend.  So we have decided to break up the SpringOuting into two weekends... these interns here at RainyDayMagazine have it SO tough :-)

For the first weekend, the "urban hikes" will be around the city of Boston (Freedom Trail, North End, Haymarket, etc...). 

The next weekend, the hikes will be around Boston's Emerald Necklace.

We have a good list of vendors participating in this RainyDaySports Urban Hike: Spring Outing in Boston (BeyondFleece, Brunton, Nalgene, Magellan GPS, Kombi, etc...)!

Spring Outing:

1. The Gear

2. The Onyx Hotel

3. Hiking the North End

         The Freedom Trail

         Faneuil Hall

         Harborwalk

         The neighborhood

Related Reviews:

1. 180s (ExoLite, Mortise)

2. Brunton Binoculars

3. BeyondFleece

4. Julbo Sunglasses

5. Kata Camera Bag

6. Kombi Gloves

7. Magellan GPS

8. Nalgene OTG bottles

9. Technica Boots