New England – Fall 2010 – Day 20: Boston (In search of Cheers).

We breakfasted and repacked ready to vacate our room. We lodged the baggage with the reception staff and set off towards Boston Common to find the outside location shots of the Cheers bar in the comedy of the same name. Julia’s research told us that the outside shots of Cheers were located on Beacon Street which runs above the common and also has the State house building on it. The extremely popular TV show Cheers was inspired by a neighborhood bar and restaurant in Boston, the former Bull & Finch Pub. The facade of the building was used in the opening sequence of the TV show. The Bull & Finch was eventually re-named Cheers Boston Beacon Hill due to the great notoriety from the TV series. A second location was opened in 2001, Cheers Boston Faneuil Hall, which is a replica of the interior of the bar in the TV show, which we had visited the day before. Inside on the ground floor there is a replica bar and a souvenir shop while in the basement there is another bar. This is as near to finding Cheers as is possible because all the interiors were shot in studio and I can rarely remember the show straying much beyond the bar.
While we had a beer in Cheers Faneuil Hall it was far too early to do the same this morning but we did hear the same “humorous” question asked of the bar staff; “What’s my name?” On the basis that Cheers is a place “Where everyone knows your name”. The long-suffering staff must have got used to a steady diet of this approach but surely they should be allowed to gun down the tenth person to ask in any given day! We took several photos outside the bar and in one of them I look exactly like my father, I blame my bad back, but sadly there are fewer and fewer people to show it to who knew us both.
Our next quest defeated us. We entered the public gardens opposite the bar expecting to find the famous statue of a duck and her ducklings. Make Way for Ducklings is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey. First published in 1941, the book tells the story of a pair of mallard ducks who decide to raise their family on an island in the lagoon in Boston Public Garden, a park in the center of Boston, Massachusetts. The book's popularity led to the construction of a statue by Nancy Schön in the Public Garden of the mother duck and her eight ducklings, which is a popular destination for children and adults alike, but we couldn’t find it! Later research has confirmed that we were looking in the right park and we walked all the way round the lake in question but no ducks!
We headed back towards the hotel and were amused by the squirrels which have no fear of humans and tolerantly pose for photos as long as required. Between the lake and the Boston Common there are sports fields of various types and here we stumbled on a set of eccentrics who were playing a ball game while riding witch’s brooms –it may have been a Harry Potter themed enterprise but they were firmly land-based – defective brooms? They were also behind quite substantial fencing I think that was for the best.
We returned to the hotel and ventured into Parker’s Bar where we had a beer and a piece of Boston Cream Pie each and enjoyed both before moving on to the airport. While we were in the bar there was a wedding party gathering for a later ceremony in one of their function rooms. On the events board the wedding was listed as being between Paul and Randy so it crossed our minds that it might be a bit liberal for Boston but when the bridegroom, I’m assuming Paul, arrived in Army Dress Uniform, based on “don’t ask, don’t tell” we concluded Randy must be a unisex name.
Meanwhile we asked for our bill in the bar and it was even higher than we had allowed for but in error four beers appeared not the two we had drunk. The mistake was cheerfully corrected.
After some confusion about where our luggage had been stored it eventually appeared. One of the bell staff whistled us up a taxi and we were quickly at the airport.
We were flying overnight and the flight would be extended by the time difference and we had no idea what food would be provided so w ate a final meal in the airport. The food was fine but we were amused by a middle-aged man who sat at the table next to us and ordered a bottle of wine with his meal. The waitress told him she couldn’t serve him with a bottle for one person. At this he pushed the chair opposite him back and said that he was waiting for someone. She stuck to her guns and he had to make do with a glass of wine. Nobody joined him while we were there.
Our flight as smooth and uneventful and we got ourselves back to Derbyshire in time to be involved in a basketball match – normal life was resumed.