America's birthday in America's birthplace

So in case you didn't know, Boston is sorta the birthplace of America. Most of the big movements that started the American Revolution took place in Boston (Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, etc.) Several huge battles during the Revolution took place in or around Boston. So you can imagine that Independence Day in Boston is kind of a big deal.

When we came to visit the LGO program back in November, one of the things the students kept bringing up was how fun the 4th of July is in Boston. Why, you may ask? Because of this: july4th.org  (Think "Thunder Over Louisville" but on a much larger scale and all American themed.) Every year, the Boston Pops play a free concert on the river, usually accompanied by a popular artist, and the day ends with a huge fireworks show. People camp out along both sides of the Charles River in their lawn chairs and on blankets all day long just waiting for the fireworks. (Like I said, very similar to Thunder Over Louisville.) The concert is broadcast on National Television. Thousands upon thousands of people come from all over the country and world to see the concert and fireworks. From what we hear, it's pure madness, but also pure fun.

And lucky us- we live right on the river where it all takes place! 

So we will be right in the middle of all of the festivities whether we really want to be or not! We also heard that they read the Declaration of Independence from the balcony of the Old State House (remember, my favorite building)

and a ton of people crowd in the streets around the building to hear it read. Then everyone cheers and probably chants "USA! USA! USA!" or something like that. We want to do that too.

So it should be a fun and busy day. I only hope we can stop back by the apartment for just enough time to catch the annual Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest on TV. Because nothing says America like watching a bunch of people cram an obscene number of hot dogs in their bodies for money!