When one heads west from Boston’s North End, it’s a few hundred steps into what many young urban professionals (Yep, they’re still here) regard as a Promised Land.  The old brownstones and row houses of Charlestown, one of  the Hub’s traditionally Irish neighbourhoods, are now drawing the upwardly mobile.

I did not dwell too much on that aspect of the home of the Sacred Cod.  It is better experienced as the northern sector of the Freedom Trail, with the Bunker Hill Monument and USS Constitution as the Trail’s main draws.

Arriving on the west end of the bridge, a visitor is greeted by two parks:  City Square and Monument Square.  The first lies at the foot of the bridge across the Charles.

Note the twin Sacred Cod in the photo to the left.  No Boston politician worth his or her handshake would ever ignore the breadwinning fish.

Charlestown’s long-time residents are as devout as their neighbours across the river.  St. Mary’s Catholic Church is well-established, just to the north of City Square.

Monument Square is a bit to the east of St. Mary’s.  It has Charlestown’s war memorials

and the foundation stones of the area’s first tavern.

Walking further up Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill, Charlestown’s masterpiece becomes visible:  Bunker Hill Monument.

202 steps brought me to a majestic, panoramic view of Boston’s skyline.  I am becoming a fan of this sort of activity, after visiting the Space Needle a few months ago.  This view equals that in Seattle.

The obelisk is capped by an marble ceiling but, for freedom, the sky’s the limit.

I decided to save the Constitution for a later date, and hurried back to Saugus just in time for my birthday dinner.  Thus did Nov. 28, 2012 end on a very happy note.