Visiting Boston
I’ll be in the Boston area for a few days this week for a wedding and trying to find some fun things to do.
So far these are items on the agenda:
- Walk the Freedom Trail - the 2.5 mile self-guided tour of American Revolutionary sites. http://www.thefreedomtrail.org
- Duck Tours - basically a tour of the city. http://www.bostonducktours.com/
- Pier 4 - everyone keeps talking about this seafood restaurant on the Boston Harbor. http://www.pier4.com/
- Fenway Park - even though the Red Sox are not playing, a tour of the ballpark should be fun. http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/bos/ballpark/tour.jsp
- The Salem Witch Museum - http://www.salemwitchmuseum.com
Since I got some good suggestions for my trip to Toronto earlier this year, I thought I would ask for recommendations again. What are some good places to eat, fun things to do and see in Boston?
Please do not go to Pier 4 it is a bad combination of overpriced bad food.
Skipjacks in the Back Bay is a similar upscale place and the food is excellent. Better yet go to the North End (Italian section of Boston) and walk up and down Salem and Hanover Streets and the cross streets until you find a place that you like. They are all good and they all have seafood. The Daily Catch is very small but very good. Skip the Chinese place on Hanover Street.
In Salem hit the House of Seven Gables also and you can dine at Finz.
If you like Sushi you can try Fugakyu in Coolidge Corner (On the Green Line C Train) not exactly in Boston (In Brookline the town over) but still nice.
Also there is always the Museum of Fine Arts (Green Line E Train), Aquarium (I know it’s on the T, maybe Blue line? and Science Museum (Green Line).
If you’re interested in tasting some academic atmosphere, visit Harvard University just across the bridge in Cambridge. They have a nice tour of the campus (free). Of course, do stop for a beer at Cheers (at Quincy Market). If you have half a day time left and the weather is nice, you might try going whale watching. Check if it’s the right season though, I’m not sure of that. Last month I saw plenty of whales from a trip from Cape Cod.
Hardly fun, but the JFK Library & Museum is a fitting tribute to a great man, and a wonderful piece of architecture (Red Line to JFK/UMASS, then get the shuttle bus).
Prudential Tower observatory for the views (and when you’re up there, you can’t see the Tower, which is a Good Thing).
Two thumbs up for the Duck Tour too!
I found the Salem Witch Museum to be pretty crap, actually, but Salem is nice anyway and worth a visit and a walk around (check out the pier and the stuff near it). Be aware that the Salem witch trials did not take place where present-day Salem is; the colony of Salem was actually where the town of Danvers is today. Present-day Salem takes all the credit anyway. Not everyone is fussed about that, but it irritates me.
The New England Aquarium ( http://www.neaq.org/ ) is fun, but I doubt you could kill a whole day there. Worth at least a look. Any place that has otters before you walk in and penguins as soon as you get inside is totally worth checking out.
The Boston Museum of Science ( http://www.mos.org/ ) is bloody FANTASTIC and you can totally kill a whole day there. Plus the Duck Tours start and finish there. Take in a show at the Omni theatre while you’re there. It’s brilliant no matter what the show is.
Boston is very much a walking city. Places to just wander round:
* Newbury Street, which is just off the Hynes stop on the green line - lots of cool shops and places to eat. Be sure to stop in at Sugar Heaven, the sweetshop.
* Copley Square, which is very near Newbury Street.
* Quincy Market/Government Centre.
* Boston Common (big lovely park).
* Boston Gardens (another big lovely park with loads of pretty plant life; not to be confused with Boston Garden where the Celtics [basketball] and Bruins [hockey] play). Across the street from the Common.
You might go and take the tour of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Massachusetts Grand Lodge Building — first, it is an architectural gem; 9 stories, either the first or one of the first steel framework stone buildings in Boston; second, its incredibly interesting from a standpoint of, the Masons were one of the groups of free-thinkers which sort of kick started the move toward nationhood (my opinion, there are others..) I suppose I may just be a little bit biased, in that i am a Freemason, also an Odd Fellow. But we don’t need to get into that right here….