Boston Bleg
So there’s a big excuse to drink and ogleAce-worship fest going on this weekend. I’m not going. I’m too scared.
Instead I’ll head to Boston a few weeks from now, just for a weekend. Anybody spent time in Boston? Got any don’t-miss sights, restaurants, activities?
I’ve already got my eye on the Freedom Trail for some of the biggie historical stuff, and I want to see whatever there is of the John Adams homeplace. Other than that I haven’t done much research yet, so lay it on me.
Don’t tell me to go to Fenway. Five hours out of the 48+ I have to spend there is probably going to be a bit more than I want to devote to baseball, historic though it may be. I cut my fandom teeth going to Wrigley. Fenway can wait a little longer. I may change my mind, but believe me, it’s already on the radar. Tell me about everything else, whether well known or obscure–history, culture, food, scenery.
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When we went a few years ago, we walked the entire Freedom Trail and it was a great experience.
We did a whirlwind tour of much up the New England East Coast and Boston was, by far, my favroite stop. There’s so much history there. I could’ve spent weeks in the cemeteries alone…
Zagat’s be damned, I thought Legal Seafood was completely overrated. The food was OK (not bad, but not any better than any of the other seafood we had), the prices were high and the service was OK. My favorite restaurant during our time in Boston was The Purple Shamrock. It was a dive bar, and the service was atrocious, but it was a nice day and we had a view outside, so that aspect wasn’t too bad. The clam chowder at TPS was the best I had over our 2 week East Coast trip…
Comment by ChuckFoxtrot — September 12, 2007 @ 12:19 pm
Freedom Trail’s good, I didn’t get to see much of it. There’s also the USS Constitution (sort of along the trail, as memory serves). The old city hall was pretty cool. We went on the trolley tour, that was pretty informative. My sister-in-law’s fiancee is doing some research at one of those schools out that way, so we spent some time with them in Cambridge. They all really liked it (they’re all from Europe, I thought it was alright, but this midwesterner felt a little out of his element).
Oh! Stop by Cheers and say “Hi!” to Norm for me!
Comment by Chris — September 13, 2007 @ 6:40 am
I’m very excited about this. I haven’t thought through the whole program but one of the stops will definitely be the North End for some really good Italian food which I know you like.
Comment by Petitedov — September 14, 2007 @ 8:00 am
Sweet! Great visit + Italian food == awesome visit!
Comment by Anwyn — September 14, 2007 @ 8:38 am
The North End is an absolute must. I would ditch the Freedom Trail in favor of the North End any day, though you can do both. Make sure you save room for dessert when you go there to eat and check out Mike’s Pastries.
Because of the amount of time you have, I would suggest doing either one of the bus tours or the duck tour or both.
Definitely a wander through the Commons and Public Gardens. The Gold dome of the state capital. For a bit of shopping, Fanneuil Hall and/or Newbury street.
I always enjoyed Legal Seafoods, but it varies a bit depending on which one you go to.
OOOOOHHHHH for dessert the day you don’t go into the north end, http://www.finaledesserts.com/
If you want to shrug off Legal Seafood and maybe seafood in general, head out to Cambridge and Harvard Square. There are a variety of good restaurants there, and you can hit the Finale out there for dessert.
Get a decent T (subway) map right away. There is no reason to use anything else for transport in Boston than the T and your feet.
Dimsum for breakfast in Chinatown is awesome, but you should have access to that at home too I think.
You probably would have no call to go south of say Mass Ave on the Orange line or say UMass on the Red line, and you probably shouldn’t.
Comment by Corvar — September 19, 2007 @ 8:03 am
The lovely and gracious Petitedov will keep us out of the bad neighborhoods, I’m sure.
I’m curious, what’s in the North End that would be worth ditching the Old North Church, the Corner Book Store, the graves of the Revolutionaries, and all the rest? Besides, you mention the capitol and the Common … and they’re both on the Freedom Trail. Anyway I likely won’t do every single stop on the Trail but it’s a good gathering of a lot of the historical stuff I want to see.
Comment by Anwyn — September 19, 2007 @ 8:58 am
I guess I was saying that I am ruled by my tummy more than by historic sites ;)
So I would get off the Freedom trail and get me a big plate of pasta in the north end instead ;)
I just looked, and the Freedom Trail is only 2.5 miles long. I never specifically walked it, but it just seems to be everywhere so I thought it was longer, and a more substantial commitment of time. If you didn’t notice, there is an MP3 tour guide program on the Freedom Trail site. Actually looking at the path of the Freedom Trail, it really does hit a lot of the high points. It goes past Fanneuil hall that I mention, starts in the Common, goes across the Charles to the Constitution (which someone else mentioned), Bunker Hill, and a bunch of other high lights.
One thing I know you will be heart broken about missing, which isn’t on the Freedom Trail, is JFKs house on Beacon Hill ;)
Comment by Corvar — September 20, 2007 @ 7:50 am
Heh. Well, in any case we will most definitely doing both the historical stuff and the big ol’ plate of pasta.
I think we’re going to wander Beacon Hill a little too. I may give the JFK house the evil eye as I pass.
Comment by Anwyn — September 20, 2007 @ 8:02 am
Good thing you have two eyes, so you can lay one on John Kerry’s house too. He currently lives on Beacon Hill.
Comment by Corvar — September 20, 2007 @ 8:24 am
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/09/manholes_burst.html
Better watch out ;)
Comment by Corvar — September 27, 2007 @ 6:21 am
Yikes.
Comment by Anwyn — September 27, 2007 @ 7:18 am
Boston beans. So tasty and yet so explosive.
Comment by Allen — September 27, 2007 @ 9:55 am