Boston, MA and New England

This page organizes description of sites listed geographically so that you can follow it on a map. My other pages on travel

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One weekend each year (Aug 16 & 17 in 2008) there is a tax holiday on the 5.45% sales tax througout Massachusettes. Neighboring New Hampshire has no sales tax.

• make-you-laugh has the best listings of things to do around Boston
• Lonely Plant Guide to Boston
• Harvard Student Agencies guide to Boston.
• Hello Boston.com
• Panorama Magazine made the official guide by the city, distributed in hotel rooms.
• Yahoo Boston
• Google Directory to Boston
• AOL Guide
• CitySearch
• Boston.com
• BostonUSA.com Convention & Visitor's Bureau
• City of Boston.com Convention & Visitor's Bureau
• Craig's List Boston
• Time Out Boston weekly.
• Meet In Boston activities
• Harvard Square merchants
• Panorama Magazine has great maps on their website as well.
• CouchSurfing Boston
• TechVenue Boston

Restaurants

My favorite restaurants in Boston:
• Aujourd' Hui has a French name but serves "New American" food in the Four Seasons Hotel. Its Sunday morning brunch has a large selection considering there are only a few tables. Thus the $75 per person price tag.
• L'espalier moved in 2008 into the modern Madarin Oriental hotel and lost much of the charm of the narrow staircase at its former Glouchester location off Newbury. Their Sunday afternoon tea features a cute swan pastry.
• Locke-Ober
• No. 9 Park
• Via Matta was named as a Power Lunch spot by Forbes

Those purple stickers advertize Dave Andelman's Phantom Gourmet Guide to Boston's Best Restaurants

If you plan on doing the whole town, the $39 one-year CityPass for Boston might save you a few bucks.

• Museum of Science
• New England Aquarium
• Skywalk Observatory 617-859-0648
• Museum of Fine Arts
• Harvard Museum of Natural History
• John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum

Transportation

Boston Traffic map from Google and SmartTraveler

There is a derogatory nickname for rude drivers in Massachuttes: "Masshole".

I think the freeways in Boston were designed to annoy people. The John F Fitzgerald Expressway (I-93), was made underground as a result of the "Big Dig", notorious as an over-budget nightmare. Police issue speeding tickets in the tunnel regularly because the curved road makes it very stressful for unfamiliar people to see exits come up suddenly. By the time you read the sign, you've passed it -- and you can't exit again until you're literally out of the city 5 miles away. So my advice: stay WAY WAY behind vehicles in front of you.

But on the other hand, the 8 sq. miles of its center makes Boston a "walkable" city.

Boston's subway system, "T" operated by MBTA (Mass. Bay Transportation Authority) Map. Some tips:

Park Street is the oldest subway station in the U.S, as Boston is the first subway built in the US. So this is an appropriate station where "inbound" switches to "outbound" from Boston. Keep this in mind because some stations (such as Copley) have entrances only for inbound or outbound platforms.
• There are no bathrooms in any station. Nuff said.
• T riders often have suitcases because Boston Logon Airport provides relatively quick access to the city. I say relatively because (unlike Chicago) one cannot simply walk on to a subway train. To complicate things, there are two different T busses and subway stations servicing the airport. The Silver Line goes into the heart of the city (transfers to the Red Line and commuter trains at South Station). The T bus takes people to the less popular Blue Line.

• Fares for Charlie cards cost less than paper cards. But unlike other cities, most ticket machines do not dispense Charlie cards. You must beg for a Charlie card from a station attendent, then go to a machine to add value.
• Near or far, all trips cost the same. So you can put away your card after entry.
• At the Park Street station on the Green line, trains with different end destinations stop at different parts of the same long platform. Since train tracks don't diverge until 2 or 3 stations out, people scramble when trains arrive.
• Google maps show T stops on their maps. Microsoft's Trips and Streets 2006 only show T stops as tiny dots at relatively low zoom resolutions. T stops can be found by searching for "mbta-" followed immediately by the station name (For example, "mbta-Riverside").
• The station name that is most confusing is that Fenway ballpark (where the Red Socks defeat Yankees) is closer to the Kenwood station than the Fenway station.
• Most stops outside downtown are above-ground. Keep that in mind when it's windy or humid. At the Red Line JFK station, people stay upstairs until the bell sounds to announce trains coming (and on which track). MBTA should note which stations are exterior (as DC's subway maps do).
• The Orange Line goes through the most "dicy" neighborhoods (Roxbury, Dorchester, etc.).

The MBTA (Metro Boston Transit Authority) interactively creates routes on trains and calculates amount of walking to your specific address.

There are TWO Longwood stations, four blocks apart. The SouthEast one is on the E Heath Street line. The NorthWest one is on the D Riverside line.

If you're driving, the best way to enter the Back Bay is to come in from the West. on Storrow Drive, and exit on Copley Square, which is on Clarendon Street.

Southwest airlines goes out of Providence, Rhode Island through the TF Green airport that is officially in Warwick, RI. 401.737-8222. It's 59 miles from central Boston down I95.

Southwest airlines goes out of Manchester Airport in NeW Hampshire. It's 53 miles from central Boston up I93.

GPS Coordinates and Free Days for Attractions

Destination	Phone, Address	Coordinates	Cost, Hours, Description
Museum of Fine Arts	465 Huntington Ave. 617-267-9300	42.33899 N -71.09387 W	Free Wed after 4. $17 for 10 days Sat–Tue 10–4:45 Wed–Fri 10–9:45 Separate ticketing for Gund Gallery exhibit.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum	280 The Fenway 617-566-1401	-	$12 Tue–Sun 11–5. Visitors named Isabella are admitted free. wikipedia
JFK Library	off Morrissey Boulevard, next to UMass Boston, Dorchester 866-535-1960	42.31600 N -71.03416 W	$10 daily 9–5.
USS Constitution ship "Old Ironsides", the world’s oldest commissioned warship and museum	Charlestown Navy Yard, Constitution Road, Charlestown, MA 02129 617-426-1812, 242-5642	42.37186 N -71.05928 W	Free Daily 10–5
Museum of Science	1 Science Park, 02114 617-723-2500 TripAdvisor	42.36742 N -71.07040 W	$15 daily 9–5 Fri 9-9 $9 Planetarium, Imax Omni wikipedia
Institute of Contemporary Art	100 Northern Ave., Boston MA 617-478-3100	-	Free Thu 5-9. $12 Thu & Fri 10-9. Sat, Sun, Tue & Wed 10–5
Larz Anderson Auto Museum	Larz Anderson Park, 15 Newton St., Brookline 02445-7406 617-522-6547	-	$5 Tue-Sun 10–5
Boston Children's Museum	Museum Wharf, 300 Congress St. 617-426-6500	-	$10 Daily 10–5, Fri 10-9
Mass. State House under the gold dome.	Beacon Street, 02108 617.727-3676	42.35093 N -71.06331 W	Free Tue-Sun 10–5
Boston Public Library at Copley. The first municipal library in the US.	Copley T station, 700 Boylston St, Boston, 02116 617.536-5400	42.34967 N -71.07733 W	Free Daily wikipedia
John Hancock Tower The tallest in New England!	Copley T station	42.34919 N -71.07414 W	Free Daily. $70 for dinner and dancing in the restaurant at the top.
Samual Adams Brewery	Fenway	-	Free Daily
BostonAtheneanum	-	-	-
Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott wrote "Little Women"	399 Lexington Road, Lexington, MA	-	-

Boston Common/ Financial & Theater Districts / Chinatown

In many ways, Boston Common is the "heart" of the city.

Exiting the Government Square station on the Green line:

• The "brute" design of the City Hall building makes it the ugliest building in Boston.
• Walk North down the steps to Quincy Market fast food and Fenuil Hall gift shops. (That's pronounced QUEEN - SY MAH-KET and FAN - YOOL hall)
• In "Dick's Last Resort", laugh as waiters make fun of you.
• Walk back and South past the golden tea kettle. Notice the steam coming out? Cool, huh?

The cemetary at Park Street Church is home of (the bones of) many historic figures. "America The Beautiful" was first sung there.
The gold dome of the state house is at the NW corner of Boston Common.
Tours by costumed guides (from the Foundation) start their walking tours at the middle of the East side of Boston Common.
Fireworks are shot from the center at 7pm New Years Eve.
The Lowe's movie theater on the East side of the Common has DLP screens!
In the Winter, I walk down past the Ritz Carlton lobby just to feel their heat lamps.

From there, turn left for shops along Washington Street and the Downtown Crossing T stop.

Turn right on Washington Street for Boston's Chinatown.
If you then turn left at Kneeland Street (East of the 93) walk 4 blocks East for "Boston's only 24 hour diner", South Street Diner. [ reviews at yelp ] I once went there and found them closing up at 5am (they're really only 24 hours on weekends). Luckily, the cafe Le Anna in the office building across the street opens at 5am.

But if you're into seeing upscale, walk around Boston Common toward the Public Garden.

The Four Seasons hotel offers the best brunch (for $70) on their second floor.
During summer, swan boats float around in the Public Garden across the street.

The Back Bay Newbury Street is the hippest place to shop and live in Boston.

On the SouthWest side of the Public Garden is a "Cheers" bar. This is the more authentic than the Fenuil Hall restaurant cashing in on the "Cheers" TV bar. It has evening performances in the small piano bar above it.

At the opposite end, walk on old cobblestones in the Beacon Hill area, within which Forbes noted as having the most expensive blocks of homes in America. Ex-presidential candidate John Kerry lives there. It's also home to Upper Crust pizza.

The Gibson House (617-267-6338) at 137 Beacon Street, is open Wednesday–Sunday 1:00 pm, 2:00 pm, and 3:00 pm.

Copley

Exiting the Copley station:

On the 3rd floor in the Coply main library are murals by John Singer Sargent that span Judeo-Christian history.
Bring binoculars and a flashlight, as lighting is rather dim.

All the Back Bay sit on stilts above the water, including the 62-story I. M. Pei-designed John Hancock Building rising above Copley square at 200 Clarendon St. Its reflection makes for a good backdrop to the Victorian, Gothic and French Romanesque styles of the Trinity Church, voted the most beautiful building in Boston.

On the other side of the library is the Old South Church, which is also architecturally interesting inside.

All these buildings sit on stilts over the water (like Venice, Italy)!

North End

Boston's oldest neighbourhood has Copp's Hill Burying Ground, which house tombestones dating back to 1660. Look for headstones pockmarked by Revolutionary War musket balls.

The oldest house in Boston, built in 1680, is the tiny clapboard Paul Revere House,

• 4,000 British soldiers occupied Boston which at the time only had a citizenry of 12,000. But American colonists were able to outgun experienced British soliders because of an efficient communication system. The Old North Church (built in 1723) is where two lanterns were hung in the steeple to signal the Brits' arrival by sea — the first battle of the Revolutionary War.

Larz Anderson Auto Museum Larz Anderson Park, 15 Newton St., Brookline, 617-522-6547. Open Tue-Sun 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission: $5; students, seniors and children (6-18) $3; children (5 and under) free. Admission to the Lawn events: $7; children $5. Fee includes admission to all museum exhibits. The oldest collection of historic automobiles in the nation is displayed in the owner's original home. Special exhibit: L'automobile-A Century of Innovation and Style celebrates the French automobile industry. Special event: May 27 at 8 p.m.-An Evening with musical performaer Priscilla Herdman. Lawn event: June 5-French Car Day.

Cambridge

One of the names for Boston is "Athens of America" (in reference to the academic center of ancient Athens, Greece established by philsophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle).

Within Cambridge, Harvard's Museum of Natural History has over 3000 handblown glass flowers and plants on display. They're lifelike, but they don't have that certain something about living plants.

To give you an idea of Boston's academic proclivities, while other cities have graffiti, on the bridge to MIT from Beacon Hill, there are now-faint markings every few feet, and at one end "81.2 Smotes". That's how many times Mr. Smotes fit on the bridge laid end to end.

The MIT Gallery of Hacks

The Free Software Foundation, Inc. is at 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

Fenway and South

The empty frames and spaces in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (at 280 The Fenway 617-566-1401, open Tue-Sun 11 a.m.-5 p.m.) is the result of a still-unsolved heist of 13 priceless paintings (estimated $300 million) which FBI named among the biggest art thefts in U.S. history. It happened on the night after St. Patrick's Day in 1990, two men disguised as Boston police officers handcuffed the two security guards on duty and snatched works of art worth.

The artworks include Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Vermeer's The Concert, and pieces by Degas and Manet.

But the thieves passed over most of the Renaissance paintings (by Rembrandt, Botticelli, Raphael), including the museum's most valuable piece, Titian's The Rape of Europa, which has since been voted the city's most significant work of art.

The space remains because the museum's founder-socialite and art collector Mrs. Gardner, who built the 15th-century Venetian palace to house her extensive art collection-stipulated in her will that nothing about the galleries should change after her death. Note: Visitors named Isabella are admitted free.

Events & Activities

There is an Imax 3D Theater in the Museum of Science, but the
commercial Imax 3D Theater is the Comcast at 1 Under Price Way, Natick, MA (508) 424-0088

Boston Globe's Event Calendar

TOMB by 5WITS 45 minute interactive adventure (10a-10p) at 186 Brookline Avenue, Boston MA 02215, across the street from the Fenway T-stop on the Green Line (D-Train) and the Landmark Center and the AMC Fenway 13 movie theater.

3D theater north of Waltham off fwy. 95.

Mystery Cruise

Tours:

Samual Adams brewery near Fenway.
Boston Globe newspaper one hour tours Mondays & Thursdays, 10 a.m., 11:15 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. Children must be nine years of age or older to tour. Contact Laurie Canarie at 617.929.2653
Boston Center for the Arts

Outing & Social Network of New England

Dancing:

Ryles Jazz Club 212 Hampshire St. Cambridge 617.876-9330 plays Salsa on Thursdays and ballroom on Saturdays.
Felt downton plays Salsa on Monday nights.
Sophia's 1270 Boylston Street Boston 02115 has salsa all week.
Groupo Fantasia 1 water st, 01915 Beverly 978-927-6205 Latin Cruise

Arts Boston Bostix booths advertise that they sell "half-priced" day-of-show tickets.

But beware: on some shows (such as Blue Man Group) they only sell obstructed view tickets at lower prices. Regular seats they sell at face value plus inflated fees (since they are a Ticketmaster outlet).

You may be better off getting tickets at the box office without the fees.

Boston Businesses

• Harvey's Hardware in Needham is a wonderfully messy place that has everything, including clerks who are as prodigious with their memory as their helpfulness.
• Nstar (800.592-2000) for electricity.
• Comcast 1.800.COMCAST
• Key Span for gas.

Sporty apparel from Timerland, Patagnia, Lands End, and Rockport shoes are now more frequently seen than "preppy" clothing styles.

The Polariod and early word-processing manufacturer Wang corporation built a large building in Chemlsford.

Educational degrees are a significant export.

Movies filmed in Boston:

• 2007 Gone Baby Gone
• 2006 The Departed
• Age of Innocence
• Amistad
• A Civil Action
• Good Will Hunting. Home boys Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who grew up in the area and was a real Harvard student.
• 1994 Blown Away of MIT with Jeff and Lloyd Bridges, Tommy Lee Jones, Forrest Wittaker, Cuba Gooding Jr.
• The Bostonians
• The Thomas Crown Affair
• The Parent Trap
• The Verdict
• 1970 Love Story with Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal

TV filmed in Boston:

• Ally McBeal TV show
• Cheers TV show
• Boston Legal TV show, with James Spader

Famous Bostonians:

Buried at Mt. Auburn Cemetary, Cambridge:
• George Bernard Shaw
• Mary Baker Eddy
• Isabella Stewart Gardner
• Buckminster Fuller
• Oliver Wendell Holmes
• Winslow Homer
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• B.F. Skinner
• Edward DeSalvo, who (with the help of F.Lee Bailey) confessed to being the Boston Strangler of 11 women in 1963.

Weekends In New England

Barry Manilow's song
"Weekend in New England"
asks "when will I see you again?".

The term "New England" refers to the five North Eastern US states of (from the North down): Maine, Vermont, Massachusettes, Rhode Island, and Conneticut.

Eastward from the Berkshires on the 90 (where highway exit numbers begin at 1) VB: (800) 237-5747:

Near Stockbridge (North to South):

• Quaker Suppers and music at the Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, MA (North of Lenox)
• The Blantyre Hotel (a Relais & Chateaux property) at 16 Blantyre Road, Lenox, MA 01240 (413) 637 3556 is a stately Tudor-style mansion, dating from 1902.
• The Red Lion Inn is over the "Indian Burying Grounds".
• The Berkshire Botanical Garden at Rtes.183 & 102, Interlaken Rd, West Stockbridge, MA 01266 (413) 298-3926 Open 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
• The Normal Rockwell Museum at 9 Glendale Road, Route 183, Stockbridge, MA 01262 (413) 298-4100
• Tanglewood at 297 West Street, Lenox, MA 01240 (413) 637-1600 orchestral and jazz concerts in the summer and Fall.
• The Naumkeag, a Guild age "cottage" built in 1885 at 5 Prospect Hill Road, Springfield, MA (42.28993 -73.31568) This 8-acre home of New York attorney Joseph Hodges Choate (1832-1917) who was U.S. Ambassador in England between 1899 and 1905. For $10, the house tour reveals linens and fine china on the dining table. The garden includes a Chinese courtyard. May 26 – October 8 Daily 10AM – 5PM 413.298.3239 x3000
• The Frelinghuysen Morris European and American Cubist Art. at 92 Hawthorne Street • Lenox, MA 01240 Open 10am to 3pm mid-June through Columbus Day. Thursday –Sunday. 413.637.0166
• Pearl's in Great Barrington at 47 Railroad St, Great Barrington, MA 01230 (413) 528-7767 has the best clam chower (it's the cream and bacon!)

On the Southern edge of Massachusettes off hwy 91 is the Bershires of Western Massachuttes:

• The annual New England county fair The Big E occurs in Springfield.
• The Springfield Museum of Fine Arts downtown at 220 State St, Springfield, MA 01103 (autopark cross-street Chestnut 42.10442 -72.58602) Among its quadrangle of houses is a Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden and the largest permanent collection of Currier & Ives prints on view anywhere in the world. The George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum has pretty Tiffany glass and the largest late 1800s Chinese cloisonné collection in the western world. " (413) 263-6800
• Jacob's Pillow dance festival during the summer.
• Basketball Hall of Fame
• Herman Melville's Arrowhead (where Moby Dick was written) is In Pittsfield at 780 Holmes Road (413.442-1793)

Drive NorthWest up Vermont's country route 100 through the trees in the Mad Valley:
• Hancock Overlook
• Near Granville, see Michael Egan blow glass.
• Stop to take pictures at Moss Glen Falls
• When I was there in 2008, at 44.14771 -72.83946 is a poignant memorial of a while flag for every Americans Killed in Iraq.
• 1842 House Inn has a nice view of the moutains.
• At Waterbury, take a tour at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.

  Workers aren't rushing around the factory floor on weekends, but it's still fun to go.

• If you're going to upscale Stowe, along the "Enticement Alley" is the Cold Hollow Cider Mill.
• Top Restaurants of Vermont
• Take 89 South to the town of Montpelier (capital of Vermont) to eat over white table cloths at one of the restaurants run by students of the nearby New England Culinary Institute. Reservations are usually necessary.
• For desert, take 2 East toward East Montpelier, then North on 14 one mile to the Bragg Farm Sugarhouse for real Maple "creeme" (soft ice cream). Taste the different grades of maple syrup. I get the Maple Sugar there so I won't be hassled going through airport security.

  I liked the full flavor of Grade B. When I used it at home, I realized that it was overwhelming. It was then that I appreciate the subtelty of Fancy Grade syrup.

• Continue on 14, South on 214, then the 2 NE to Marshfield, then Left on Rte. 215, then 5 miles to the Cabot Cheese Farm Tour (Cabot Creamery at 2878 Main Street, at 44.40129, -72.31411).
• To criss-cross the valey going South from Middlesex, take 100B South through Moretown Mountain Road to Northfield and 12A to Roxbury for the Warren Mountain Road back to route 100.
• Springfield, VT is home to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
• Walk on the Appalachian Trial where the Mass Pike arrives at its highest point (1,724 feet) at the town of Becket.

Adherants of Unitarian Universalism make up a higher percentage of the population in New England than in other areas of the country.

Northward in Stowe, Vermont, Ye Olde England Inne (www.englandinn.com) at 433 Mountain Road, Stowe, Vermont, 05672, 802 253 7064, 1 800 477 3771.

At the end of hwy 89 is Burlington, we took a boat tour brunch around Lake Champlain.

• We literally missed the train that goes to the boat. (Dang. It left on time!) But we didn't miss the boat because we drove.
• A few miles South of Burlington is the Shelbourne Museum, which houses a transplated riverboat and lighthouse among a large collection of Shaker furniture and art.

The drive up on hwy 95 along the coast isn't as scenic as the California coast, since much of the scenery is blocked by private homes.

• Portsmouth
• In Ogunquit, Maine, the Arrows Restaurant in an eighteenth-century farmhouse is one of Gayot's Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S.. Its 10-course price fix dinners are $138 per person before wines.
• 288 Fore Street, Portland, ME (207.775-2717, one block from the Wharf off Pearl Street) was rated by Gourmet Magazine as one of America's top 50 restaurants for its farm-fresh taste and wonderful bakery.
• My wife liked the decor of the ___ so much that she redecorated our bedroom to look like it.
• In Camden I bought the cookbook.

Drive South on hwy 93 to Providence, Rhode Island:

• In the Federal Hill area along Atwells Street is a row of mostly Italian restaurants. It's difficult to get a table at a decent hour at ___ because the food there is so good. Great wood-fired pizza.
• I was not impressed with Aspire downtown. The calamari was tasteless. The fish and chips were over-battered and overcooked.
• The mayor's newsletter is the great source of what's going on. As it probably should be.

Drive South to New York:

• French restaurant Thomas Henkelmann at the 18th century Homestead Inn, 420 Field Point Rd. in Belle Haven area of Greenwich, CT 06830 (203-869-7500) is one of the most romantic restaurants in the US