<p>My H and I will be flying in to Boston on Friday evening. I am presenting at a conference at MIT on Saturday but we will spend all day Sunday and Monday in the city and are looking for ideas on what to do. </p>
<p>We were in Boston five years ago for college tours and we did the wonderful Freedom Trail and visited the Kennedy Presidential Museum. We checked out the Italian neighborhood and had fun exploring a bit of Cambridge. </p>
<p>We won’t have a car, so need ideas that are walkable or available by public transit.</p>
<p>We love books, art, seafood, walking, technology, sports, coffee, donuts (though my H’s order might be different, there ).</p>
<p>Prudential Center & Fanueil Hall
North End
Boston Public Gardens & Newbury Street
Fenway Park (sometimes you can get in)
Museum of Fine Arts
Starbucks (lol)
No Name Restaurant*Waterfront, South Boston
15 Fish Pier Street West (GREAT fried clams)
Harvard Campus if you can get to it
Duck Tours
and…Museum of Science. great Omni theater & Planetarium if you like those kinda things</p>
<p>My engineer husband and engineer-to-be son (as well as me) have enjoyed science museums all over the world. We all agree that the Boston one is among the very best.</p>
<p>More votes for New England Aquarium, Museum of Fine Arts, and add the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum.</p>
<p>Too bad you don’t have a car, Plimouth Plantation and Lexington & Concord are worth visiting.</p>
<p>Eat at Legal Seafood.</p>
<p>And since you love donuts, there’s a Dunkin Donuts on every corner. Seriously, it’s hard to be in Boston and not have at least one Dunkin in your line of sight. Forget Starbucks, it’s not local - and Dunkin has great coffee! :D</p>
<p>Call your hotel, and ask for concierge. Find out if bus tour along scenic routes where can see peak of leaf changing. (Even if tour to Lexington/Concord, will see wonderful scenery). If not, ask if tour to Salem (fun this time of year). Perhaps, when at Fanueil Hall, look for ticket booths for some same day show.</p>
<p>SWAN BOATS! No, really, the Public Gardens here are really beautiful. Now that it’s fall, the leaves are starting to change, and it’s really a sight to behold. I highly recommend it.</p>
<p>The Fogg at Harvard is closed for renovations, but the Sackler has some great exhibits.
Did you check out the Stata Center at MIT last time you were there? It’s designed by Frank Gerhy. The MIT Museum should be fun for technology buffs.
We were at the Gardner Museum just last Sunday. The fall display (chrysanthemums) in the atrium was spectacular and the concert was wonderful.</p>
<p>Sorry to say, but my seafood snobs did not like Legal Seafoods that much. It is OK, but if you’ve eaten at Ivar’s Salmon House or Ponti Seafoods or Palisades, you’d have a different opinion. Legal Seafoods = Bonefish in their opinion. Boston Museum of Fine Arts is amazing, though, much better than SAM. Newbury street was a shopper’s paradise for us, Seattle hillbillies - too much good stuff. A leisurely walk along the Charles River is free and very scenic.</p>
<p>IMO, Boston’s a little overrated as a tourist town. What it does have is history. I’d walk the Freedom Trail. Highlight for me is the Old Granary Burial Ground where so many colonial/Revolutionary figures are buried, but you might be inspired by other sites along the way. Art’s OK but a bit stodgy, seafood is good but overpriced. The North End is de rigueur but a bit of a tourist trap. Honestly, if I had two days to kill in Boston, I’d probably head for the Cape, the North Shore, or the White Mountains of New Hampshire.</p>
<p>I think there should be plenty of leaves left next week on the Common. There’s plenty still green or just turning here in my suburb, and we tend to be a little “ahead” of the city.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks everyone. Lots to do and see in Boston now! We are planning Saturday dinner at Legal Seafood after the conference with other members of the panel, so that’s already on the list. And because we’re heading to Seattle to visit D on Tuesday, we’ll be able to compare seafoods from one coast to the other. ;)</p>
<p>I’ve looked ahead at the weather on my iPhone ap and it looks like Friday will be cloudy but not too cold (high 50s). Hopefully, that will hold for the weekend. H might really like to stop by Fenway if it’s open. I would love to see the science and/or tech museums.</p>
<p>I’m originally from the Boston area and would never miss Seafood from the “No Name” on the wharf next to the World Trade Center, a 10 min walk from the nearest “T” station. The Boston Museum of Art is always wonderful. Always Good Music & Theater in Boston (discount tickets at the booth next to Fanual Hall). Drinks at the Hyatt’s revolving restaurant in Cambridge (think you can walk from MIT but not sure how far it is). Have Great Fun</p>
<p>Oh - and check the weather, if it’s warm go on a “Whale Watch”, they leave right from the Boston Aquarium area.</p>
).</p>
But the Garden is still beautiful.</p>
- too much good stuff. A leisurely walk along the Charles River is free and very scenic.</p>