<p>I second the Newbury St. shopping. How about a walk along the Freedom Trail to see some of the historic buildings and cemeteries? From there, you can also stroll across the Common toward the statehouse (big gold dome) and walk around beautiful Beacon Hill. Stop by Louisburg Square and stick out your tongue at John Kerry’s house, if so inclined. Walk down to Charles St. at the base of Beacon Hill for more shops, and one of my favorite restaurants, The Hungry I. They have several fireplaces blazing away in cold weather.
<a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/necn/Shows/tv_diner/restaurant_reviews/hungry_i/[/url]”>http://www.boston.com/news/necn/Shows/tv_diner/restaurant_reviews/hungry_i/</a></p>
<p>I was just kidding about sticking out my tongue–I don’t know which house is his. When I was a first-semester freshman a creative writing instructor gave us individual places to find on our own, visit, and then write about. Mine was Louisburg Square, and it’s been a special place for me ever since. I found it very inspirational as an 18-year-old, and wrote a nice essay!</p>
<p>Well, we still like to go to Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall. We’ve eaten at Cheers and the Salty Dog, and I’ve heard that McCormick & Schmick’s is good, although we haven’t eaten there. How about the Science Museum? We still enjoy that, even though the kids are college and HS age. There’s always the Prudential Center for shopping, which you could probably combine with Newbury St. Have a great time!</p>
<p>The itinerary sounds great. So here’s a dumb question: Can I reach the starting point of the Freedom Trail by T? If so, which color and stop? Thanks.</p>
<p>You could take the red or green line to Park St. station right on the Common. Here’s a map, you can see the whole itinerary, plus some spots others have mentioned. (map is a pdf file, you need adobe acrobat to use it.)</p>
<p>We leave Thursday for Tufts. This is also parent weekend at most of the Boston schools AND Head of the Charles Regatta. Boston will be a zoo. If you want to eat, get reservations. Any activity that is for “tourists” will book/fill early. The fall foliage is at peak according to the color website I have been watching Can’t wait to see DD !!! It is also the 22nd anniversary with DH, so a double pleasure.</p>
<p>S1 graduated Harvard and while we enjoyed exploring Cambridge and Harvard Yard we also enjoyed the Kennedy Museum and the DeCordova Museuem and
Sculpture Garden in Lincoln. Also try 1 Arrow Street Crepes for yummy crepes. Teens like the Garment Factory (<a href=“http://www.garmentfactory.com%5B/url%5D”>www.garmentfactory.com</a>) at
200 Broadway for vintage and contemporary clothes. Have fun.</p>
<p>Just returned from UChicago, where they call it Family Weekend. They even have activities and supervision for the 12 and under set. It was wonderful, beautiful weather. One of the things I like is that we met families of 4th year students, it is not limited to first year (we are 2nd year). Got to see S’s new dorm room for three, complete with huge living room and kitchen. Aside from the opportunity to see S, the best part was attending the model classes offered by the University (S may have thought the shopping on Michigan Ave. was the best part, however). We attended two this year. Both were outstanding and generated some fun discussion. Here is a link to the model classes offered: <a href=“https://familyweekend.uchicago.edu/modelclasses.cfm[/url]”>https://familyweekend.uchicago.edu/modelclasses.cfm</a></p>
<p>so blucroo, how was Tufts Parents Weekend? (We are going up next weekend instead.) Any recommendations for sightseeing? Restaurants? (We discovered on our last trip in August that our son’s culinary standards do not quite mesh with ours. Ugh.)</p>
<p>Oh, I’m so excited…Parents Day at Caltech next weekend!! Any one have any Pasadena restaurant recommendations? My son is turning 18 and I want to take him out on Saturday night to celebrate. And have a few moments with him.</p>
<p>What kind of food do you & your S like? We LOVE Pasadena–best friend lives in San Marino (5 minutes from CalTech) & we visit her whenever we’re in LA. Enjoy CalTech & your visit.</p>
<p>My husband and I just returned from Parent’s weekend at UCLA last night. They had some very entertaining lectures for us, some good food, and it was fun to meet other parents of freshmen. But the high point, of course, was seeing our dear son, and spending time with him at his new home.</p>
<p>We went to the football game and had some fun there, although they lost. Our son plays trumpet in the marching band, and that was our main draw, or mine, at least! They dressed in costumes for the half-time show, and did a variety of “spooky” pieces, like the Adams Family theme. It was fun.</p>
<p>When we came home to No Cal we had to put the heat on, though, as it’s much cooler!</p>
<p>Himom,
Indian? Persian? Japanese? actually most anything…something that might have a fun atmosphere for celebrating an 18th birthday? The only kind of food my son doesn’t like is burritos…so probably not a Mexican restaurant. thanks so much!</p>
<p>worrywart: where will you be staying, will you have a car or take the T and what kind of food do you like? We had a great time at Tufts tho the weather was rainy on Friday, storming on Friday night, cold and windy Saturday, but gorgeous and Sunday got progressively colder. We went to Newbury St. to the Northface store and bought the winter coat and gloves.</p>
<p>Yes we will have a car; we always stay at the same hotel in Woburn since it’s new(ish), clean and quiet. Thinking of taking a DuckBoat tour. Or possibly a trip to Salem. Thoughts, CCers?</p>
<p>We used to visit Boston in early November and did take the Duck Boat. Just be prepared with warm jacket, hat, gloves. We also had to wait for awhile for seats; maybe you can make reservations in advance. I remember that we had our car and DH had a tough time finding parking while the rest of us went to purchase tickets. A great place to eat near Inman Sq in Cambridge is East Coast Grill but they only take reservations for groups of 5 or more.</p>
<p>mafool~It was really fun to meet you at the Engineering BBQ (and DukeEng93, of course!!) during Duke Parents’ Weekend! We had a terrific weekend meeting so many more of S1’s friends and their parents and going to all the different events! Hope you got a chance to try some of the restaurants we had talked about!!</p>
Can’t wait to see DD !!! It is also the 22nd anniversary with DH, so a double pleasure.</p>