22. Boston, MA

Dates: August 4-10, 2015

We have just had a great time exploring Boston! We both agree that it is one of our favourite cities we have ever visited. We found that the air and streets were surprisingly clean, we felt totally safe everywhere we went, and there were fewer crowds than we had just experienced in NYC. All of our days were hot and sunny, but there was a great breeze each evening. We were actually staying just outside Boston in Cambridge, which worked great for seeing a lot of the sights. We visited the Museum of Science, where they were featuring a Pixar exhibit (Science + Math + Interactive Exhibits + Pixar = Will in his glory). 

We took a tour of Fenway Park, learning a lot about the ‘green monster’ and other history related to this ballpark. 

 

We also took a tour around Harvard, where we were able to learn a bit about student life and the beautiful old buildings on campus. 

 

We led ourselves on a tour of   MIT, but since they only do tours Mon-Fri and we went on Sat, many buildings were closed. 

 

We also visited the beautiful Public Library downtown, where I was able to take time to browse their incredible children’s library. 

 

We also joined in on the festivities for the Madonna Della Cava festival taking place in the historic North End one evening, enjoying the feeling of a tight knit community coming together for a celebration. 

We found that the subway lines did not take us to as many places as NYC, but the bus system seemed a lot better. We did use subway and bus to get around, but we often opted for walking. We love walking through cities as a way to get to know it, and tired our feet right out walking this city. We walked the waterfront trail near MIT, Charles River Esplanade, the Boston Commons (loved the Frog Pond), the Public Gardens (loved sitting to read by the swan pond), the harbourfront, through Chinatown and Little Italy, and so many more streets around Boston and Cambridge. We also walked the very impressive Freedom Trail, a 3 mile trail of red brick running through the city taking visitors on a walking tour of Boston’s history. While on this trail, we walked the 294 steps to the top of the Bunker Hill monument as well. Along this trail we were led to Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market, and Boston Public Market, which were great areas to check out for food and souvenir-type shopping, but were quite crowded. 

walking along the Esplanade

 

Boston Commons at night                      World Trade Centre- Harbourfront

  

Freedom Trail and Holocaust Memorial

  

Bunker Hill Monument and the view from the top of the 294 step climb!

 

Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall... and a lost lobster

  

Waterfront walkways and enjoying the swan pond in the Public Gardens

The place we stayed was close to a subway station and lots of great restaurants, including a homemade ice cream shop called Christina’s! In addition to the delicious ice cream, we had some awesome meals from Hops & Scotch (yummy pub), Roxy’s (amazing grilled cheese food truck- as advertised, “this ain’t your grandma’s grilled cheese), and Bon Me (great Vietnamese food truck). A main goal for this trip was to try some new beers, and we had a great start to this at Sunset Grill, where they had over 380 beers on tap! We toured Harpoon Brewery, where we sampled a lot of beer and tried their delicious pretzels. We also toured Samuel Adams brewery, sampling more great beer. Of course, we also visited the Cheers! Bar for a beer, and had a great chat with a couple from Pennsylvania. While we were getting fruit at the market, we also stopped in for a beer at the oldest tavern in America, the Bell in Hand. Although this tavern was not nearly as old as the ones we visited in Ireland, it was still a neat old building. Finally, we visited the Aeronaut Brewery, a newer microbrewery recommended by our server at Hops & Scotch. They had a “picnic” event on Sunday, where they welcomed people to bring food and enjoy their beer while listening to music- this combined one of my favourite things (picnics) with one of Will’s favourite things (beer)! Although we ended up bringing our picnic to a park afterwards instead, the brewery, the music and the beers were great!

 

Harpoon Brewery                                                                          Cheers! bar (sat in Norm's spot)

  

Visiting Samuel Adams brewery and Bell in Hand Tavern

We want to say a special thank you to Callie, Natalie, and Jodi, who all gave rave reviews and listed their “must do’s” for Boston! We would highly recommend this as a travel destination!

The Burgess Duo