Sunday, July 27, 2008
Life, Travel, In this Issue...
Double header
Boston: two tales of a city
Photos/David Danzig
George Washington statue
IF YOU GO
Boston Duck Tours
617-267-DUCK
www.bostonducktours.com
Boston Museum of Science
“Baseball as America,” on display until Sept. 1
www.mos.org
Freedom Trail Foundation
617-357-8300
www.thefreedomtrail.org
Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau
888-733-2678
www.bostonusa.com.
Massachusetts Bay Lines
617-542-8000
www.massbaylines.com
Red Sox tickets
While several homestands remain this summer, tickets are long gone. Best bet: the “Scalp Free Zone,” a place where season ticket holders with extra tickets can unload them at face value by Gate B. It’s legal and monitored by the team. You can also try to arrive a few hours early to the Box Office near gate E for same-day ticket sales. Good luck!
Sushi-Teq at the InterContinental Hotel
617-747-1000
www.intercontinentalboston.com
Temple Bar Cambridge
617-547-5055
www.templebarcambridge.com
The Liberty Hotel and Clink restaurant
617-224-4000
www.libertyhotel.com
The Omni Parker House
1-800-THE-OMNI
www.omnihotels.com
This summer, ask about the Boston Baseball Tickets Package which includes a room, breakfast and tickets to a Red Sox game.
Tips: Upon arriving at Logan International Airport, a cab will cost you $30-$35 into the city but if your luggage is manageable you can hop on the Blue Line on the “T” and arrive downtown in just a few minutes for $2 a trip.
Its winters might be brutal, but few places on earth come alive like the city of Boston in the summer. History, culture, cuisine and baseball all come out of hibernation in the spring and thrive in the warm New England air. A three-hour direct flight and you’re there.
Get On the Trail
In terms of getting around, Boston might be the most navigable big city in the country. Roll your luggage through Logan International Airport down to the “T” station and after a quick $2 ride into downtown, you’re off and running.
Start on the Freedom Trail, a 2.5 mile path of side-by-side red bricks snaking its way through dozens of sites integral to the Declaration of Independence and subsequent American Revolution. Many of the Trail’s small buildings now cohabitate with glass and steel skyscrapers; the juxtaposition boggles the mind.
The Trail commences at Boston Common, the central park of the city, and quickly arrives at the Old State House, site of the Boston Massacre. Down the path lays Faneuil Hall, where Samuel Adams once inflamed colonist’s revolutionary passions with his oratory. Today it and its neighbor, Quincy Market, draw millions of visitors to its shops, markets and restaurants.
Further on you will pass Paul Revere’s House and the Old North Church where the infamous lanterns were hung to warn of British advance. The bricks cross over the Charles River and end at the top of Bunker Hill, the deadliest battle of the Revolution.
Sleep and Eat History
The Omni Parker House hotel sits directly on the Freedom Trail. The oldest continuously operating hotel in the county, it’s the home of the infamous Boston Cream Pie, which originated in its kitchens as did the term “scrod,” a Boston term for catch of the day. Its restaurant also employed Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh and was the site of JFK’s proposal to Jacqueline. The lobby and restaurant preserve pure 19th-century opulence while the rooms are updated luxury, a result of a recent $30 million renovation.
As we were drawn to the Parker House as the oldest hotel in the nation, we also had to check out the Union Oyster House (also on the Freedom Trail), the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the United States. Former regulars included Daniel Webster and JFK frequently enjoyed Sunday brunch there. The clam chowder was so creamy, so buttery and so laden with clams, that we got two bites into it and had to flag the waitress down for another bowl. Also of note, the spectacular lobster roll—basically a hot dog bun overflowing with a divine lobster salad. Varsity, eat your heart out.
Play Ball!
No where does America’s pastime mean more than in Boston. After 86 tortuous years of losing by their beloved Red Sox, the city now swaggers with two World Championships in the past four seasons. Throughout the town, men, women and infants proudly don Red Sox gear from head to toe. Fittingly, the Boston Museum of Science presents its “Baseball as America” exhibit now through Sept. 1. More than 500 artifacts from the Baseball Hall of Fame traveled from Cooperstown to Beantown for the summer.
But clearly the main attraction remains Fenway Park, Major League Baseball’s oldest stadium (yet another of Boston’s “oldest continually operating” distinctions). Fans have heard the crack of the bat since 1912, and Fenway remarkably maintains much of the old aura of an early 20th-century baseball park.
Outside, a carnival-like atmosphere engulfs you. People arrive hours before the game, essentially tailgating without cars. Throngs crowd neighborhood bars, spilling out into the street. The smell of grilling Polish sausages, onions and peppers waft along the breeze, and there’s an indescribable wide-eyed joy on every face. Attending a Major League Baseball game anywhere can certainly be a thrill; at Fenway, it’s more akin to a religious experience.
Inside Fenway, it’s like stepping back into a time machine. Entering through ancient portals, you come into the belly of the stadium with crammed, dimly lit, low ceiling concourses. The rank and file jam through the narrow passageways until you find your field entrance and go toward the light. The next sensation—the one when you emerge from the darkness and first glimpse the playing field simply takes your breath away. The perfect green grass, the hallowed diamond, the Green Monster in left field … this is baseball in its purest form.
—David Danzig 24 hours in Boston
I’ve tanned on South Beach in Miami, shopped on Fifth Ave. in New York, wandered through Pike’s Market in Seattle and walked through Lincoln Park in Chicago. I’ve also spent a brief but thorough few days exploring the grand cities of London, Paris, Barcelona, Rome and Amsterdam. But my only previous experience with Boston, the home of textbooks’ worth of American history, is a fleeting memory of running through a snow-covered parking lot while wearing only a formal dress and a light sweatshirt, at age 12, as I raced into a cab following my cousin’s wedding. … And even that wasn’t in Boston proper.
So when my college roommate suggested I take a quick detour from New York City, where I was spending five days, to visit her in the other great New England city, I was thrilled. I easily got my travel-loving boyfriend on board, and we booked a room at the Liberty Hotel, a luxurious place that, prior to a $150 million renovation, once served as the Charles Street Jail. Much of the original architecture has been preserved, and the jail theme is maintained throughout the upscale, perfectly decorated building. The exquisite service, however, is probably in direct opposition to how jail inmates are treated. (I say probably because having never been to jail myself, I can only imagine.) Upon check-in, we were greeted with bubbly and directed to our extravagant room, which had a king-size bed, flat-screen TV, and a bathtub and shower—not to mention a clear view of the St. Charles River.
After dropping our bags and teasing our sweet tooth with complimentary chocolates left in our room, we raced out and into the heart of the city for a Duck Tour. I had been told tours atop these Army-turned-tourist land/water vehicles are the way to go, but I’ll admit I was dubious until aboard. Despite brutal weather (the heat index was higher than 100), the tour was enjoyable, and our eccentric guide, dressed in a Greek costume, pointed out every historical and/or significant landmark possible, with relevant pieces of trivia thrown in. For 90 minutes, we looked and listened as we drove through the city and floated along the river, passing everything from the Boston Common and Boston Garden to the U.S.S. Constitution and Faneuil Hall. Every short while, our excitable captain/driver would shout “pizza pizza,” and we’d yell “quack quack!” showing our enthusiasm for the duck. When the tour was complete, I truly felt like I’d seen all of Boston.
But seeing is not the same as exploring, so during dinner at the InterContinental Hotel’s Sushi-Teq—a stylish sushi restaurant with a large patio—that night, we resolved to actually experience as much as we could of Boston the next day. After several frozen fruity drinks and unique sushi rolls, we were back at the Liberty—which apparently has a busy, Manhattan-style bar and club scene at night.
We had brunch at Clink restaurant and lounge there in the morning before embarking on a Freedom Trail Foundation Walking Tour. I’d thought we’d be trekking all over the city to see the sites firsthand, but after over an hour of listening to a long-winded history lesson by a lady dressed in colonial garb and seeing only the Granary Cemetery, we’d had enough, and ditched the walking tour in favor of a 45-minute cruise, courtesy of Massachusetts Bay Lines. The double-decker boat was nearly empty, and although most of the narration was in French (I’m still not sure why), the trip was peaceful, pleasant and provided many scenic views of Boston and Charlestown.
Next we took the T to Cambridge, where we wandered through Harvard Yard and Harvard Square, and mingled with the students and locals. The area gives off a liberal vibe, and it’s nowhere near as uptight as its reputation suggests. We finished off the day with a tasty dinner at Temple Bar, which is more a gourmet restaurant than bar, and serves a variety of fish, poultry and meat entrees, as well as salads, sandwiches and vegetarian options. Try the black cod—it’s cooked to perfection and lightly spiced so as only to enhance the fresh flavor of the fish.
Sadly, our time in the Beantown was up, and while there’s certainly more ground to cover than humanly possibly in 24 hours, I felt content leaving, knowing I gained at least an overview’s worth of insight into Boston’s history and present-day culture. I can appreciate the striking architecture, clean streets and abundance of commerce. I enjoy the varied culinary options, the numerous activities available and the liberal attitudes. I’ll certainly be back for more someday, but for now, we came, we saw and we experienced. And in 24 hours, that’s all you can ask for.
—Carly Felton