BOS Must dos?
Oct 11, 2011, 6:59 pm
#16
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Posts: 1,356
I'm just talking about the scene where he meets Skylar and later has the "How you like them apples" quote which I assumed the OP was referring to as he mentioned Harvard Sq earlier in the question.
script says Bow & Arrow pub.
Oct 11, 2011, 7:33 pm
#17
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Oct 12, 2011, 9:06 am
#19
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http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/goodwillhunting.html
I'm just talking about the scene where he meets Skylar and later has the "How you like them apples" quote which I assumed the OP was referring to as he mentioned Harvard Sq earlier in the question.
script says Bow & Arrow pub.
I'm just talking about the scene where he meets Skylar and later has the "How you like them apples" quote which I assumed the OP was referring to as he mentioned Harvard Sq earlier in the question.
script says Bow & Arrow pub.
Oct 16, 2011, 7:48 am
#20
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: PEK and BOS
Programs: BA - Blue
Posts: 4,530
Despite the mostly bad restaurants, the North End is rather fun to walk around. And there are some good dining options, the most reasonably priced of which is the original Regina's pizza.
Walking round the Common/Public Garden/Beacon Hill is rather nice, regardless of the weather.
Legal's is a chain, and there are several better options (some of which are mentioned upthread), but it is by no means bad.
I personally love the Holocaust memorial, very close to Faneuil Hall and the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum near Fenway. Count me as one who doesn't think Harvard Yard is that amazing to look at: but I wouldn't dream of coming to Boston and not making my own judgement.
tb
Walking round the Common/Public Garden/Beacon Hill is rather nice, regardless of the weather.
Legal's is a chain, and there are several better options (some of which are mentioned upthread), but it is by no means bad.
I personally love the Holocaust memorial, very close to Faneuil Hall and the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum near Fenway. Count me as one who doesn't think Harvard Yard is that amazing to look at: but I wouldn't dream of coming to Boston and not making my own judgement.
tb
Oct 22, 2011, 6:38 pm
#21
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Evergreen, CO
Posts: 1,460
If it were just me, I'd go see the USS Massachusetts (BB-59) but not sure she'll be into that. I've been to the USS Constitution and LOVED it, but she is not as nerdy as I am.
How long a walk is the Freedom Trail? Is it realistic to do that in 4 hours followed by dinner in the North end? We land at Logan at 2:30. I see that Boston is only abut 3 degrees further North than Denver, so assuming sunset is around 5:00 PM after the daylight savings change.
Last edited by John Galt; Oct 22, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Oct 23, 2011, 10:05 am
#22
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 630
Personally I really enjoyed Plimoth Plantation. Mr. halfcape grew up in the Boston area so he had been there on school trips and wasn't as interested as I was. If you enjoy places like this, i.e. Old Sturbridge Village etc. then you would enjoy Plimoth. We arrived in the morning and it was quiet and we were enjoying ourselves until the buses arrived with the school children. There were kids everywhere and that was not a positive for us. I doubt there are school kids every day? But I would go back if we had guests that were interested.
Oct 24, 2011, 6:38 am
#23
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Personally I really enjoyed Plimoth Plantation. Mr. halfcape grew up in the Boston area so he had been there on school trips and wasn't as interested as I was. If you enjoy places like this, i.e. Old Sturbridge Village etc. then you would enjoy Plimoth. We arrived in the morning and it was quiet and we were enjoying ourselves until the buses arrived with the school children. There were kids everywhere and that was not a positive for us. I doubt there are school kids every day? But I would go back if we had guests that were interested.
Oct 25, 2011, 3:48 pm
#25
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Boston
Programs: All of the above
Posts: 398
Try Neptune Oyster bar in the North End. They do not take reservations...go early and give your name and cell phone #. You should take a stroll around that area. Pizzaria Regina still has great lunch. Dumpy,but original. I also love B&G. A walk down Charles Street is nice...end up at Scampo,Lydia Shire's restaurant at the Liberty Hotel (refurbished Charles street jail). Not sure what's going on culturally,but BLUE MAN GROUP is fun if there is nothing else. I have never been disappointed at East coast grill, and the burgers are great at the Bristol lounge. Have fun
Last edited by flylinda; Oct 25, 2011 at 3:51 pm Reason: spelling
Nov 15, 2011, 11:06 am
#26
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Nov 15, 2011, 8:08 pm
#27
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We just returned from a fabulous long weekend in Boston! It was really very much beer themed. 
We toured the Sam Adams Brewery (well, the bottling takes place elsewhere) and part of the fun was taking the trolley to Doyle's during our long wait. What a fun place! They had the newest cider on tap and enjoyed that IMMENSELY. The Sam Adams tour is very generous regarding the tasting. A really fun tour and fun group.
Had a blast in Cambridge too. Met friends at Grafton Street. Drank a lot of Sam Adams this weekend.
Also, we FINALLY found a coffee shop in Boston for breakfast. My husband did the research and found Thornton's. Since there is no other coffee shop (others might use the term 'diner'), it has quite the monopoly and thus has slow service. That was annoying. But the food was delicious and made up for the bad service. Enjoyed the pancakes with fresh strawberries.
We toured the Sam Adams Brewery (well, the bottling takes place elsewhere) and part of the fun was taking the trolley to Doyle's during our long wait. What a fun place! They had the newest cider on tap and enjoyed that IMMENSELY. The Sam Adams tour is very generous regarding the tasting. A really fun tour and fun group.Had a blast in Cambridge too. Met friends at Grafton Street. Drank a lot of Sam Adams this weekend.
Also, we FINALLY found a coffee shop in Boston for breakfast. My husband did the research and found Thornton's. Since there is no other coffee shop (others might use the term 'diner'), it has quite the monopoly and thus has slow service. That was annoying. But the food was delicious and made up for the bad service. Enjoyed the pancakes with fresh strawberries.
Nov 16, 2011, 9:08 am
#28
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 8
The main streets of Havard Square are mainly commercial now--a lot of the quirky stores that were there years ago are now gone. And if you are looking for pre-gaming a la big state universities, Harvard's not the place to go unless you are there for H-Y game.
And while the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is nice, that wouldn't be my choice if I could go to just ONE museum. Go check out the Museum of Fine Arts.
If you're into classical music, check out the BSO.
I personally think food in the North End (except for Giacomo's, which is impossible to get into) is over-rated. It's a cool place to walk around, but there are other places where you can have some fabulous dinner. If you are near Cambridge. go to Chez Henri, Craigie on Main or Hungry Mother. Menton and L'Espalier are my favorites in Boston, although both are expesniv.e
And while the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is nice, that wouldn't be my choice if I could go to just ONE museum. Go check out the Museum of Fine Arts.
If you're into classical music, check out the BSO.
I personally think food in the North End (except for Giacomo's, which is impossible to get into) is over-rated. It's a cool place to walk around, but there are other places where you can have some fabulous dinner. If you are near Cambridge. go to Chez Henri, Craigie on Main or Hungry Mother. Menton and L'Espalier are my favorites in Boston, although both are expesniv.e
Feb 12, 2012, 12:37 pm
#29
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Evergreen, CO
Posts: 1,460
Thought I'd post up a few comments. We weren't as intense as we might have been...it was the first time the missus and I had been away sans kids since June 2009. We just spent some time enjoying each other's company. I was amazed at how civil Bostonians are.
--We took a day and rode the T to Harvard Square and walked around - walked around the campus (about like any other leafy, green college campus you've been to). Walked up Burdick street past the Longfellow park and ogled the huge houses. It was a really nice, cool and sunny NE day. Stopped at Burdick's Chocolates - YOU MUST DO THIS! My wife has cocoa running through her veins...and the sinful chocolate tart she had was too much for her..I don't know how they did it, but the fudgy base layer was somehow more chocolatey than a piece of pure chocolate. And the aftertaste goes through about 3 stages that all have aspects of chocolate, but are different. Then we walked back through the Back Bay thorough the Commons, across the world's smallest suspension bridge, and the gardens for a slice of life (buy something to eat from a street vendor, and watch the world go by as you munch), then walked through the burial ground. We saw John Kerry's house in Beacon hill and window shopped at the antique stores on (I think) Charles Street and the tiny, quaint alley called Cedar Lane Way. We ate at Durgin Park (1827), the 2nd oldest restaurant in Boston. I've had way better food, but we enjoyed ourselves.
--We took a water taxi to the USS Constitution, looked at the very interesting ropemaking display (it's more interesting than it sounds) and there's a Fletcher-class DD in drydock. Apparently, they ran out of money on the restoration...but I thought it was more interesting to see it in drydock. Puts it into historical context. There is, in general, so little industry left in places like SFO, BOS, and NYC that it's interesting to imagine what it must have been like when people still worked for a living, making things that could be touched and used. The USS Constitution was an interesting tour, but the Navy tour was a little short and general for my tastes...but then, I'm a history and sailing geek. I had a great time telling the missus the difference between cannons and carronades, and looking at the stockpiled live oak timbers left over from the most recent restoration. We walked up to Bunker Hill, then back through the North End. Paul Rever's house was really worth a look, less for teh Paul Revere aspect than for the period furniture and the evidence of serial-restorations. We bought some cannoli's at Mike's pastry (you'll see hundreds of tourists carrying them around. Buy a lot fewer than you want - they are rich, and you'll waste half of them if you let the crowd psychology influence you into buying a dozen. If you split one with your date, it's more than an adequate snack). We wandered around until we saw an Italian restaurant that smelled good and was crowded at 5:30 PM...then we came back at dinnertime.
Next time's:
--Probably take a BOS harbor kayak tour. Possibly do some sailing - we saw some Sunfish (?) on the Charles, but couldn't figure out how to rent one.
--Attend a church service at Old North Church. Hey, George Washington probably slept there!
--Hit the Harvard natural history museum and the architecture college for whatever teh students have on display that week.
--Mottley's Comedy club.
--Catch an afternoon Bosox game. I'm not a sports fan, but it seems like a slice of life thing to do. Sit in the bleachers and buy beers for the 3-4 people around you, if they seem like normal Joes.
--Get a Boston Marathon map, and do parts of the route over several days. Unless you're a serious runner - more power to you!
--There's a "Haunted Boston" tour that seems like some offbeat fun.
--Make a pilgrimmage to the WGBH in Boston studios. Growing up....seems like everything worth watching came out of that studio. Just to say you were there.
The Long Wharf had a small library...I recommend reading "Boston's Back Bay: The Story of America's Greatest Nineteenth-Century Landfill Project" by Newman and Holton - thought it was a fascinating book, and it added a lot to my understanding of the city. Who knew Boston was an island until the 1840s? That explains the arrow-straight Back Bay streets vs. the paved cattle trails in the North end.
I spent a lot of time obsessing about where the "Best" restaurants were. It's like the Olympics, though...the diff between 1st and 15th is 0.2 of a second. The "Best" places are probably impossible to get into, unless you're a local. My "Lesson Learned" is to find a place that smells/looks good to you, seems to be crowded, and that some of the locals recommend. We did eat at Legal Seafoods, which will no doubt make many cringe...but we thought it was good/fresh, and, being from the Gulf Coast, like to think we know our seafood.
We thought about the aquarium...but have been to the one in Galveston and the one in Monterey CA, so we didn't see the need to duplicate...it seemed a little pricey compared to the other two. Also, we thought about the Harpoon brewery tour, but, again, there are a LOT of small brewpubs and distilleries in Colorado, so we didn't feel the need.
--We took a day and rode the T to Harvard Square and walked around - walked around the campus (about like any other leafy, green college campus you've been to). Walked up Burdick street past the Longfellow park and ogled the huge houses. It was a really nice, cool and sunny NE day. Stopped at Burdick's Chocolates - YOU MUST DO THIS! My wife has cocoa running through her veins...and the sinful chocolate tart she had was too much for her..I don't know how they did it, but the fudgy base layer was somehow more chocolatey than a piece of pure chocolate. And the aftertaste goes through about 3 stages that all have aspects of chocolate, but are different. Then we walked back through the Back Bay thorough the Commons, across the world's smallest suspension bridge, and the gardens for a slice of life (buy something to eat from a street vendor, and watch the world go by as you munch), then walked through the burial ground. We saw John Kerry's house in Beacon hill and window shopped at the antique stores on (I think) Charles Street and the tiny, quaint alley called Cedar Lane Way. We ate at Durgin Park (1827), the 2nd oldest restaurant in Boston. I've had way better food, but we enjoyed ourselves.
--We took a water taxi to the USS Constitution, looked at the very interesting ropemaking display (it's more interesting than it sounds) and there's a Fletcher-class DD in drydock. Apparently, they ran out of money on the restoration...but I thought it was more interesting to see it in drydock. Puts it into historical context. There is, in general, so little industry left in places like SFO, BOS, and NYC that it's interesting to imagine what it must have been like when people still worked for a living, making things that could be touched and used. The USS Constitution was an interesting tour, but the Navy tour was a little short and general for my tastes...but then, I'm a history and sailing geek. I had a great time telling the missus the difference between cannons and carronades, and looking at the stockpiled live oak timbers left over from the most recent restoration. We walked up to Bunker Hill, then back through the North End. Paul Rever's house was really worth a look, less for teh Paul Revere aspect than for the period furniture and the evidence of serial-restorations. We bought some cannoli's at Mike's pastry (you'll see hundreds of tourists carrying them around. Buy a lot fewer than you want - they are rich, and you'll waste half of them if you let the crowd psychology influence you into buying a dozen. If you split one with your date, it's more than an adequate snack). We wandered around until we saw an Italian restaurant that smelled good and was crowded at 5:30 PM...then we came back at dinnertime.
Next time's:
--Probably take a BOS harbor kayak tour. Possibly do some sailing - we saw some Sunfish (?) on the Charles, but couldn't figure out how to rent one.
--Attend a church service at Old North Church. Hey, George Washington probably slept there!
--Hit the Harvard natural history museum and the architecture college for whatever teh students have on display that week.
--Mottley's Comedy club.
--Catch an afternoon Bosox game. I'm not a sports fan, but it seems like a slice of life thing to do. Sit in the bleachers and buy beers for the 3-4 people around you, if they seem like normal Joes.
--Get a Boston Marathon map, and do parts of the route over several days. Unless you're a serious runner - more power to you!
--There's a "Haunted Boston" tour that seems like some offbeat fun.
--Make a pilgrimmage to the WGBH in Boston studios. Growing up....seems like everything worth watching came out of that studio. Just to say you were there.
The Long Wharf had a small library...I recommend reading "Boston's Back Bay: The Story of America's Greatest Nineteenth-Century Landfill Project" by Newman and Holton - thought it was a fascinating book, and it added a lot to my understanding of the city. Who knew Boston was an island until the 1840s? That explains the arrow-straight Back Bay streets vs. the paved cattle trails in the North end.
I spent a lot of time obsessing about where the "Best" restaurants were. It's like the Olympics, though...the diff between 1st and 15th is 0.2 of a second. The "Best" places are probably impossible to get into, unless you're a local. My "Lesson Learned" is to find a place that smells/looks good to you, seems to be crowded, and that some of the locals recommend. We did eat at Legal Seafoods, which will no doubt make many cringe...but we thought it was good/fresh, and, being from the Gulf Coast, like to think we know our seafood.
We thought about the aquarium...but have been to the one in Galveston and the one in Monterey CA, so we didn't see the need to duplicate...it seemed a little pricey compared to the other two. Also, we thought about the Harpoon brewery tour, but, again, there are a LOT of small brewpubs and distilleries in Colorado, so we didn't feel the need.
Last edited by John Galt; Feb 12, 2012 at 1:00 pm
Feb 12, 2012, 2:08 pm
#30
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: BOS
Programs: AA EXP/2MM, HH Gold, MR Plat, Nat'l Exec Elite
Posts: 5,995
Most of the Sunfish you see sailing around on the Charles near the Hatch Shell are part of the Community Boating organization, I think. Seems you have to join, take lessons, etc.
However, there is a rental company on the Cambridge side called Charles River Canoe & Kayak. It's near Kendall Square although there are several other locations but they don't appear to rent sail boats.