Boppin' in Beantown

Quick Tips:

City Pass
The City Pass offers a book valued at about for admission into the best attractions including the aquarium, museum of science, museum of fine arts and others.

Search Boston Online
Great site with upcoming event calendar to help you with your plans.

Bizarro Boston
Enjoy the bizarre historical facts about Boston. It is nice to brush up on your historical knowledge to make the most of this city and all that has happened here.

Best Way To Get Around:

If you go, enjoy a nice cup of coffee and a dessert in Spinnakers. It is a revolving restaurant overlooking the river and skyline of Boston -- great at sunset!

For $56 a night, this hotel was a steal! They have a free shuttle that runs during the daytime hours that we found very convenient to get to the "T" and a few destinations nearby. The desk, concierge, and housekeeping were great.

The rooms were very clean and spacious. The bathroom we had was a bit small, but overall very comfortable.

If you get a great deal on this hotel you'll not be disappointed, but I would have been if paying full price.

Don't expect the best meal you can have in Boston. For both a great meal and a nice outdoor spot I'd choose McCormick and Schmicks instead; it's just on the other side of Faneuil Hall. I found the meal to be much better and the location and outdoor cafe just as good.

At Plaza III, you may enjoy the crème brulee covered in fresh strawberries as it was definitely the best part of the meal! If you're just looking for a spot to rest your feet and enjoy a good cup of coffee and dessert, this is it! For a full meal, I'd go elsewhere.

The menu offers a great assortment of fresh seafood from around the world: Chilean sea bass, Prince Edward Island mussels, seafood from Australia, etc. I opted for the Nova Scotian steelhead fish with white bean sauce. It was tender and perfectly cooked in a nice sauce. If you just want a bowl of chowder, you've come to the right place. It has a delicate smoky flavor with sweet Vidalia onions.

Earlier in the day, we had asked the locals where the best restaurant in Boston was. McCormick and Schmicks received that awarded response by more than 60% of those we asked. I can see why. Enjoy!

The Blue Man Group is a great inventive experience. The group is very interactive with the crowd and we enjoyed the laughs, comical music arrangements, guests and toilet papering each other. . . you just have to go to understand. Great rhythms and comedy combine into a show great for all ages! Young and old alike were stompin' and definitely laughing. It was a great time I'm sure any and all would enjoy!

There are many different trolley companies to choose from. We chose Old Towne Trolley and enjoyed it.

We never waited more than 10 minutes for a trolley and the drivers were very animated. You can tell they love their city! Each driver had a different flair and slant in their approach to discussing the Boston they love. At the trolley stops we did have a chance to talk with other trolley riders and they all were happy with their choices of companies. It may just come down to price and desired stops for you. Shop around, we found many small shops selling trolley passes around the gates of the Boston Public Garden.

Enjoy the ride!

We chose the Green Dragon for its historical flavor, but it was hard to picture it as a meeting place during the American Revolution as the band "The Swinging Johnsons" belted out "Oohhhh oooo Boston, you're my hommmmme" to a great drumbeat! It's a small Irish pub and we were lucky enough to secure two stools at the bar and whiled away an evening enjoying the band and company we'd met. If you're looking to dance, this isn't the place, as there’s no dance floor, or was there? I'm not sure because it was WALL-TO-WALL people! It is a great place to hear music and mingle with the locals.

Tours leave from the Souvenir Store across Yawkey Way hourly seven days a week from 9am to 4pm or until three hours before game time, whichever is earlier. It was $10 per person and no reservation was needed. Fenway Park Tours has a lot of information on the tours. Our tour was one of the last before the game. The good point to this was that the team players were taking the field for practice and stretching. We were able to bring cameras and got great shots from atop the green monster as well as in the 406 elite club area. It was a fantastic tour and I'd highly recommend it to ANY baseball fans or just fans of historical nature.

The park is the oldest ballpark in the league, built in 1911, if I remember correctly, and the seats and stands. . . it's a sight and experience to behold! My husband, being a die-hard Red Sox fan, was on cloud nine!