More travel advice: Boston in early October

Headed to Beantown, third week in October, I'll be there for Columbus Day.

Any suggestions on what to do? Staying with friends for at least most of the time, and Holy Hell am I grateful. Something like $400 a night at some of the nicer sleeping joints.

I'm told Fenway is a must stop, along with the library. Anywhere else?

And what about eating joints?

 

Faneuil Hall is a nice stop to visit. The Esplanade Park is also a decent place.

It all depends on what you want to eat in terms of restaurants. The North End is fantastic if you want Italian food. If you like seafood, go Legal Sea Foods or the Union Oyster House. Sports bars are the best places for American food. Can't help you on much else.

Enjoy your trip.

 

Third week in October for Fenway? Will the Sawx even be playing then?

I highly recommend Bukowski's on Dalton Street in Back Bay. Good food, great beer menu.

 

Dear Jay: Mid-October is leaf time. Rent/borrow a car and head out to Lexington/Concord to the National Historical Park. It's a neat place by itself and the scenery should be spectacular.
Fenway will either be uninhabited, or it'll be the playoffs, so you'll be out of luck. Third weekend of October is Head of the Charles regatta, biggest U.S. rowing event, which is a cool take.
Restaurants: One suggestion: Myers & Chang. It's at the corner of Washington and East Berkeley streets,really near the Herald, in fact. It's sort of Chinese tapas, and it's delicious.
Check that: Here's another suggestion. Go to East Boston for Santarpio's for pizza. It's astounding.
If you go to the North End to eat Italian, you can go to the Old North Church burial ground and see the resting place of Joshua Gee, the first of my forefathers to live around here circa 1650 or so. There's a plaque and stuff.

 

If you're determined to see Fenway, you can take a tour around the ballpark. Here's a link to the website.
http://mlb.mlb.com/bos/ballpark/tour.jsp

 

In addition to the other suggestions here - - all of which are excellent suggestions:


The JFK Presidential Library is an interesting stop. It's a pain to get to and from it, but it is worth a visit.

The Boston Science Museum is excellent -- on a par with the Field Museum in Chicago and the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. If you have any interest in science/technology, this is worth a visit. You can get there easily by subway on the Green Line.

[BTW, use the Subway to travel around. Get a "Charlie Card" at just about any station and load it with money. It functions as a debit card. any subway trip - - no matter the length or time of day - - is $1.70 with a "Charlie Card". The name comes from the Kingston Trio song "Charlie on the MTA"...]

 

I have to second the JFK Library. It's near UMASS Boston, and the view of the harbor is great. The Museum of Fine Arts is also a decent trip.

 

Contact Peter King.

 

We met an SJ friend at Sullivan's Tap (known locally as Sully's) before catching a Leafs-Boston game at the Garden. Completely non-themed and non-pretentious and everything a good bar should be.

 

Amen to that.

 

A great walking downtown, Paul Revere's home, the Old North Church, Boston Common. Good stuff.

 

When I visited Boston, I really enjoyed The Freedom Trail. http://www.thefreedomtrail.org. You'll be able to hit up many of the great, colonial and Revolutionary-era tourists attractions. I also visited Salem when I was up there. We visited at least one of the Salem witch trial museums, but I really enjoyed seeing Nathanial Hawthorne's homestead. I believe his novel "The House of the Seven Gables" is based on his home that was there. http://www.salemweb.com/