With much help from this board we have returned from our 4 days in Boston and 4 days in New York.

Not very adept at the writing of a trip report but will do my best to cover the highlights as I know another person commented on my first thread that she was visiting in September.

Friday-arrived Boston via USAirways, no problems. LOTS of construction at Logan Airport so we skipped the water taxi and took a regular cab to the Residence in Boston Harbor on Tudor Wharf. Really a good fit for us. (Kids were shocked at the smallness of the room. We laughed and said "wait until NYC") Yes, it is in Charlestown but we walked to the North Subway station very near there and had no problem getting around Boston. It's a very walkable city. We walked through the North End Friday night and ate at the Neptune House. Good food. Limited menu. Cannoli's from Mike's. YUM. Early to bed.

Saturday-took the subway to the Prudential Center to catch our DuckTour. I would highly reccomend doing this. It was fun and informative. Do buy your tickets online in ADVANCE. After the DuckTour we began the Freedom Tour, stopped for lunch at Ye Olde Oyster House. Got caught up in USA v. Ghana and blew 3 hours. Headed back to hotel for a rest. Later that night caught a Graveyards and Ghosts tours. Really fun. Minerva, our "dead" guide was fabulous, very theatrical. You can buy tickets outside the Marriott on the wharf.

Sunday-Took the subway to the New England Aquarium. Small but a really nice aquarium. Took their Whale Watch. Almost 4 hours. Nice ride, only saw a couple of whales that were very shy but glad we did the watch. Ate at Legal Seafoods across from the Aquarium. Really good meal.

Monday-Sub to Boston Commons and did the Freedom Trail the proper way. WARNING-USS Constitution is closed on Mondays Treked up Bunker Hill, all gazillion steps and thought I would keel over. Glad we did it tho. (95, hottest day Boston had seen thus far) Crawled back to hotel to freshen up for dinner. Mama Maria's in the North End. Delicious.

Tuesday-Before we left we did a very FAST tour of the USS COnstitution. Flew out of Logan to LGA for 4 days in New York.

I really appreciate everyone's advice on what to do, not to do, where to eat, etc. Even if we don't "know" each other it is nice to hear from folks with first hand info. I will be glad to answer any questions I can. Thank you.

jan89, I'm really glad everything worked out and you enjoyed your stay in Boston! You really did quite a lot in 4 short days. I also climbed Bunker Hill monument once (last year), and my gosh, there's no way I'll do that again! My legs felt like spaghetti by the time I got down.

How did you like the Residence Inn? Does it have a kitchenette, and did you use it? Any feedback on that hotel would be much appreciated.

Sounds like you had a great time! I am always interested to read trip reports for the place where I live!

Glad to hear that you had a "really good meal" at the Aquarium locale of Legal Sea Foods.

There is a recurrent debate on this board about Legal's and I am one of the Legal aficionados. I only ate at that particular location once when we were meeting someone who was here on a trip. I was surprised to find it as good or better than the ones in less touristy areas. To me, it speaks to their quality, b/c it is not a location that has to cultivate return business, as the bulk of the customers are visitors.

You are so correct about people helping each other on this board! I first posted in '04 for advice on Strasbourg and I was so touched by the helpfulness of people I did not know. We received wonderful advice and tips that made the trip one of our best ever!

YK-For us the Res Inn was fine. I know some folks will think it is too far away, but it is close to the subway. It did have a tiny kitchenette (sink, fridge, micro) maybe a couple of burners, can't remember. We used the fridge. Had free breakfast in the lobby every morning so we didn't need that. Stocked drinks and needed to keep those cannolis cold! You could easily keep sandwiches and leftovers to reheat. They also have a really small pool that my daughter swam in once. A little corner near front desk with drinks and snacks for sell.

Socialworker-I had the stuffed lobster. (Talk about rich but oh so good)I know chains can get a bad rap but I had been told to try Legal and we were pleased. Really decent prices on bottles of wine as well as good service. They were slammed on the Sunday evening we were there. Happy to make substituions for sides, etc. Plus there signs in the subway were amusing-"wine gets better with age, fish not so much".....

In my experience, Legal Seafood can be good, middling, or bad, in part depending on which branch you go to. Have eaten at the one by the Aquarium a few times and did fine each time. Maybe there's a ramp running from one to the other for ultra-freshness, who knows?

Agreed that Neptune Oyster (not Neptune House) is a wonderfully good seafood spot. Hope your experience at the Union Oyster House was good -- sorry to say, I've not had a good meal there in several tries, other than raw oysters at the bar.

thanks for the report!

Neptune Oyster was pretty good. However 2/4 of us had raw oysters to start and later had "GI Distress". The 2 of us that did not were fine. At Union we were in the limited bar area so bar food. Clam Chowder was very good.