tchoiniere

Where are your seats for Fenway? More out of curiosity than anything.

wyatt92

Too bad you weren't here yesterday, Ben Affleck was filming his movie outside of Neptune Oyster.

jojuice

A bit pricey, but Turner Fisheries at the Westin Copley wins hands down.
You can enter Fanueil Hall. When we were there a young man gave an excellent lecture regarding the birth of Boston. Other than that it is quite boring but the Haymarket is a kick.
Stay away from Abe and Louie's Steak House. Overpriced and horrible service.

Cranachin

If you decide to do a museum on a rainy day, or even if it is only gray/overcast, I would recommend you avoid the Gardner. It is fine for a sunny day, but I found it to be very depressing/dark on an overcast/rainy day.

Re; Durgin Park, my most recent visit (in early May) was a disappointment, but maybe they were having an off day. I have had good food there other times. And so far I have not encountered a waitress that was really rude - although they are not exactly charm school grads

Katerbug

Hi halogirl! I too hail from So Cal (Villa Park)and went to Boston for the 1st time this past August-weather was perfect for us, so I'm hoping it is for you too. We stayed in Beacon Hill area and walked everywhere (till our feet hurt!) and then tried the "T" and that's the way to go! Fun and quick! Taxis too, just to get back to our inn quickly. Try to walk around Beacon Hill and have pizza-can't recall the name but you'll see the locals with take-out! We took the water taxi over to the USS Constitution-great city views but the queue for the ship was 2.5 hrs long so we just came back. You gotta go to the North End-great Italian part of Boston-people are just "out" and about, and there's a comfortable feel about it. Great food-we ate at Euno but there are many others you can try. Also ate the most delish oysters (w/ champagne of course!) at Neptune but get there early (by 5pm) as the queues get quite long. The lines are also quite long at any of the bakeries mentioned above (Modern, Maria's)so we didn't purchase anything but do go in to any bakery just to look. We visited the Gardner Museum and it was great-but since we have been to Italy and France it wasn't as much of a "WOW" for us but would be for someone who's never been to Europe. Lovely lunch setting and great food there tho. Clam Chowdah is a must, and we had very yummy bowls at Legal Sea Food on the waterfront. We had lobstah rolls later on the coast drive to Maine and didn't really get what the hype was all about! We love our West Coast lobster better, sorry folks! Missed the Boston Public library (closed on Sun) but wish we had seen it-great architecture, tours of art inside. Went to the Pru Tower and went up to the Top of the Hub for terrific views of the city-make sure it's clear tho, as mentioned previously. We didn't do any Duck Tours and didn't get to Cambridge as we only had 2 full days; suggest you do the later. Good eats over in Cambridge I've read. You'll love Boston; we did. Just get out and walk!

bachslunch

Katerbug, thanks for the report -- enjoyed it.

The pizza spot in Beacon Hill you went to likely was The Upper Crust. It's very good, too, and on a reasonable short list of worthy pizza spots in Boston along with Santarpio's (East Boston) and the original Pizzeria Regina (Thacher Street in the North End).

The Gardner Museum is one of those small gems of an art museum rather like the Frick in New York or the Taft in Cincinnati. Not huge, but a fine small collection in a lovely old historic house. It's not the Met or the Louvre, which is a different animal.

sf7307

>>

Seriously? I think you might be the only one (I'm a transplanted New Yorker, who doesn't eat any lobster other than Maine lobster!)

amyb

Agree with bachslunch on the Gardner, it is definitely on par with the Frick in NYC and I also think the Thyssen in Madrid. It has a world class collection, it is not a museum of lesser works by bigger names. It's just not a super-museum of massive volume. I think what is most enticing about museums like these three is that they are "do-able" in a day: you can visit, fully digest and enjoy them without overload and realize you just saw some absolutely wonderful art without needing rehab for Stendahl's.

tchoiniere

Not sure which game you are going to but hopefully you went to last night's game. it was nuts as it was going back and forth. The Sox have won the 2 games so far so you may not be too happy but hopefully you have enjoyed it.

yk

I was at the Gardner last week. Even though I go there about twice a year, I still find it an amazing place. The cafe serves fresh and delicious food. While I wasn't thrilled about the new expansion, looking at the cramped cafe and even more cramped museum shop makes me realize they really need the extra space.