suziem

During spring break (4/9-13) I'm taking my teenage son to Boston to look at a few colleges. We have 4 full days and most of the 13th due to an evening flight out. We've been to Boston twice already so we've done some of the better know attractions, ie: Freedom Trail tour & Duck Tours.

So far our plans consist of:
Tour of Boston College
Tour of Boston University
Red Sox game, Tues the 11th, 7:05 pm

He's not much of a shopper (too bad for me), loves sports and outdoor activities.

Also, can anyone in Boston tell me what kind of weather to expect? weather.com is forecasting pretty chilly temps with hi's in the mid 50's.

Lastly, how about a few restaurant rec's. We love Italian and son likes meat! Sadly no seafood. Maybe a place with a fun atmosphere, but not necessarily a chain type place.

Thanks a bunch!!

aliska

Suziem, you don't mention where you are staying. Our oldest daughter is in the Western Boston suburbs (Brandeis) and we have been to Boston several times recently with our youngest DD, who is 15. You can easily spend a day wanering around Cambridge, do the Science Musuem, and go on to the North End, which is chock full of Italian eateries. We liked Antico Forno and loved Mike's Pastry for dessert. The Science Musuem has its own exit on the T (Boston subway) and you can walk, take the T or cab it (about $6-8). Our daughter is very much into history and visiting the SS Constitution was very interesting to her. The Aquarium was also a big hit. It might be warm enough for a boat ride. If you have a car, we found Salem, Gloucester and Rockport interesting as well. Hope that helps!

gail

Boston Celtics are in town some of those days - should be easy to get tickets since they stink.

Weather - could be anything from snow to 70s - sorry, but that is spring in Boston. Weather forecasts are not even reliable, so don't bother checking before you come - it will change. For the night Red Sox game, no matter what it is like in daytime you want winter coat, hat, gloves.

Italian - walk around in North End (near Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall area) and look at menus in windows - or do search here, as specific restaurants have been suggested.

Tour of Fenway Park might be interesting.

Fire and Ice (they have a website - one in Cambridge and one in Boston) is a fun restaurant where you pick items raw from large buffet - produce, protein, rice/noodles - bring them to a huge grill thing where guys stitr fry it for you and add sauce of your choice. My carnivore son usually picks 3 kinds of meat for them to cook, while others in our family pick more balanced meals. You can go back as often as you like.
Young crowd, too loud music - my 16 and 20 year old love it and their grandmother hates it.

Take the MBTA to Cambridge and look at Harvard Square.

Funny how this look at colleges thing works - I will be away week after that with dtr looking at colleges - and for her living here, anyplace but Boston will do.

Dreamer2

My 16 y.o. son recommends:

Fenway Park tour
Sports bar in the area, such as Game On
Fire and Ice restaurant
Smith and Wollensky (very exp dinner, but decent lunches-neat "castle" atmosphere, actually an old armory)
North End Italian (favorites: Pagliuca and Antico Forno)
USS Constitution (take ferry from waterfront by Marriot and Aquarium)
Good restaurant by the wharf, too: Sel de la Terre (son loves their French fries)
Blue Man Group
Also, the science museum has IMAX educational movies, and laser shows set to rock music. (That's my suggestion, my son doesn't think those are so cool.)

Speaking of cool... the weather is sure to be.

Enjoy your time together!

TC

A whale watching tour. It was amazing!

http://www.neaq.org/visit/wwatch/index.html

suziem

Thanks everyone! Especially all the restaurant rec's.

Aliska- We are staying in the Back Bay at the Eliot. Visiting the USS Constitution and the Science museum sound interesting. I'll run it by the teen. We won't have a car this trip. With just 5 days, I figured we stick to Boston.

Gail-I'll have to look into the Celtics. My son is a basketball fan and might really enjoy going to a game. Bad or not. May be worth it to see the visiting team. We live in the San Francisco Bay area and have season tkts for the Warriors.

Maybe your daughter wants to go to school in Northern California.....our son will go anywhere but HERE! So Cal is an option but he really likes the Boston area. Actually our entire family likes Boston very much. Kinda reminds us of San Francisco, but with more history.

Dreamer2-A sports bar would be a big hit for sure. Where is Game On? near shopping by any chance??? He could veg watching sports for a while and I can power shop.

TC-I'll check into the whale watching site. Might it be too cold??

Thanks too for the weather update. We'll bring warm clothes. June '05 my son and husband were in Boston and froze at a Red Sox game!

wyatt92

Game On is right by Fenway Park so not really near shopping. There is a cool store called Jean Therapy in the Hotel Commonwealth (one block from Fenway) that you could check out. Otherwise, the good shopping is along Newbury St.

suziem

wyatt92- Thanks for the location. Oh well, this trip is not about me and my shopping habits. I'm sure we'll make it down Newbury St at some point. I know there's a TGIF w/ TV's on Newbury. That mught buy me a hour or so.

Anyone have a good Breakfast place to recommend? That's a meal we both enjoy going out for. Maybe a place we could walk to from our hotel, The Eliot. The address is 370 Commonwealth, a few blocks from the end of Newbury st.

souloyster

You can find lots of things to do and information about Boston at http://www.areaguideboston.com. Area Guide Boston is a new local Boston and North Shore Massachusetts MA area directory for businesses, events, travel, restaurants, shopping, hotels, news, sites to see and things to do.

shaz60

suzie -
My teens love both the Museum of Science and Blue Man Group. You could get a meal in Chinatown and walk to the Charles St. Playhouse to see BMG. Also if you are in need of shopping, the Prudential has a mall on the ground floor and your son can head to the top to the observatory. My kids also like to head to the Common, grab lunch somewhere and throw around a frisbee or just people watch. Check out the sports calendar at BC and BU, maybe your son would like to watch something there. Either a sporting event or play. Have fun.

Sharon

seetheworld

Don't forget to check out the Agganis Arena - maybe there is something going on during your visit.

http://www.bu.edu/agganis/

china_cat

let me echo what Gail said...bring warm clothes for Fenway park. Especially if your seats are towards the back of the grandstands, it gets very cold by 10PM in April. Also, what a great game you have tickets for...if the rotation holds, you'll get to see Daisuke Matsuzaka make his Fenway park debut, the crowd will be nuts! Be sure to come a bit early, to give yourself some time to walk along Yawkey way and enjoy the atmosphere. Have dinner at Game On before hand. Or, if that doesn't appeal, there's a little tacqueria near Kilmarnock St called El Pelon thats really good, and a great place for a before-game bite.

The Celtics do stink, but going to a game is fun anyways. If your son is a basketball fan, he might get a kick out of all the banners and retired numbers which remind us of when they used to be good.

If you find yourself on Newbury St at a meal time, you both might like Sonsie. Good food, and a fun, upbeat atmosphere.

suziem

Thank you all for the helpful info. I just called the hotel and they report 'very cold' weather (40's) but supposedly warming up a bit later this week. I will be packing my uggs, parka, gloves and scarf for the Red Sox game!

FYI: For anyone heading this way (San Francisco Bay area) for spring break, we're enjoying beautiful weather, sunny and warm with temps in the 70's & 80's!

escargot

suziem:

At least the rain is supposed to be over by your visit and just that cool weather:

a few thoughts:
I would ask BU admissions if your son can have a 'pass' for the gym/lazy river/rock climbing wall during his stay - you never know, maybe they will let him and if he likes outdoor stuff that might interest him- and then you could shop Newbury St !

Also, at the Eliot, ask them for their runner/walker map if it is not in your room -

Other restaurants in area:
near BU (Carlos Cucina) if you needed to eat dinner up there, but most likely you can go elsewhere -

In the NOrth End: Piccolo Nido is reasonable and excellent - but not fancy

Walk from your hotel all the way down Newbury with him - there are plenty of stores to go in and out of for both of you even if he doesn't like shopping he can sit on the side and people watch -
he may like TeaLuxe and the bookstore my kids love is on the end closer to your hotel -
338 Newbury, and it is called Trident Booksellers and Cafe -
the web link is
tridentbookscafe.com

he could grab a coffee or whatever and get lost in there for a while and it is open until midnight if you both want to stop in one night if you are walking off dinner - our family can always get lost in there for awhile !

But if you walked from Eliot hotel /Mass Ave end - all the way down Newbury to Arlington, and then up Charles St over to the Charles River, that's a great walk and lots of galleries, clothing stores, cafes - or from Arlington into Boston Public garden, etc.

Also, check out the parent links/visiting links on each college web site for ideas too

Huge movie theater on Tremont across from Boston Common - or try for discount tickets for Blue Man Group or go to Jimmy Tingles off broadway comic in Somerville or one of the comedy clubs in Boston -and lots of great restaurants in Somerville Davis Square to eat in !

Try Jillians (jillians.com)
and Jasper Whites Summer Shack

Have fun!

suziem

escargot-thanks for all the great suggestions. Especially the walking route and theatre . We could see that new goofy Will Farrell movie. We're usually too busy at home with school and sports to make it to the movies very often.

We both love book stores too. I think that's a good idea for a stop after dinner on the way back to the hotel. Nice to get in out of the cold too.

The climbing rock wall sounds fun. I would even try that. I'll check into it.

Thanks again.

escargot

Suziem; - yup, it's all about compromise when college hunting AND enjoying time with our kids without the interruptions at home ! One of my fondest memories of looking with my son (now a junior in college) was that time together roaming in a new city or college town, having the time for a meal or a movie, and, me bribing him with me getting to run into a few stores here and there b/c in between we did things that appealed to him and/or both of us ! I actually ended up learning more than I probably wanted about what he thought I should and shouldn't wear on a few trips

(the stores on Charles St are really cute and quick to go in and out of - also a great paper store and some funky poster shop, etc so you can both pop in and out and he won't feel like he is ...gasp...shopping

escargot

A few more thoughts, thinking since you have done some of the tourist things you mentioned:

Prudential Skywalk - great views of the city and far, far beyond (into NH for example) if weather is clear- beautiful day or night

If you walk down Newbury, and cut over to Copley Place and the Boston Public Library - the library is just a magnificent building - it is free - walk in - look around - nice cafe in there too - and go and look at the Sargent murals - don't know if the Adams exhibit is still up, but it was great to walk through or whatever exhibits they have - even if you go in for 30 min it's worth it and such a great building.

Also, thinking about eating a that age boy, my son loved - and still loves - Clery's on Dartmouth street - there burgers are unreal - plus it is a very cool, neighborhood feel type pub (we are just a block or so from there and often end up there with or without our kids who are now in their 20's) - Clery's has good food and lots of huge tv's with sports on - you can sit around the bar or at the high tables across from the bar or you can go into the adjacent room which has great booths and tables with big comfortable leather chairs if you can snag one of those - and still more big tv's -

he would definitely enjoy the surroundings and food.

If you were at say the library or Copley Place, look for the Fairmont Copley Plaza and across from it you will see Neimans - walk past Neimans - or through it -and continue down Dartmouth St and you will come to Clery's on your left.

If you want a neighborhood South End feel, and end up at Clery's earlier than later - for lunch or early dinner - keep walking down Dartmouth to Tremont
and take a left on Tremont and see the Boston Center for Arts/Cyclorama on your left and walk into Picco's for some great ice cream and then walk back on Tremont back to Dartmouth and walk back up to the Copley Plaza area or grab a cab in front of Picco's -

If you wanted to eat somewhere different, in the South End you might also enjoy Garden of Eden (great breakfasts - and also great burgers here too - all organic food - and the most fabulous french fries even at breakfast with an omelette!) -
or Metropolis or Picco's if you just want soup, salad, pizza type food - it's very good and not outrageous prices, plus their ice cream is yum.

Another good eating place may be PF Changs - in theater district area

cigalechanta

For Breakfast, near your hotel, on Newbury St, the last block by Mass Ave.
Sonsies.
the outdated but fun glass globe, the mapatorium, at the Christian Scientist center, The glass flowers at Harvard,
Th hanging spring flowers from the balconies are out at the Gardner Museum.

suziem

Thanks again everyone for restaurant rec's, weather updates, walking routes, shopping spots and other sights/activites. We'll have plenty of great options to fill our 5 days.

I'm going to print this thread and plan to spend time this weekend reading and highlighting.

Now we can only cross our fingers and hope for decent weather. Specially Tuesday night at Fenway, where we'll be in the bleachers behind the bullpen.

Regardless, we are both excited for our Mother/Son college touring get-away!

escargot

Have fun - post a report when you get back and let us know how it went and what he thought of the schools,etc ! Safe travels.