Hello Fellow Travelers,

My 2 yr old son and I will be tagging along on my husband's business trip to Boston and I am looking for some practical advice and some food recommendations. We're arriving on the 9th and staying at The Langham (financial district) for 4 nights. I know Boston is a walking city and I'm wondering if it is advisable for my son and I to walk everywhere from the financial district. We are from the San Francisco Bay Area and are not used to the winters back East.
We plan to go to the aquarium and the Children's Museum and I would like to eat at some nice places like Blue Ginger in Wellesley and Upstairs on the Square in Cambridge. Is that doable in 4 days? What is the best mode of transportation given the weather, traveling with a toddler and the places we want to go? Are the streets, buses and the T stroller friendly? Are there places to grab a cheap breakfast in the Financial district? Would Back Bay be a better place to stay? My son is pretty well behaved in fine dining situations so I would love some good recommendations for Italian food, chowdah, and good eats. Also are there other toddler friendly activities anyone would recommend? Thanks very much in advance!

You can certainly walk most places from the financial district. The sidewalks are clear of snow at this point and are fairly wide in the financial district. The Children's Museum and the Aquarium are a pleasant walk from the Langham. That being said, the weather while you will be here is currently forecasted to be somewhat rainy. You can take the T, strollers are taken on the trains all the time, but it can be a bit awkward at rush hour time and walking will generally be easier for short distances. If you stick to the downtown, buses won't really come into play.

You can take the T (Red Line) to Upstairs on the Square and you can take the commuter rail (Worcester/Framingham line) out of South Station to get to Wellesley for Blue Ginger (it's a short walk from the station to the restaurant).

There are plenty of places around to get breakfast...Quincy Market, Au Bon Pain, etc, etc. A kid (and parent!) friendly place to eat near the Children's Museum is Flour Bakery & Cafe on Farnsworth St.

Your hotel choice is lovely and I think you'll find the location to be ideal. I would think a two year old would be fascinated by the "T" (though you might not be). The best place for good Italian food is in the North End and you really can't go too far wrong there. As a Bostonian currently staying in Marin for the winter, I think the weather will be fairly comparable...some rain, 50's..can have some lovely spring days, too. Good luck and enjoy Boston..you'll see the similarities between it and SF, I'm sure.

Well, I've been to Boston in mid-March and was very glad to know about the mall that connects the convention center with Copley Place and many hotels. If I were wandering around the city with a 2 year old, I'd take advantage of walking around the city in the warmth of the interconnected mall - out of the cold and the ice/snow that may be on the streets.

http://www.celebrateboston.com/prudential-center.htm

"...to create the beautiful Prudential Center shopping mall. Glass covered arcades connect different portions of the complex. The Boylston and Newbury arcades are located near the Boylston Street entrance. The Prudential and Back Bay arcades intersect in a central court. The mall is joined with the Hynes Convention Center and Copley Place via walkways and passages, which is extremely convenient"

I would think a 2 yr old might also like the Science Museum, also easy to get to on the T and you might enly strolling the Common and Boston Garden if the weather co-operates.

The Fanuiel Hall area has lots of restaurants and it's all pretty kid friendly and tons of choices for food.

You will see lots of strollers in the area s well, Boston is a tourist city these days.

Have a fun trip.

Here's a map of the area I mentioned above.
I seem to time trips to Boston in bitter cold temps, so moving around via the warm mall area was a welcome break -
http://www.prudentialcenter.com/map/index.php

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful and helpful advice. Slow Wanderer, I'm grateful for the detailed info on the street widths and also the tips on getting to the restaurants. The Flour Bakery and Cafe offerings sound scrumptious! Starrs, thanks for the map, it's great to have a visual of the mall. I think when the temperatures get too cold for us it will be a great option to spend the afternoon. Granitepoint, my son is indeed fascinated by trains and subways. He has been telling everyone that he will be "riding the blue T" in Boston. Travelbuff, I will definitely put the Science Museum on the list.

When my son was younger, we traveled to Europe and Hong Kong and I would put him in a baby carrier and walk everywhere. It worked really well and it was easier to catch subways and trains without the stroller. Now that he is a toddler he is heavier and more independently mobile. It's good to hear that having a stroller in Boston is doable. Thank you again everyone!

I should mention that because of their narrow brick sidewalks, neither the North End nor Beacon Hill are very stroller-friendly. Other bits of sidewalk here and there could prove troublesome but those two areas (and parts of the South End) will be almost completely narrow sidewalks. You can check Google Street View to give you a better sense of particular areas you wish to go.

A question for Bostonians: my memory/experience is that few of the T stations are "accessible" -- i.e., it's hard to find any elevators for those with strollers (or wheelchairs). Has that changed? Many don't even have escalators, just lots of stairs. Calbruins should be aware of that re: stroller, etc.

You can check your route and stations here: http://www.mbta.com/riding_the_t/acc...t.asp?id=16901

They are continually improving access.

Slow_Wanderer has given you good advice already. Certainly wander around North End, on Fridays there's produce market at Haymarket which I think would be fun for your child. Also, if the weather is warm enough, you can certainly take your son on the stroller to wander along the Rose Kennedy Greenway
http://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/

My favorite stop on the Greenway is the Clover Lab food truck at the southern end of the Greenway opposite South Station. The truck is there 8-6 M-F. http://www.cloverfoodlab.com/ I'd eat there everyday if I worked nearby!

No offense to Ming Tsai, but I would NOT bother going all the way out to Wellesley to eat at Blue Ginger. There are TONS of excellent restaurants in Boston within walking distance of your hotel. It's just not worth the trouble considering you won't have a car. Commuter rail runs infrequently outside of peak commute times.

As for Upstairs on the Square, it's not bad. I think Harvard Square would be a fun destination for you and your son, but if you don't want to visit Harvard Sq for any other reason, I'd also skip Upstairs.

BTW, the Winter Restaurant Week is in full swing right now in Boston. http://www.restaurantweekboston.com/

Finally, many of the T stations have been converted to being accessible at this time. Apart from a couple of Green Line stops (Arlington, Boylston), most of the T stops now have elevators.

I'm with yk on skipping the trek out to Wellesley for Blue Ginger. There are plenty of great restaurants in Boston without the hassle of going outside the city, especially as you are only here for four days.

You mentioned chowder. There are lots of good places to get chowder but my favorite is still Legal Sea Foods. They have restaurants throughout the city. There's a location in both the Prudential Center and Copley Place:

http://www.legalseafoods.com/restaurants#Massachusetts

For Italian, if you don't want to go to the North End I can recommend Via Matta. It's consistently very good:

http://www.viamattarestaurant.com/flash/movie.htm

Via Matta has solid Italian food. For fancier option, my favorite place is Erbaluce near the Theatre District. In the NOrth End, try Prezza.

And don't forget heading to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market with your son. It's very touristy but great for people-watching. If it's warm enough, there might be even street performers. There's plenty of eatiers in Faneuil Hall as well.