Pls critique Boston plans for Oct. - long
 

Fodorites, please critique our plans for Boston (pls see below) – any major sites we missed? We are spending the night Wed Oct. 25 in Manchester, NH, it is about a 1 hour drive to the western suburbs where we will stay (Waltham). We are planning to park car at Riverside T station and take the Green Line for the first day into Science Park and to (Government Center) Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market for the second day. I like the idea of the Old Town Trolley Tour, as I am somewhat walking challenged. The price per adult for the 2 day pass is $39.50/pp, any other suggestions?? Don't care for Duck tours, like to get on/off. There will be my husband, myself, our 15 yr old daughter and college daughter for some of this. Except for youngest, all of us have spent time in Boston. Goals are sightseeing, shopping, museums and fun! Our plane leaves Sunday from MHT @ 5:30 p.m. Here are some questions:

1) for the day around Copley Plaza (4 people) – better to drive or repeat T plan?
2) Is there parking Sunday near MFA or ISG museums?
3) What can I do (non-strenuous) while husband and kids hike the Freedom Trail for a couple of hours?
4) Any frugal but fun restaurant suggestions? We are thinking Antico Forno for NE
5) Is the last minute ticket booth still near the Boston Public Library in Copley Square? We might decide to do a matinee.

Thanks!


Thursday Oct. 26
Arrive in Boston around 10 a.m., park at Riverside T
OLD TOWN TROLLEY 2 DAY PASS 11 A.M. - 5 P.M.
Museum of Science (begin tour)
Cambridge - JFK library, MIT, Harvard Square
USS Constitution
New England Aquarium

Friday Oct. 28
OLD TOWN TROLLEY 2 DAY PASS 9 A.M. - 5 P.M.
Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall/Old State House - start tour
Freedom Trail
Boston Common/Public Gardens
Dinner in North End

Saturday Oct. 28
Prudential Center - Shopping
Copley Plaza - Boston Public library
Charles and Newbury Streets – shopping

Sunday Oct. 29
leave BOSTON FOR MHT BY 3:00 P.M.
Museum of Fine Arts
Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum

THANKS!

The Green line from Riverside to Science Park is a VERY long ride. The mbta website says 57 minutes, but I don't believe it, I think its longer. If you consider the 15 minute drive to Riverside, you're going to spend 2 1/2 to 3 hours of your day in transit. I would drive. there is a parking garage at the Museum of Science for $16.75 all day.

There is a garage at the MFA, where if I recall, parking costs about $30 for the day.

For your Copley day, you could drive in and park under Boston common, one of the slightly less expensive garages. Or, you could park and take the T from Alewife, on the redline. Alewife-Park street is less than 30 minutes. the drive to Alewife is about the same from Waltham as going to Riverside.

Thanks! This is the kind of native information I was seeking. How about where to park on the 2nd day Friday near any of those sights?

I agree - the drive into the Museumof Science is not difficult if you avoid the rush hour traffic. Parking there is easy and not expensive.


The T from Riverside for the 2nd day makes sense. It is about 35 minute ride in and you can T in to either location.

Parking around (and driving around) MFA can be challenging.

While they hit the Freedom Trail, if the weather cooperates, a bench on the common with a good book would work for me. You could also hit the Prudential Center Shopping Mall.....people watching is always good there....spend some time in Barnes and Noble's and then grab a coffee and a bench!! There is an enclosed walkway that connects it to the Copley shopping area if browing through semi-exclusive shops interests you.

Ooops - sorry - missed your shooping plans on day 3 when I wrote my original response.

Do you plan to see all those things/places listed on the 26th?? That is extremely ambitious as the places you mention are not necessarily close to each other. So to spend any amount of time at these places....the JFK Library is in South Boston. If you are a history buff, this can take a fair amount of time. Harvard Square and MIT in Cambridge. USS Constitution in Charlestown....the Aquarium on Atlantic Ave. Your girls will probably love Harvard Sq....lots of fun, intersting shops, cafes/coffee houses, restaurants. You may want to pick out a couple places to focus on, otherwise you will be running yourself ragged. The Aquarium is in the same general area as Faneuil Hall and is good for a couple hours. Plus, you need to consider admissions to all these places if oyu are indeed planning to visit them from ore than the outside!!

BUT, if you are looking to go by a few, pay more attention to one or tow, and say you were there, the game plan works!!! (My kids live in Cambridge so we frequent Boston pretty regularly!!)

I agree with the advice that's been given so far. You should def plan on driving to the Museum of Science because that will be one long T ride. As it is you'll basically be commuting into the city everyday and that will eat up a lot of time.

The JFK library is in South Boston, not Cambridge. You can take the red line there pretty easily but, I agree, with all the other things you want to do that day it might be too much.

I love Charles St but it's in Beacon Hill so it also might be a stretch for day 3. You might want to put it on day 2 when you'll be in the general neighborhood.

Also, I'd leave Boston before 3 on Sunday. It's a full hour to Manchester and if you're dropping off a rental car that will take more time. And even though it's Sunday, you just never know what the traffic situation is. I might just have a nice brunch on Newbury St (either at Sonsie or Stephanie's), do a little people watching or shopping and then call it a day.

Oops, I meant the JFK library is in Dorchester, which is next to Southie. Anyway, it's on the red line.

Thanks everyone! Daughter will be in Boston 4 years for college, so there will be plenty of opportunity for deep dive into stuff that looks interesting to us. Anyone care to comment on last minute ticket booth near Copley Square - is it still there?

Always give this a try, sometimes you can get tix ahead of time for discounts. Just look around this site for a while, there's lots there.

http://www.artsboston.org/bostix.cfm

This page will also give you days and hours of the booth. If you go to the booth, have plenty of cash, have a couple of things you want to see.

I agree with the poster who said you have too much crammed into your first day. I've done a yearly daytrip with my niece to the Aquarium and Science Museum, and those two attractions easily fill the whole day.

Sorry, don't know about the Copley booth - I'm just not over there anymore! There is one at Faneuil Hall, though.

You could pretty much do the red line in from Alewife (assuming you can get parking - it's always full whenever I drive by there on a weekday - anybody know when it starts to open up?) every day. From Park Street, you can easily hop on the green line or orange line to get around.

Think the trolley tour is a good idea.

Parking on a Sunday around the museums should be o.k. if you get there EARLY. Definitely leave earlier than 3 to get to Manchester.

If you and the family like Indian food, there is a terrific restaurant in Harvard Square called Tamarind Bay. They have a lunch buffet, or regular menu for dinner. What other food interests do you have?

Cantstayathome, thanks for the Indian suggestion, but recently diagnosed with stomach condition that forces me to eat bland, boring food (no spices, not much meat) for 6-8 weeks. Much more insiduous than gall bladder. Seafood is OK, as is Italian w/o red sauce. Nothing too greasy either. Pretty much everything, but afraid Indian won't fit the bill. any other recs?

Good advice given above - a way to shorten Day 1 is to skip the Aquarium - even though we are members, unless you are really into fish, (swimming, not eating) it is easily skippable.

Day 2, the freedom trail day..if you drive in, park underneath the common. That is where the freedom trail starts, the first part of it, to the Old State house, is not too much walking and you may be able to handle it. then you might walk or cab or take the hop-on hope off trolley (I don;t know its route), to Faneuil Hall. If you plan to get to the Quincy market/Faneuil Hall area by lunch time you can definitely eat in the food court...its all through one of the buildings and there is a vast variety of fun, not too expensive food.

At that point you can decide whether to do the rest of the trail, into the North end, or even go to the Aquarium if you didn't do it before. It really depends how nice a day it is, and how long you've spent wandering in the sites on the trail. Also, your daughters might want to spend a while shopping in the market--there are a lot of chain stores now, and I'm not crazy about it, but my teenage nieces could spend hours and hours there.

That's how I would do day 2, most likely.

aliska - bummer about the stomach condition! Hmmm. Will have to think about it a bit more, but three places you might enjoy while around the Common are Silvertones on Bromfield, (off Tremont), Ivy restaurant (Italian tapas style, on West or Temple, I think Temple), and the Paramount on Charles Street. There is also a yummy pastry shop on Charles called Vanille.

Seafood - Neptune's Oyster in the North End does good seafood, as does Giacomo's (North End and South End). I'll probably be crucified for saying it, but I think Legal Seafoods does a pretty darn good job with seafood, as does McCormick and Schmick. Both are chains with multiple locations - if you do make it to the aquarium, there is a Legal's right there by the water. If you want more ideas, poke around on opentable.com. Lots of local places are on there and you can search by cuisine, neighborhood, date and time, and probably other factors.

Have fun - should be a nice time to be in town!

Cantstayathome, this whole stomach thing started at Legal Seafoods in Newton in late August when I took my daughter to college! The stuffed lobster was delicious, this is about me not them, but adding extra butter and rich lobster meat just didn't agree with me. Love Legal Seafoods! They were so nice to us in Cambridge years ago when our oldest was in a stroller and gave her a take out dinner to eat while we were waiting for a table. Great chain! I just hope and pray I can have some Italian in North End, that is my Boston favorite by far! Vanille sounds like a must try. Any recs for English tea service (not the Ritz, been there, done that)?

Vanille also offers otudoor seating, weather permitting of course. Panificio on Charles also offers desserts coffee/wine and light meals.

Giacomos is great, but very small expect a wait on many nights.

Vanille sounds great. A must try on my October visit! Thanks for posting this information for Aliska.

In case you needed more info on the same-day half-price tickets, here's the site with locations and more info:

http://www.artsboston.org/bostix_booth_locations.cfm

Thanks, I will look into what's available 1/2 price tickets. Appreciate everyone's help!

We’re leaving on Wednesday and trying to finalize our plans, lease share your thoughts. Thursday Oct. 26 – drive from MHT overnight motel to Museum of Science, park and visit museum. Take T to Government Center, do Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, visit North End. Dinner in North End (Antico Forno? Do we need a reservation on a Thursday?) Back to Musuem of Science on T, collect car and drive back to Waltham.

Friday Oct. 27, drive from Waltham to Riverside T Station to Boston Common area. Husband and daughter want to walk Freedom Trail. Hope I can meet college daughter for lunch and meet up near South Street station for for dinner, take T back to Riverside, collect car and back to Waltham.

Saturday Oct. 28, do walking tour of Brandeis in morning (it is purportedly a parent’s weekend!), collect kids (sibling overnight) and do MFA (T, bus or drive from Brandeis?) Dinner Saturday night with seafood theme (any suggestions for reasonable seafood?).

Brunch Sunday Oct. 29 on campus in Waltham. Stock up shopping at Costco. Drive through battlefields in Lexington & Cambridge on our way back to MHT. Leave at 5:30 p.m.

Questions: 1) will we run into problems with leaving car in Museum of Science parking lot till 9 or 10 p.m.? 2) Do we need reservations for North End restaurant Thursday night? 3) Suggestions for dinner near South Street station, need reservation? 4) where to find yummy, yet reasonable seafood Saturday in Newton/Waltham area (need reservations?)?

I would drive from Brandeis to the MFA; the trek on the T would consume a lot of time and energy and might cost just as much as parking in the MFA's lot or garage.

The Museum of Science closes at 5 PM on Thursdays, so, yes, you might run into difficulties parking in their garage long after-hours; the spot where you pay for the parking is inside the building, not in the usual exit-booth location. So IMHO you should call the Museum to check on this.

It's South Station, not South Street station; you'll get some strange looks asking for the former. It's on the Red Line of the subway system, whereas all your other stops are on the Green line, so I'm not sure why you chose it; it's not a particularly interesting or restaurant-y area

Anonymous, so perhaps on Thursday we should park at Riverside T and take that in? That way we won't be dependent on museum closing (only T schedule). We are hoping to squeeze in the Aquarium Friday, which I figured is near South St. If we do get to Aquarium, any dinner suggestions? Thanks!

The Museum of Science may close earlier, but the Omni Imax has shows until quite late. The museum website (www.mos.org) has the parking lot hours...till 11PM Sunday-Thursday.

There is a Legal Seafood's very close to the aquarium. Also, there is a nice French restaurant called Sel de La Terre.

I don't know any seafood specific places in Waltham, but there are some nice restaurants. I like Solea, which is a tapas place on Moody Street. Tempo, which calls itself an American Bistro has homey food with an upscale twist (like Kobe Beef hamburgers) which is very good. There's a good Cambodian/French restaurant called Elephant Walk. If you want upscale Italian (pricey!) Il Capriccio and La Campania are both excellent.

So if I were you, I'd try to do the seafood thing while in downtown, and try for something else while in Waltham.

Hi aliska, PhantomGourmet.com I hope will help with dinner selections. There is a Legal Seafood close to South Station, next to the Aquarium (blue line). Because of your stomach condition you can get the fish. They will cook what ever you want they way you want it. Faneiul Hall is almost across the street from the Aquarium. MBTA.com will give you the T map. Another suggestion, this is what I would do, is while your family is on the Freedom Trail, you can shop or get a pedicure at Downtown Crossing which is a couple of blocks away from where the tour starts. There is a Macy's, DSW, Marshalls and H&M. ArtsBoston is a great site to get discount tix for shows. Two booth locations, Faneiul and Copley. Fire and Ice is a good place to eat by Copley and Cambridge. You can add your own seasoning. My family and friends LOVE this place, all you can eat. Oh, the Museum of Science is close to the Cambridge Mall where there is a Cheesecake Factory and I think a Bertucci's. IKEA is now open in Stoughton and really popular with the college crowd. I hope this helps and you have a wonderful trip!