VERY short last minute visit to Boston/Cambridge
 

Hello,
As part of another last minute trip, I am driving from Connecticut to Cambridge, MA on Sunday. Staying at the Marriott Cambridge on Memorial Drive for one night. Hoping to park my car at the Marriott and go exploring in Cambridge and/or Boston. Will be arrive Sunday around 1:00pm and leaving approximately 24 hours later. Will be by myself some of the time and with my 22 year old daughter for some of the time.

Questions:
- Does parking at the Marriott and using public transportation to get into Boston work? How would I get there?

- What is there to do in Cambridge?

- Any must sees in Boston during this quick trip?

- On a very tight budget but would love a fun, inexpensive, Bostonian suggestion for dinner - either in Boston or Cambridge.

Any and all suggestions welcome - Thanks!!

First, I am not sure where you are staying. The Marriott in Cambridge is not on Memorial Drive. There is a Courtyard (also a Marriott property)on Memorial Drive, so I am going to assume that is where you are staying.

This Sunday is supposed to be brutally hot and humid with possible thunderstorms, so my usual one-day advice of walking the Freedom Trail and having dinner in the North End is going to be uncomfortable.

Your hotel location is not especially close to MBTA subway. There are buses, but these vary in frequency on Sundays and I am not real familiar with route. MBTA.com will give you point to point options to anywhere.

Your options are drive to Boston and pay to park, leave car at Courtyard and take cab, or deal with the bus system.

I think I would pick cab. If you can deal with the heat, do the Freedom Trail. If not, perhaps Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Sunday afternoon and then walking a bit of the Freedom Trail on Monday.

Fun, medium priced is Fire and Ice (2 locations - check website). Huge ingredient buffet where you collect protein, veggies, carbs in bowl and guys stir-fry it for you with sauce of your choice on giant round heated slab. Once price, no matter how many times you go back.

If budget is even thighter than that, walk thru North End and get pizza at Regina's and a cannoli at pastry shop - I like Mike's but others here perfer Modern Pastry.

Skip Cambridge on a one-day trip - go to Boston.

<i>like Mike's but others here perfer Modern Pastry.</i>

I love Mike's cannoli! (Just thought I'd start another &quot;whose cannoli is best&quot; war :) )

I'm going to have to disagree! Since you're in Cambridge and have short time I doubt you'll want to rush and try to figure out the public system and be outside. My suggestions?
1) Walk Memorial Drive! Since you're on a tight budget...picnic or something! It's beautiful, always people out and about, many boats to watch on the river, and plenty of places to find shade!
2) Find your way to Cambridge Side Galleria! A beautiful mall in Cambridge and cheap parking! And you can eat the Cheesecake Factory!
3) I'm 23, can I meet the daughter? haha :) Have a good trip!

&quot; Cambridge Side Galleria! A beautiful mall in Cambridge and cheap parking! And you can eat the Cheesecake Factory!&quot;

OMG, all the wonderful things in Cambridge and you want her to go to a mall and eat at a chain restaurant! Since she's from CT, she has plenty of access to those.

But I do agree that a visit to Memorial Drive is in order, since a large section of it is closes to traffic on Sundays:

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/driveUpdates.htm

You can enjoy the closed section of Mem Drive and eat at Fire and Ice in Harvard Square, which also provides plenty of things to do if the weather is too hot or too wet (or both).

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm still not sure if I should stay in Cambridge or go to Boston. We are staying at the Marriott Courtyard on Memorial Drive. I'll choose one or the other and make an adventure of it. Think I'm leaning toward Boston but who knows.

I just checked the forecast for Boston and Sunday says a high of 86, so hot but not deadly. :) I guess that depending on how often you get up here, I would tend to lean toward the Boston option as offering more variety for things to do. If you walk the Freedom Trail, there are plenty of air-conditioned spots to stop and have an iced tea or other drink/snack. And Faneuil Hall market, which you will pass is always fun in appropriately small doses. You can cross the street and walk along the waterfront--maybe stop for a drink first at the bar at the Union Oyster House or at Tias---forget which hotel it is along side of, near the water--All in all, I think that is a more lively option. We spend a lot of time in Cambridge, but when I think of it from a tourist perspective, what I am advising sounds like more fun.

In looking at your request for inexpensive dining, I have to go back to Harvard Square in Cambridge. The Border Cafe is so much fun and so cheap!! Maybe park your car on the street near the red line Central Square station, spend the afternoon in Boston, come back on the red line all the way to the Harvard stop, eat at Border Cafe and then either walk back to car--a longish walk--or take the red line back to Central (one stop) and get the car. Too bad your hotel does not offer shuttle to the Central Square T stop. They say it is a .5 mile walk, but it is a *long* .5 and you would be walking back thru residential areas some of which are a little sketchy, IMO. Walking back to the car on Mass Ave from Harvard Square, however, would not concern me.

However, having said all of this and thinking of T fares and logistics, eating at a casual place in the North End might be a less convoluted plan. If you do end up choosing to spend your time in Cambridge, I highly recommend Border Cafe, not for fine cuisine, altho the food is very good, IMO, but for the wonderful liveliness.

Free walking tour -- the flavor of Boston and my favorite route.

Get a map of downtown and Beacon Hill (easy on Googlemaps) and:

Take subway toward Boston, get out at Charles St. (turn right when you get out of the station, so Charles River is on your right) and walk along Charles St. to Mt. Vernon., turn left on Mt. Vernon to/through (another left) Louisberg Sq. to Pinckney St.

Right on Pinckney toward the State House, right on Joy Street down to Beacon St. Turn right ono Beacon and follow it past (or take a detour through) Boston Common down to the Public Garden.

Walk through the Garden and enjoy the bridge, Swan Boat pond, etc. End up on Arlington St. and decide if you still have enough time to amble down Commonwealth (pretty) or Newbury St. (chi-chi shops but interesting and some nice cafes). When you get tired, there are several T stops between Beacon and Copley Sq.

Note -- you can enjoy a lot just by veering off this route by a block or two and poking around little side streets.

Not a fan of either the Cheesecake Factory or Fire &amp; Ice. And am also not keen to suggest the Cambridgeside Galleria Mall -- heck, malls like this are everywhere.

If you're on the Freedom Trail, I'd suggest eating in the North End. Will second going to Pizzeria Regina for excellent and reasonably priced food there.

If you go to the Gardner or Museum of Fine Arts, consider taking the subway inbound from there (Green Line E) to the Boylston stop and hitting nearby Chinatown for reasonably priced eats. Possibilities include Japanese shabu-shabu hot pot at Shabu-Zen, Vietnamese food at Xinh Xinh or Pho Pasteur, or Cantonese at King Fung Garden (an amazingly cheap and good option, arguably the best bang for your buck in Boston), or Hong Kong style seafood at Peach Farm. At least one of these and likely all will be open Sunday.

Some of your better options for cheap eats in Cambridge (Mr. Bartley's or Coast Cafe for example) are closed Sundays. You might try some ethnic spots near Porter Square, especially in the Porter Exchange Building, which has a slew of little hole-in-the-wall Japanese places (just avoid the sushi bar there, Kotobukiya, which is lousy). Or if you're not a California/Southwest taco purist, one can do much worse than Anna's Taqueria, arguably one of the best cheap eats Mexican spots locally.

Just plug &quot;Louisberg Sq. Boston&quot; into maps.google.com and you'll get a great map you can zoom in and out on.

Recommendation for dinner is to second others who suggest taking the T back to Harvard Sq. Lots of options there, and that way you get to experience that area too.