Wicked Fun Times
Written: Dec 02 '03 (Updated Dec 02 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great place, tonnes of spirit
Cons: Very pricey to stay
The Bottom Line: Great place
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| bbbradk's Full Review: Boston |
Last month myself and my girlfriend took advantage of the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday weekend, we both took 2 extra holiday days to make it a five day weekend getaway, and booked tickets to Boston.
Neither one of us had ever been to Boston, so weren't really sure of what to expect but it was one of the places on our long list of locales we want to explore.
The Flight
We flew into Logan International Airport from Toronto with Air Canada (Air Canada runs several direct flights daily out of Pearson International Airport in Toronto)
I was surprised at how short the flight was, it only took about an hour.
Logan is a nice airport, quite large, but still easy to navigate.
We easily found the free shuttle bus service that runs you to the subway.
Another surprise was how close the airport is to the centre of town.
In my experience, most big cities are miles away from the airport, but in Boston it was a 5 minute subway ride downtown.
We were a little unsure as to where to get off the train, but decided on the State Station.
As soon as you leave the subway you realize that the station is actually inside the historic State House.
From there we rushed to find coffee (it was an early flight, and we arrived about 10:00 a.m.
After a quick visit to the local Dunkin Donuts we found a sign promoting the Freedom Trail.
The Freedom Trail is a great idea that the city has come up with,
following the trail (it is a painted red line that runs throughout the city) will lead you to all of the most important historical attractions (such as The State House, Faneuil Hall etc) 16 places in total, leading you from Boston Common all the way to the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown
The the official site at http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/
The trail led us to the beautiful Faneuil Hall where we thoughrally enjoyed watching a few of the local buskers (my favorite was a juggler located just outside the doorway to Quincy Hall (a large building directly behind Faneuil Hall that is filled with dozens of food shops)
After wandering through Quincy Hall for a while we had built up an appetite, and decided to head to the biggest tourist trap we could find.
Off we went to Cheer's.
Now Cheer's at Faneuil Hall has nothing to do with the show it's named after, that Cheer's (or as it was known when used for the exterior shots on the t.v. show Cheers was called the Bull and Finch Pub)
This Cheers is really just a recreation of the t.v. show set.
No characters here though.
I ordered the Norm Burger
This famous burger is a 16 oz. burger topped with Muenster cheese, mushrooms, onion rings, tomatoes, lettuce, and onions. It is served in a giant-sized bun with french fries and a pickle.
This thing is a monster, and I was presented with a certificate of achievement, and added to the hall of fame on their website for finishing it.
Website can be found at
http://www.cheersboston.com/
At this point it was late enough to check into our hotel.
To those who don't know, hotels in Boston are very expensive.
We got a great tip on the internet, and booked our room at the Constitution Inn
http://www.constitutioninn.com
The Constitution is an old military hotel (military still get a preferred rate) located in the historic Charlestown Navy Yard, overlooking Old Iron Sides (a beautiful old war ship)(actually the oldest commissioned warship in the US Navy)
The Constitution was a nice place, very basic, but compared to any other rates we found in Boston it was a huge bargain at $90.00 a night.
After a little rest, we headed out to explore the city some more.
It was a great time to be in the city, as the Red Sox were in the middle of the series with the New York Yankees, the baseball fans in Boston were in high spirits (luckily we left town before Boston lost the series)
After a wander through Paul Revere Square (a beautiful public space cpmmemmorating him with a statue) we headed back downtown to Faneuil Hall to have dinner at the food stalls that line the building.
The following day we headed out on a guided tour of the city.
After perusing flyers of all the available tour companies, we decided to go with Old Town Trolly Tours.
The main reason was that they offered a hop on hop off service, and for a few extra dollars you could use the pass for 2 days instead of just one.
Also, of all the tour buses we saw, theirs seemed to be the most frequent (we didn't want to be sitting around all day waiting to be picked up)
The same company also offered a Ghosts and Gravestones tour in the evening, we thought it sounded fun so picked up passes with our tour tickets.
We caught the tour just down the street from our hotel as one of the stops was the U.S.S. Constitution.
To sum it up, this tour stunk.
The driver seemed totally disinterested, and relied heavily on prerecorded soundbits for a large portion of the tour.
About half way through the tour the driver announced that due to a parade that day, we would not be making stops at about 7 of the scheduled stops.
Now, there was no mention of this when we bought our tickets, so we were a little upset but decided to stick with it.
We finally decided to hop off and find some dinner before our evening ghost tour.
We were quite surprised that the ghost bus that had been parked at the pier all day was missing, we were there 20 minutes early though, so we didn't think too much of it.
After we'd been there 20 minutes after the scheduled start time, we started to get worried!
We placed several calls to Old Town Trolly Tours posted number and only got a machine.
We had pre purchased the tickets to this tour, and were quite upset at this point, and we weren't the only ones, there were several other couples in the same predicament.
The end result (we found out after calling the next day) was that due to rain, the tour had been cancelled for the night, and they would not charge the credit card we had purchased the tickets with.
There was no explanation as to why there was no sign posted at the pick up spot, or any message left at our hotel to notify us of the closure.
So, a word of advise, if you are in Boston, and want a tour of the city, do yourself a favor and skip Old Town Trolly Tours.
The next day we left town overnight to visit Salem (see the review here)
http://www.epinions.com/content_116459081348
The day after that we returned to Boston, and to theConstitution Inn.
We had special plans for our last night in town, we were going to the Blue Man Group.
We spent most of the day retracing our steps along the above mentioned freedom trail, and finally did stop at the original Cheers for a bunch of pictures (we didn't have time for a drink)
After the Blue Man Group (an incredible show that everyone should see at least once) we had a little energy left, so we hopped on the subway and headed out to Harvard University.
It was around 11:00 p.m. when we got there, but there is a large area of several blocks surrounding the campus with many bars and restaurants (Harvard Square)
We wandered around the shops, and through some of the massive Harvard Campus, but it was getting late and we decided to get back to the hotel.
After a few very long days, our trip to Boston was over.
We were very happy to have gone.
We are both Canadians, so American history isn't too high on our list of things to see, but I've got to say, there is sooooo much of it in Boston, and it's very well presented by the city (i.e. the Freedom Trail)
The people of Boston were quite friendly, and I never encountered any area that seemed too scary (that is rare in such a large city)
I would easily return to Boston, and would certainly recommend it as a destination to anyone.
Thank You for reading.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Sep - Nov
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Epinions.com ID:
bbbradk
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Location: Toronto
Reviews written: 113
Trusted by: 40 members
About Me:
Hi there, I'm 37 live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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