You might feel that leverage speeds up compounding. The problem is that leverage is more like compounding's hidden enemy: One million times zero equals zero.
- Manlobbi
Outskirts of Shrewd'm / Travel Wanderer
No. of Recommendations: 0
We may be in Boston this year. Is it worth it to stay several days? Or just pass on through? I'm seeing stuff like "Fenway Park" (which we have no interest in). I know Lexington/Concord are accessible from there, and that's a bit of US history. "Cheers" isn't really there since it was a fictitious bar. I know there is the "Freedom Trail", but that's just a day (right?).
Maybe a lovely place to live. But, as a tourist, what is there to do/explore/see?
No. of Recommendations: 4
Maybe a lovely place to live. But, as a tourist, what is there to do/explore/see?
I guess it depends on what you like to do. Great food, wonderful streets to simply wander and explore. Popping into the boutiques on Newbury St and Faneuil Hall, wander in the Common. Great music and cultural events, so try to line up tickets. I love the architecture. Boston Public Library is amazing. The Bull & Finch pub at 84 Beacon St is the bar that Cheers was based on, and it is still open, though the Cheers set in Faneuil Hall closed in the pandemic. Don't look for Norm. I remember the aquarium and the science museum being good, Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum...
Several days? I would stay a month.
IP,
biased about her hometown
No. of Recommendations: 0
biased about her hometown
Understandable, even if I have no particular fondness for any place I've lived (including Kansas City, Denver, and Phoenix). I can tell you some things to do in the cities (e.g. Denver museums), I wouldn't necessarily rate them as top-notch. There are much better (and more extensive) displays of armor -for example- in Windsor Castle. Phoenix does have the largest -last I new- museum about Native Americans (The Heard Museum).
In Denver, I'd honestly recommend driving to Boulder, or Rocky Mountain National Park. More scenic than the city. The city itself never impressed me, and I lived there for four years. There are museums, but there are better elsewhere.
For Boston, I know American history, and I know -this is gonna sound weird- what I learned playing Fallout 4. Lexington/Concord, Bunker Hill, Faneuil Hall, the Golden Grasshopper, Boston Library, Old North Church, the "Freedom Trail", and -if the game is accurate- a fortress (Fort Independence?) featured in the game. We're not "pubbers", so unless there is something really good there (like in England..."pub food"), we wouldn't go.
We're boarding a cruise from there. We often (not always) plan to arrive earlier in case of flight delays and such. The question is "how much earlier". We could walk the Freedom Trail (2.5 miles...I looked it up). I would like to see the USS Constitution, though 1poorlady likely would be less interested in that. She would humor me, though. She would want to try some Bostonian food specialty (me too!), if there is one. That would only warrant an overnight, though. American food doesn't get us too excited because we eat that all the time. Food courts in Iceland or Thailand, for example, feature stuff we have never seen, and we'll nibble lots of stuff. Though the lobster roll is Maine was really good.
A bit of rambling, here. Hopefully I conveyed some of what we look for. Less museums, more sites/sights, and more unique foods.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Well, we're planning on spending a couple of days before we get on the boat. Time enough to do a little wandering, and see if we would want to come back for a longer stay. Won't be renting a car. Mass transit should be fine. Plus, it's an older city (like, centuries old), so I'm expecting its core is pretty walkable.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Won't be renting a car. Mass transit should be fine.
Should in fact make a point of not renting a car. Major hassle in Boston. The T is great, or there's Uber. Consider getting on the Red line and going to Harvard Square. Don't know if it's still the case, but the T used to shut down at midnight. Had to scramble to get the last train a couple of times! What time of year are you going? Some are better for outdoor walking around than others.
IP,
highly recommending the clam chowder, (chowdah is the correct pronunciation,) at Legal Seafoods, for a light meal
No. of Recommendations: 0
We'll be there mid-July. So, should be warm enough for this desert-dweller. :-)
I do like a good New England clam chowder (never liked the tomato-based one...Manhattan?). Had a great one in Monterey, served in a sourdough bowl.
Should I buy a mass transit pass ahead of time? Or just pay as we go? In San Diego, they charge a maximum of $6 per day, so we bought a card ($2...and I have it stashed in our transit card wallet in the event of a return to San Diego**), and put $6 on the card (we were there for one day). Recharge it any time we like.
**We also have Oyster cards (London), the NY metro card, and I think the Japanese card, the Vancouver transit bracelet, and probably one or two more I can't think of at the moment.
No. of Recommendations: 3
Should I buy a mass transit pass ahead of time? Or just pay as we go?
It's been too long for me to chime in on that. Plus, it depends on where you are going. One of the things I loved about the T was that Outbound tended to be free past a certain point. I would often walk in to town and take the T back out. There are different zones that get charged differently.
So many great nooks and crannies with all kinds of insanely good food. Basement restaurants with killer food, that look like, (and are,) complete dives but great eats. I checked to make sure Legal Seafoods was still there before recommending it, but sad to say some of my faves are gone.
It broke my heart to leave Boston, but I sure couldn't afford it. Moved to a lower COL area, which is what really allowed me to get ahead.
Enjoy!
IP
No. of Recommendations: 3
We may be in Boston this year. Is it worth it to stay several days?
You're asking about my favorite geographic area in the United States, I'm compelled to chime in. I was raised in an urban city, Chicago, and have had the opportunity to live or spend months in the NorthEast, Mid Atlantic, the desert of the SouthWest, family on the Olympic Peninsula in the Northwest, and monthly vacations in the South. Hands down, New England is my favored area of our country.
In the summer of college I visited a college friend who lived on Boston's North Shore. We were driving from his town of Swampscott to pick up his girlfriend in the town over, Marblehead. We got stopped by a parade marching down the street so we got out to watch and ask the reason for the celebration. Marblehead was having an anniversary, it was turning 350 years old from its founding. This was 1979 and the town was founded in 1629. I moved to Swampscott right after college graduation, in 1982. Lived on the North Shore in my 20's, in Swampscott and then Salem.
As you mention advice on visiting Denver and recommending Boulder, possibly the best way to experience Boston, is outside of Boston. More accurately, experience New England. No argument, Boston is a wonderful city and the Freedom Trail, Public Garden, Beacon Hill and Back Bay, are all worth visiting. But it's an experience that captures the area.
Well, we're planning on spending a couple of days before we get on the boat. Time enough to do a little wandering,
That's great. That's retirement! Rent a car for 1 day in Boston, or even easier at Logan airport. Put in GPS the town of Gloucester. The drive from Boston to Gloucester may be done in 45 minutes. If you wander, it will take all day.
You'll want to take the scenic route, not the main highway, this is Route 1A. Stay on 1A for pretty much the whole way. From Boston you'll drive thru the Sumner tunnel exiting into East Boston. Revere is to your East and it hugs the ocean. The whole route hugs the ocean so you won't need to venture into Revere, although it has it unique charms. Also along your right will be Nahant, this is kind of an island with a causeway. No need to stop here, when I lived near there I'd visit for the beach, but it was also home to all the Wise Guys, I stayed out of the local pubs since I wasn't a local.
When you drive past Revere and Nahant you enter the city of Lynn. The locals call it "Lynn, Lynn, the city of Sin. You don't come out the way you went in." Keep driving. Exiting Lynn you enter the North Shore, you're in Swampscott. Route 1A offers beautiful views of the ocean. This is where you make a little detour off 1A to visit Marblehead. Plenty of little shacks turned into restaurants up on the cliffs overlooking the harbor. Enjoy the clam chowder or a lobster roll.
With the GPS set to Gloucester, on Cape Ann, you'll drive on 1A and pass thru Salem and Beverly. Salem has turned into a tourist trap with the witch museums and such, but I always loved their wharf area, and the town square is quintessential New England. Worth a visit if time allows. Heading North again you'll be near Newburyport. You got to stop, it's gorgeous. As Gloucester is intended as an endpoint but there is an exhibit near the wharf that hosts a monument. It lists all the fisherman who went out of Gloucester harbor to fish the sea, and never returned. Somewhat solemn, it will have you respecting the danger of fishing for your livelihood.
Enjoy your trip.
