Boston bound

Hey all, I'm headed to Boston for a week in September. Anyone got any good ideas of things to do/see while the SWMBO is in her training class?? So far on the agenda I've got: Fenway park (maybe catch a game), McGreevy's Saloon, Sam Adams brewery, U.S.S. Constitution, and so far that's about it..... any suggestions would be great!!

Boston is a small city ,but lots to do and see. The North End has great food.
Plenty of museums , historical sites and several breweries. Most of the city
is walkable if you start in a central location.
Getting tickets to Fenway in September is going to be tough and very pricey .
They've sold out every game for the last 8-9 yrs. Even if you can't get tickets it's worth the trip into the area. Plenty of bars and crowds of people hanging out .

Thanks for the tips!! Yeah, we may not make it to an actual game, but we definitely want to try and take a tour. Of course, I'm mostly excited to tour Sam Adams!

Living nearby, I took one of SWMBO's cousins on one of the bus tours, and I must say, we saw a lot of stuff, with good commentary (I learned a few tidbits I didn't know). Driving around with the tour also gives a god idea of the city's feel. I recommend it.

BTW, USS Constitution.. meh. Not much there IMO

You have to spend some time on the Cambridge side of the "rivah" and look at Beacon Hill. On a good day, near sunset, it is gorgeous. Alas, Harvah Square is not what it used to be, and the days of the good, cheap jazz clubs are gone (sniff...)

Thanks for the tips. I'd really like to look at some of the historical things in Boston.... that's kinda my thing (other than beer of course).

I went to Boston a few years ago for a Sox game and we wandered around the city, it was great. We ended up at the Barking Crab for lunch one day, got a bowl of crab... fed four of us no problem, although YMMV, I enjoyed it a lot. Make sure you go to Boston Beer Works, good beer and decent food, across from Fenway. Other than that do what we did and wander the city... you run into history in every corner!

Across from fenway is a bar called BB Wolfs. BEST RIBS EVER

And at 3 in the morning go to Buzzy's roast beef (everyone knows ware it is)

Have one for me!!!

Head to Brookline and find the Publick House, a Belgian lovers nirvana. The Sunset is a world class beer bar too but in September the college kiddies are back in town and its a bit overrun with 21 year old knuckleheads. I disagree with JL about the Consitution, I go there every few years just cause it's wicked pissa. Leave there and wander up the hill to the Bunker Hill Monument (actually built on Breeds Hill but we won't mention that). The Freedom Trail is a great way to explore the city on foot if you are into historical sites, it hits all the ones you will want to see. A Duck Tour is a fun way to kill a few hours and a cool way to see the city. If you don't already have tix to your Sox game you aint getting them without ponying up bug bucks to a scalper. They just had their 500th consecutive sellout this week gone are the days of deciding at 5:30 to hop on the subway and scoring box seats. Sam Adams brewery tour is an absolute waste of time, except you do get a few ounces of beer at the end of an hour of listening to a bored kid who is barely old enough to drink tell you how great SA is. In September you can still take a boatride out into Massachusetts Bay to Stellwagen Band and see the whales. It's an hour or so ride out, a few hours watching dozens of whales feed and play, then an hour boat ride back into the city. I've never been out there without seeing whales and I go at least once a year. When you get back wander around the North End. You'll find plenty of stuff to keep you entertained while wandering around, especially if Italy is playing a soccer game the day you are there. Go to Mikes and plan on gaining weight. Drive up to Essex county and find Woodmans Seafood, the inventor of and still the worlds best fried clams. Drive to the Cape, September is the best month of the year to be there. Go to Plymouth Plantation. Plymouth Rock is a rock, a rock in a big cage. Don't bother, but the Plantation and the Mayflower are cool. Come by my place and Ill feed you beer.


PTN
PTN

Yes on the Constitution, gotta take the kids there this Summer myself.
Yes on Plimouth Rock, sure its not much but it only takes a minute and then you can head to Mayflower and Mayflower brewing.
Bukowski's because its a great dive bar.
Stellwagen BANK YOU MUST GO ON A WHALE WATCH
I have fished out there commercially and recreationaly for years and the whales are still a blast for me to see after 20 odd years.
For a lunch/beer venture try Boston Beer Works

Plymouth Rock was under some kind of renovation last fall when I was there. I wish I had had time to tour the Mayflower replica but it's pretty far south of Boston.


I don't think anyone mentioned the boat tours that take you around the harbor but that might be better to take SWMBO along with you for that.

The freedom trail is a good walk that will take you to many of the sights for an historical perspective. Love those old cemeteries! Cheers is also right on the Commons.

If you were there to see Plymouth Rock under renovation all you had to do was turn around to see the Mayflower, it's 500 feet away! And how do you renovate a rock, anyways? It's a freakin' rock.


If you have time, take a drive out to Charlemont and go rafting on the Deerfield River. It's not the Colorado but shooting Zoar Gap is fun and in September the water is warm. Then drive thru the Berkshires, my favorite towns are Peru and Beckett. Gorgeous. Hike up Mt Greylock, the highest point in Mass. Herman Melville looked out upon it's snow covered shoulders as he wrote Moby Dick. Take the ferry to Marthas Vineyard or Nantucket. Nantucket is much cooler but further away, although both have good local brews, Offshore Brewery on MV and Cisco on Nantucket. I like Cisco's brews more. Hike thru the Blue Hills Reservation and climb The Great Blue Hill, home of the oldest continious weather station in the US, also home of the original broadcast tower for the original public television station WGBH (Great Blue Hill). Norm Abrams and Julia Childs won't be up there waiting for you, sorry. (Ok Norm might but Julias dead.) I think the Boston Pops are back in the city by September but check into Tanglewood in Lenox just to be sure, a symphony orchestra plays while you picnic on lawn chairs. Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge MA is like Colonial Williamsburg in VA, just smaller. Plum Island in Newburryport or teh Cape Cod National seashore are world class beaches. You are more likely to see seals on the Cape while PI is a bird watchers paradise.


PTN

I went to Boston earlier this year and got a lot of responses in the following thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f28/trip-boston-suggestions-pubs-96968/

Skip Sam Adams, what a waste of time.

paulthenurse said:

If you were there to see Plymouth Rock under renovation all you had to do was turn around to see the Mayflower, it's 500 feet away! And how do you renovate a rock, anyways? It's a freakin' rock.
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PTN

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Ha, we saw the mayflower, didn't get to "tour" it!

Duck Tour.

Boondoggie said:

Duck Tour.

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+1 on the duck tours , lots of fun.
Also here's a link to breweries and brew pubs in Ma.
Worth checking out .

Massachusetts Brewpubs and Microbreweries

Wow, thanks for all the pointers guys. So, sounds like the Sam Adams thing might not be worth seeing, but, I'll probably still go just so I can say I did. We will definitely try to check out the whale watching thing, that sounds kinda cool. Paulthenurse, don't tempt me, I may show up on your doorstep asking for beer!! Coincidentally, my wife is a nurse and she's going to some training out there in Bahston, lucky me.....

Let me know when you are coming and if I'm not working I'll spend some time bending elbows with you while your wife does the conference thing.

PTN

Sounds good to me! I think our dates are Sept. 14-18, but I'll have to double check.

Oh that's too bad, I'm going to be in Maine then.


PTN