The Points Mom

New Adventures In Boston

Having won Boston Red Sox tickets at a charity event earlier in the year, we found ourselves heading to Boston for an end of summer weekend.  Recall, our stay was to be for free in the city at the Intercontinental in Boston Harbor.  This is the second time we have stayed at this property, and I was very pleased both times.  The hotel is very pretty and modern and sits right on the harbor.  The rooms are spacious and quite nice (they were especially large this time because Jessie stayed back with her friends).  As long as I keep getting my free IHG anniversary night, this will be the hotel that I continue to stay at in Boston.  After all, I am sure we will be back one day looking at colleges.  Um. really?

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Since we have actually been to Boston many times before, I wanted us to see some new sites and hit a few different areas of Boston this time around.  I accomplished my goal.  It was a great and refreshing two days in the city and the surrounding area…….

We climbed the Bunker Hill Monument.  We walked (of course) from our hotel in Boston Harbor to the monument and climbed to the top.  The 294 step climb was moderately exerting (to us), but a bit annoying in that it was a narrow stairway with a full line of people descending at the same time we were going up.  However, the top was fun with a glass enclosed floor in the middle in which you could see straight down to the bottom.  I only stepped on it once!

We walked through the North End.  We got lucky in that it was the Saint Anthony’s Feast, an authentic Italian street festival with lots of games and entertainment and amazing food.  As we walked we sampled delicious Italian street food like sausage, peppers & onions and of course zeppoles, cannolis and gelato. Yum!

 

We saw Shear Madness.  Shear Madness was comical, slap sticky and fun.  However, we were quite disappointed by the ending which I will not give away here.  I think the show’s producers need to rethink the ending!  But what do I know? The show has been playing in Boston since 1980! BTW, we decided to go once we were already in Boston and tickets were no longer available online.  Thanks to my Amex Business Platinum concierge for easily getting us same day tickets.  I should use this Platinum service more often. 🙂

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We explored and dined in Cambridge and took a peek at Harvard.   We were excited to eat lunch at Mr. Bartley’s, but it was closed on Sundays-what?  So we instead went to the Russell House Tavern for lunch and I can’t imagine Mr. Bartley’s being better.  The food was delicious and the place seemed like the gathering place to be for all of the college students and their families who were taking a lunch break from moving into the dorms.  After lunch, we walked around Cambridge hoping to see Malia who had been spotted the day before.  Unfortunately, we did not run into her.  We walked through some of the school’s courtyards and went to the Harvard bookstore.  The kids got t-shirts.  It’s fun to dream.  🙂

Of course we went to Fenway-Our auction secured tickets provided us with a suite and a good view of the stadium.  We didn’t tell anyone we are really Yankee fans!

So in our 2 days there, we made Boston feel like a new city.  What are some of the things that you do in Boston that are off the beaten track?  I had really wanted to fit in a kayak tour down the Charles River but we ran out of time.  Maybe we can knock that off when we go back to look at schools.  Yikes!