Post#9 » by Fencer reregistered » Wed May 28, 2008 8:21 pm
As you know, there's a lot of US Revolutionary History in Boston.
1. Boston tourism authorities did a good job several decades ago (around the time of the nation's Bicentennial in 1976) of organizing the various historical tourist attractions into a walking tour called the "Freedom Trail". No one attraction is a big deal, but taken together it's nice. I imagine the Duck Tours duplicate that heavily.
2. Unfortunately, the best place near the city center to learn about this history was at the top of the Hancock Tower, and they used security concerns after 9/11 as a pretext for closing that exhibit. The other good one is out in the town of Concord, which also is nice to visit. It's not that easy to get to without a car, but if you take one difficult bus ride for tourist reasons, I'd recommend that. There's much more there than in the equally famous (and closer) Lexington.
3. Harvard is a fun campus. A lot going on, even to some extent in the summer. I don't know about MIT in the summer.
4. The two major museums, both easy to get to by public transportation or foot, are the Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Science. Neither ranks in the top of the world of its kind. On the other hand, I'd strain to name 10 art museums or 5 science museums that are CLEARLY better.
5. Harvard's Museum of Natural History is outstanding. In particular, it's geology exhibit is my second-favorite in the world, if you like rocks.
6. The John F. Kennedy museum has merit too.
7. One tip for understanding that history stuff -- Boston's topography is not the same as it used to be. Huge amounts of land were added in the 19th Century by landfill, and the highest hills were reduced in size to create that fill.
Banned temporarily for, among other sins, being "Extremely Deviant".