Wandering Boston

Dustin and April may or may not be visiting Boston in the near future, and they asked me for any recommendations I might have as to places to go, things to see, etc.  As is often my way, I went way overboard and put together a map of the walking tour I would take them on were I there in Boston with them.  It hits many of the highlights of the area, and I think balances touristy with less-touristy things.  And, having put it together, I thought I’d share it with all of you.  This is by no means everywhere that I would take you if we were in Boston together - this is (omitting the Aquarium) a one-day, fly-by introduction to Boston-as-Julia-sees-it.  More days and I would take you to more places, lowering the overall touristy percentage of your visit.

Anyway, I hope that you find this interesting!

Overall map:

First half of the walk - downtown:

Second half of the walk - Cambridge:

Detail map - Inman Square:

Julia’s walking tour of Boston

Walking map 2 - downtown

1.) New England Aquarium
Truthfully, by the time you finish with the seals and penguins and sharks and turtles and fish and coral and anemones and everything else, it’s unlikely you’ll have the time to continue on the walking tour.  So perhaps the Aquarium one day and the tour the next.

2.) Faneuil Hall
It’s on the way from the Aquarium to everything else.  Might as well swing through it on the way, just to say that you have.

3.) Granary Burying Ground
Adams, Revere, Hancock and other Revolutionarily-interesting people are buried here.  Worth a peek.

4.) State House
Shiny!  (No need to go in.)

5.) Beacon Hill
One of the oldest parts of Boston.  It’s fully of lovely red brick houses, a couple of cobblestone streets (Acorn St. in particular), and is a nice place to wander around.

6.) Boston Common
Big.  Green.  Old.  Nice.

7.) “Make Way for Ducklings” statue and the Public Gardens
Swan boats and cheeky squirrels, cute statues and tourists.  A nice place to wander through.  In the winter, you can walk on the frozen pond, if you are brave or foolhardy.  :-)

8.) Boston Public Library - Galahad murals
I thought they were done by Sargent, but he did the murals in the rest of this lovely building.  The ones I like are by Abbey and are of the life of Galahad and the quest for the Holy Grail.  The entire building is lovely, and when you’re done, you can stop for a cup of coffee and a snack at the cafe in the courtyard - an amazingly quiet place for one smack in the middle of Boston.

9.) Back Bay
Just another old portion of Boston, conveniently on the way to the waterfront.  Follow the route that I’ve laid out and you’ll end up near a pedestrian walkway from Back Street over Storrow Drive - a necessity!

10.) Charles River Esplanade
Joggers, sunbathers, dogs, kids running around, sailboats, kayakers, and the Charles at its most stately.  :-)  Follow the path away from downtown, then zigzag up the access ramp to the eastern side of the Mass. Ave. bridge.

11.) View from the Mass. Ave. bridge - my second-favorite view towards downtown Boston.
Note the measurement markings on the sidewalk: smoots.  But don’t forget to look back towards downtown, towards the golden dome of the State House and the Salt-and-Pepper Bridge (aka the Longfellow Bridge), the Museum of Science, and everything else.  Oh, and turn around to take in the view of the Citgo sign in Fenway - another landmark.  FYI, if you are doing this walk at dusk, the Old Hancock building may have its beacon on.  The light is actually a weather forecast and Red Sox game teller, complete with a poem for a mnemonic device.

12.) MIT
Home of the Great Glass Pumpkin Patch.

Walking map 3 - Cambridge

13.) Flour
Scrumptious pastries!  Good for giving that needed energy boost.  :-)  What, me - food oriented?  How could you possibly suggest such a thing?

14.) Cambridge City Hall
Mostly just a landmark to show you where to turn right (onto Inman Street).

15.) Antrim Street
It’s just nicer to walk down than Inman Street.  A good example of a nice, quiet, residential street in Cambridge.

16, 17, 18, 19…)  Inman Square
My old stomping grounds.  This merits its own detail map, which I will write a guide to later on this page.

20.) Cambridge Public Library
It’s only been reopened, after a major renovation, for about a year or so.  It’s a really cool building - and there are some neat eco-features that you can find out about if you ask.  Large chunks of my thesis were written here.

21.) Harvard Yard
It’s fun to wander around.  I wanted so badly to go here when I was applying to college.  Thank goodness I dodged that particular bullet and went to Reed instead!  ::grin::

22.) Harvard Science Center
Just thought you might be interested.  (This was for Dustin, mostly.)

23.) Tealuxe
More than 100 teas, and baked goods from The Biscuit, a bakery down the road from where I lived in Inman Square.  Sit and rest your weary feet before catching the #69 bus back to Inman Square for dinner, or the #1 downtown to the Newbury St. stop to go to Top of the Hub for pre-dinner drinks and a gorgeous sunset view of the city.  As you walk from Harvard Yard to Tealuxe, crossing the melee of an intersection by the Harvard Coop, look up to the third floor of the building in the wedge.  Note the sign for “Dewey, Cheatem and Howe.”  ::grin::

Walking map 4 - Inman Square (detail)

This map is mostly useful if you want to get something to eat - something substantial.  Like, say, dinner.

City Girl Cafe
Lovely, tiny restaurant with fantastic pasta dishes and even better handmade pizzas.  Oh, and the pumpkin bread panini is a dessert not to be missed!  Be aware - they only have seating for about sixteen people, so it can fill up quickly.  Closed on Mondays.

S&S Deli
An Inman Square institution.  Breakfast all day, enormous salads, burgers, an assortment of Jewish dishes… and HUGE portions.  I mean, the kind of portions that you could probably only finish had you not eaten anything else all day long.

Punjabi Dhaba
Delicious Indian food, and Bollywood music videos playing while you wait to order.  Cash only.

1369 Coffeehouse
I was here pretty much every single weekday morning from February to May, writing my thesis.  The drinks are yum, the food is yum, and the staff is wonderful.  This is where I came to feel, finally, at home in Boston.  Only to leave again.  ::sigh::  Cash only.

Christina’s Ice Cream
Oh, so good.  I love their rice pudding ice cream, when it’s available, or their malted vanilla.  Or pretty much anything they make.  Although I have to say, I haven’t had the courage to try the avocado ice cream.  Cash only.

Lorem Ipsum books
Great used book store. You know, in case your bookshelves needed plumping up.