[s-cars] NAC - Looking for Boston Hotel and Restaurant recommends

[Kent McLean]

Dave Forgie wrote:
> My wife and I are heading to NYC and Boston on Sept. 22 for two weeks
> (first week driving up the coast towards Martha's Vineyard and then over
> to Boston).  We have a hotel in NYC but nothing in Boston.  Would like
> to stay downtown (maybe near the baseball stadium??).  Price IS an issue
> at some point.

Ah, Boston.  The "baseball stadium" would be Fenway Park; more park than
stadium. But what a delightful venue for watching a ball game. [1]

For hotels near Fenway, look at what's in/near the Prudential Center,
AKA The Pru. [2] There's a Sheraton, Marriott, and Westin. Not cheap, but
very convenient, and it's easy to find off the Mass Pike (Massachusetts
Turnpike or I-90 to tourists), and has a place to park your car [3]. You
will want to park it and take either the T [4] or a cab. There are smaller,
2nd tier hotels around; Google. I found this:
http://boston.hotelscheap.org/
It shows a Howard Johnson Inn Fenway Park; it'll be cheap, and convenient
to Fenway, but good luck finding parking near by.

For food, there are lots of choices around the Pru, but for some adventure,
get yourself to the North End for Italian [5], Chinatown for Chinese, or
venture over to the People's Republic of Cambridge (home to Harvard and
MIT) where you'll be able to find anything from American to Vietnamese
(stop a student and ask for your favorite). [6] The waterfront has the good
seafood restaurants, but you can't go wrong with Legal Seafood at the Pru.

Another safe bet is Quincy (pronounced quin-zee) Market, AKA Fanueil
(pronounced fan-yull) Hall [7]. Food and shops in a revitalized old
marketplace. More hotels nearby, but not as easy to find/access, and
fewer options for parking.

If you have time, walk the Freedom Trail [8] (or as much as you can take).
See Mother Goose's grave, Ben Franklin's parents grave, the Old North
Church (One if by land, two if by sea), the USS Constitution, Paul
Revere's house (in the North End, on a side street; just ask.), the
list goes on. Or be a tourist and take the amphibious Duck Tour.

[1] http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=bos. Just don't expect
to get a ticket at the box office.  Try one of the scalpers outside
the stadium. I think they passed a law making scalping legal now, but
just in case it hasn't taken effect yet, try not to be obvious about it. ;)
[2] http://www.prudentialcenter.com/map/index.php
[3] OK, I'll give in; "pahk your cah".
http://www.boston-online.com/glossary.html
http://www.boston.com/travel/boston/articles/2004/07/25/listen_up_just_say_ah/
http://www.bu.edu/mfeldman/Boston/tok.html
[4] MBTA, Mass Bay Transit Authority, the subway transit system,
made famous by the Kingston Trio's "The MTA Song", AKA "Charlie on
the MTA". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_MTA_Song
[5] My favorites include Pizzeria Regina for excellent pizza cheap,
and Francesca's for excellent expensive Italian.
http://www.polcaris.com/
http://www.ristorantevillafrancesca.com/
http://www.bostoncitylinks.com/north_end_restaurants.html
[6] We did an Audifans dinner at Redbones, good food cheap, but it
is really in Somerville. Close enough.
http://www.redbones.com/
[7] http://www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com/
[8] http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/

If you need more, just ask. ;)

HTH.

-- 
Kent McLean, native
'91 200 TQA #1, for sale
'91 200 TQA #2, no name yet
'94 100 S Avant, "Moody"
'89 200 TQ, "Bad Puppy", up in smoke