Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/22/2011 3:01 PM EDT
- wizen
- Posts: 302
- First: 3/4/2008
- Last: 4/16/2013
I'm looking for advice as to where to take a young German cousin of mine in and around Boston. He's about 20 and not really good about giving input about what he'd like to see.
I thought we'd go down the Cape and show him the Dunes (decidedly un-European) and then take him on a Whale Watch as well.
Any other ideas - I'm having trouble coming up with new fun places to take him - especially as he can't legally drink here. He's already done the Freedom Trail/ Faneuil Hall touristy bit last time he was here.
There's a festival in Chinatown this weekend I was thinking of, as well as a Berklee concert on George's Island (I know, that's a lot of water options!) Possibly also the Chihuly exhibit at the MFA or the Album Art show at the ICA.
I could really use a few new suggestions as my old stand-bys are feeling somewhat jaded! Thanks in advance!!
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/22/2011 3:26 PM EDT
I think the list you have now is pretty good! I would also add the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum. And maybe the Peabody Essex Museum? A walk along the Greenway if the weather is nice would be fun, too. And you stop along the way to get lunch, ice cream, etc.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/22/2011 3:27 PM EDT
- Goldie31
- Posts: 18
- First: 2/11/2010
- Last: 8/29/2012
Hey Wizen,
The first place I take any out of town guest is the bar at the Top of the Hub for the view and a cocktail, and although he's 20 and can't drink legally, he can still maybe enjoy the atmosphere? Don't know if he's been there before.
Also, the Gardner Museum is one of my favorites, much less exhausting than the MFA. If he likes old films, there's always something at the Harvard Film Archive, Brattle or Coolidge Corner. I'm trying to think like a 20 year old German and am a bit stumped ;)
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/22/2011 3:50 PM EDT
- wizen
- Posts: 302
- First: 3/4/2008
- Last: 4/16/2013
I love the Gardner! Not sure if he will, but if he has no suggestions he might get dragged around!
Greenway definitely! Thanks for the suggestions and keep them coming - my brain is fried!
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/22/2011 4:14 PM EDT
Do you have a car? Do either of you like to hike? Mt. Monadnock is not that far away. Or take him to Block Island - a nice day trip that will nonetheless make him too tired to do anything else at the end of the day. You can rent bikes there.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/22/2011 4:18 PM EDT
- badenser
- Posts: 2
- First: 1/3/2008
- Last: 2/2/2013
My 20-year-old German cousin was here last summer. I took him on the Freedom Trail tour. The problem is Germans learn almost nothing about US history in school, so Colonial Boston and the American Revolution are meaningless to them. My cousin also knew nothing about American sports, so going to a Red Sox game is a waste. They do know about President Kennedy, though, so maybe a trip to the JFK Museum.
My cousin also liked Six Flags. And he loved Regina Pizza in the North End.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/22/2011 4:22 PM EDT
- wizen
- Posts: 302
- First: 3/4/2008
- Last: 4/16/2013
Thanks! He was just at Block Island on Sunday and loved it! It's very pretty out there, and he didn't get seasick, good info for the whale watch!
And Kennedy is always good option with Germans! Ich bin ein Berliner!
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/22/2011 4:28 PM EDT
- badenser
- Posts: 2
- First: 3/4/2008
- Last: 4/16/2013
Wir sind alle Berliners. But we're not all jelly donuts.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/22/2011 4:30 PM EDT
Our college age German visitors wanted to shop, particularly for Levi jeans. I took them to the outlet mall in Wrentham and they went to to town in the designer outlets. They were both female, yes, but they had "orders" from their boyfriends and classmates for certain jeans. Levis cost about a $100 a pair in Germany.
I second Peabody Essex and the Gardner. I usually take people from Europe either to Minuteman Park in Concord and Lexington and/or Rockport and/or the Lowell National Park (industrial and social history.)
We haven't done this, but a cruise from Boston to Salem, sightseeing in Salem and a cruise back, would be fun. A whale watch could be very cool also.
All the young people from overseas and from the states who have visited us have wanted to see Harvard University and walk around Harvard Square. You can get an Asian or Mexican meal, walk around for a bit and have ice cream at a place on Church Street (across and down the street from the movie theatre.) The main Harvard art museum is being renovated, so it won't be open, but there's plenty to see around the campus.
If he likes architecture and modern art, maybe check on the exhibit at the ICA and make a trip there. The Decordova Museum in Lincoln has a beautiful sculpture park and the current exhibit inside the museum is supposed to be quite good (modern sculpture.)
Hope that helps. Have fun. FYI our German friends were here when it was about 90 degrees and they really suffered because it doesn't get very hot in Germany. So make sure he has plenty of shade and bottled water.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/22/2011 4:33 PM EDT
Our friends loved the JFK museum and they practically demanded to be taken to Fenway Park. We sent them World Series T-shirts for Christmas a few years ago and we still get pictures of them having Red Sox parties with their German friends. If he's a Red Sox fan, it might be fun to go to Fenway...it's expensive, though.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/22/2011 9:32 PM EDT
Dinner at the clubhouse at Suffolk Downs. I can't remember if 20 is too young to place bets, but you can place them for him. Just keep it to a $2 bet on each of the 12 races, because it's just for fun and anything he wins will be gravy.
Brunch at Top of the Hub in the Pru?
Hike the Skyline loop in the Blue Hills?
Plymouth Plantation? Sturbridge Village?
Convince him that it's tradition for a guest to paint the living room walls?
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/23/2011 7:50 AM EDT
Hiking the Harbor Islands. Do as many as you can/want in one day. Start early, and take a picnic and lots of snack and lots of water.
A visit to the Goethe-Institut Boston for a fun taste of home:
http://www.goethe.de/ins/us/bos/enindex.htm
This post has been removed.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/23/2011 8:05 AM EDT
Even young people like downtime. Show him the location of your public library, and the places nearest the library to get snacks and coffee. Or a public park.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/23/2011 8:26 AM EDT
- backbaybabe
- Posts: 2158
- First: 3/18/2010
- Last: 4/29/2013
how about the duck boats, or a visit to the constitution, or CODzilla(awesome boat ride int he boston harbor)
take the fast ferry for a day trip to the cape.
taking a road trip up the shore line and seeing quintessential new england is always nice. stopping off and having lobster rolls. how much more NE can one get.
seeing that i live in boston, i ALWAYS ALWAYS bring visitors to the skywalk at the top of the hub. he's 20, maybe he's be interested in the science museum, they have the IMAX theatre.
there's the mapatorium in the christian science center(google it) kind of neat.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/23/2011 8:33 AM EDT
- Goldie31
- Posts: 18
- First: 2/11/2010
- Last: 8/29/2012
Another thought: the MIT Museum on Mass Ave is pretty cheap (maybe even free) and that's pretty cool. It has several cool MIT/engineer-y things that might interest him.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/23/2011 9:18 AM EDT
- JTB8773
- Posts: 246
- First: 8/26/2010
- Last: 4/20/2012
Day trip to the Vineyard. Take the bikes (or rent) have a blast (have a lobster roll!). Geez, I sound like Rico here!
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/23/2011 9:39 AM EDT
- wizen
- Posts: 302
- First: 3/4/2008
- Last: 4/16/2013
You guys are the bestest! And I'm a massive Gorey fan, PP!
I also just learned he's interested in Harvard's Natural History Museum and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology (which I've never been to), so it looks like we have rainy day plans, too!
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/23/2011 10:54 AM EDT
- bzorn22
- Posts: 258
- First: 8/23/2006
- Last: 3/2/2012
You could drive him to NY and he can see a real city. Oh and most places here don't care that he is only 20.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/23/2011 11:12 AM EDT
The Peabody at Harvard is fabulous. Just check the days and hours ahead of time. Harvard hours can be very odd.
The other thing my young guests just had to have was (yech) Starbucks. I had to find every Starbucks within a five mile radius. They even googled them and asked me to take them to certain ones.
I'm going to bookmark this thread; there's so much here I haven't done myself...the Gorey house, for one.
Reindeer is right, too, that people in that age group often like to just hang around other young people (even if they don't talk to them) so if you get stuck you can go by the BU bookstore in Kenmore square for a coffee or something. At 20 he can be left in Harvard Square for a couple of hours with a Charlie card and find his way back or meet you in some very obvious location. We use the rotunda in the middle building at Quincy Market as a place to meet sometimes. Too hot on a hot day, but otherwise a good place to meet.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/23/2011 5:00 PM EDT
- wizen
- Posts: 302
- First: 3/4/2008
- Last: 4/16/2013
In Response to
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!:
You could drive him to NY and he can see a real city. Oh and most places here don't care that he is only 20.
Posted by bzorn22
Listen you ........ :P
He saw New York last time he was here. He said it was big and some guy in a red sports car flipped him the bird.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/23/2011 5:16 PM EDT
- bzorn22
- Posts: 258
- First: 8/23/2006
- Last: 3/2/2012
In Response to
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!:
In Response to Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please! : Listen you ........ :P He saw New York last time he was here. He said it was big and some guy in a red sports car flipped him the bird.
Posted by wizen
I'm sorry. Did he understand that calling him one does not mean that his parentage was in question?
This post has been removed.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/24/2011 12:52 PM EDT
- JustMe2323
- Posts: 5
- First: 6/24/2011
- Last: 8/12/2012
Try a walking tour of Boston's public art, especially the Commonwealth Avenue Mall:
http://publicartboston.com/ These 2 documents make a great guide:
http://www.publicartboston.com/PDF/BAC_PublicArtWalk-1_Print.pdf
and
http://www.publicartboston.com/sites/default/files/100-PublicArtworks-interpretation.pdf
It's free and historic - and there are over 100 public sculptures in Boston. I'm Boston born, and I learned a lot! We printed out Wikipedia pages on all of them, and it took us all day to cover the 1st 20 on the list!
Leads to great discussions on what made each of these people worth commemorating then and there. Leif Erikkson? Domingo Sarmiento? Lucy Stone? Architecture's great too.
Or when you're shopping on Newbury St, hit just a few sculptures for a break.
Re: Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!
posted at 6/24/2011 1:29 PM EDT
- momof3
- Posts: 48
- First: 4/18/2007
- Last: 8/19/2011
In Response to
Hosting tourists in Boston - suggestions please!:
I'm looking for advice as to where to take a young German cousin of mine in and around Boston. He's about 20 and not really good about giving input about what he'd like to see. I thought we'd go down the Cape and show him the Dunes (decidedly un-European) and then take him on a Whale Watch as well. Any other ideas - I'm having trouble coming up with new fun places to take him - especially as he can't legally drink here. He's already done the Freedom Trail/ Faneuil Hall touristy bit last time he was here. There's a festival in Chinatown this weekend I was thinking of, as well as a Berklee concert on George's Island (I know, that's a lot of water options!) Possibly also the Chihuly exhibit at the MFA or the Album Art show at the ICA. I could really use a few new suggestions as my old stand-bys are feeling somewhat jaded! Thanks in advance!!
Posted by wizen
A short drive north to Ogunquit Maine and do the Marginal Way walk. Great views and seafood. On the trip home you can stop at the Kittery trading post or the outllets. The drive home over the Zacheim Bridge is wonderful as well. I also love the MIT museum Very fun
