Today was a little less intense than the previous days. Each of us picked something on our Go City Pass that we wanted to do. It was fun to have some experiences we might not have chosen without the pass.
Museum of Science
This was Ben’s and Hannah’s pick. Our city passes included the Museum of Science. It was open before other places we wanted to go opened, so we started our day there. It’s listed as one of the world’s largest science centers. They had lots of activities and exhibits. I think we spent 2 hours there, we probably could have stayed longer. Is it worth going? If you like science, absolutely. I came to Boston for history, so I wouldn’t have chosen it over something open that was historical. But with kids, I think the museum is a nice stop because there are so many hands on activities. We were too busy playing to take photos : )
Little Italy Food Tour
Part of our city passes included a North End ‘Little Italy’ Food Tour, and that was on mine and Hannah’s list of to do’s. Food was not included in the tour cost, but the tour was free for us with the pass, and so adding the cost of food during lunch time worked. They gave an excellent tour. We walked around Boston’s Italian Community talking about history, the famous people and food. They stopped at the best places they recommended for cannoli’s, coffee, pizza and traditional bread, and gave us time to go in and buy things to eat while we were walking. They suggested bringing $20-30 per person to sample food. Between the four of us I don’t think we spent over $10 or 15 per person.
We didn’t take a lot of pictures because we were too busy eating : ) But I do have some notes from the visit. Our first stop was Bricco Panetteria known for their bread. Their loaves are ginormous. I’m not sure how a small family or individual could buy something there. Even for myself I thought most loaves were too big for our family of four if we were going to eat other things later in the tour.
But afterwards, I regretted not buying at least one loaf. We ate a lot of sweets at the beginning, and it would have been nice to have some normal food in our stomach before we started our lunch with multiple desserts : ) The fun part about this place is it’s down an alley in a basement off the beaten path. We were told it was great bread.
They took us to try cannoli’s next. The four of us aren’t big on super sweet, they were a bit rich for us. But we shared a couple to see what they tasted like. Our tour guide thought that Modern Pastry had the best cannoli’s (that aren’t prefilled). I guess that’s a thing, and some people prefer them freshly filled. Our palettes weren’t refined enough to notice a big difference. Places that have prefilled cannoli’s are able to offer more flavors because they aren’t as freshly filled. He thought Mike’s Pastry was best for prefilled cannoli’s.
We stopped at Caffe Vittoria for cappuccinos for some of our party, and gelato’s for most of us. All along the way he’s telling us the history of the places we are visiting.
He pointed out the Daily Catch which is famous for their squid ink pasta. They only have 7 tables, and the kitchen is in the room so you watch them make your food. They had a long line to get in, so we just walked by.
We ended our eating tour next to Bovas and Parziales. Bovas is a local’s favorite that had Sicilian style pizza, and they are open 24/7. Two of us tried their pizza. This bakery was closed for a week in March of this year because, Matt Damon and Casey Affleck were filming the movie ‘The Instigators’ inside.
Next door was Parziales Bakery. It’s one of the oldest bakeries in the area (started in 1907), and the first to bring pizza to Boston. Two of us ordered that pizza. Our family favorite was Parziales.
We asked about sit down restaurants and our tour guide recommended Regina’s Pizza for pizza and Monica’s for the best pasta. So there’s our best recommendations from the Italian tour if you want to try food in Boston : )
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
‘Mrs. Jack Gardner is one of the seven wonders of Boston. There is nobody like her in any city in this country. She is a millionaire Bohemienne. She is the leader of the smart set, but she often leads where none dare follow… She imitates nobody; everything she does is novel and original. ‘
— A BOSTON REPORTER
I had never heard of Isabella before this trip. She came from a wealthy family. After losing a child she began to travel to help her depression. She went to northern Europe, Russia, Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia. She became a collector and started building a museum in 1899. She moved into the museum when it was done so she could personally arrange the works of art in the galleries. The museum housed her collection of paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, manuscripts, rare books and decorative art. She spent the rest of her life acquiring works for her museum. When the museum opened in 1903 it was the finest private art collection in America. When she died she left the museum with a stipulation that nothing could be change in the galleries, no items could be added or sold from the collection.
I’m not usually a huge museum fan. I know that sounds very uncultured of me. But this museum was incredible. The collections were eclectic, the museum itself is a work of art. We didn’t take a ton of photos (I think most of them are in the garden), but I will let the few we took speak for themselves. This was mine and Hannah’s pick and we were not disappointed!
Fenway Park Tour
This was Mike’s pick, and I will be honest, the rest of us were dragging our feet on this one. I love watching baseball, but touring a baseball park? It didn’t sound that interesting. I was ignorant of all the history of Fenway. It really is an incredible tour. We weren’t able to go to a game while we were in town, but I was kicking myself that we weren’t. They told so many interesting stories about the history, the difference about how the game is ran there than in other parks. We got to sit in the press seats and hear stories all over the stadium about each spot. We learned to appreciate the amount of work that goes into playing a game in such an old stadium. Was it worth it? Absolutely. It’s a great tour with fascinating history of baseball, the park, and understanding Boston culture. It was a 60 minute tour, and it did not disappoint.
Walk around Boston
We finished the evening walking around Boston to catch the sites we had missed in our race to do it all.
One place we passed multiple times was Faneuil Hall. I mentioned its significance as we passed it on July 26. But we were so busy standing outside learning about it, we didn’t get to go inside. In front of Faneuil Hall some street entertainers were outside entertaining the crowd. We watched for a while and then walked through the shops inside. It’s a great place for souvenirs.
Next to Faneuil is Quincy Market. Quincy Market has been open to the public since 1826. It was considered the largest market complex built in the United States in the first half of the 19th century. It currently is a huge food hall with all kinds of food vendors inside, and souvenir vendors outside. We all tried to get something different to eat inside. It was a great stop for dinner.
That was the end of our Boston tour. We drove to Quincy that night so we could be up early to tour John Adams homes. It’s only 12 miles away, but in Boston traffic can be a 50 minute drive.
godncountry 