Boston Museums and Attractions

Free Slurpee Day!

Ali P — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:40:19 +0000

It’s 7/11, so many 7-11 stores are offering free slurpees. There’s really not much more detail to go in, so head to the BostInnovation site to find a list of participating locations. I’ll be hitting up one of the locations in Downtown Crossing.

Free Ferry Day

Ali P — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:29:45 +0000

Tomorrow, Tuesday June 21st, is free ferry day to either Georges or Spectacle Islands. Ferries depart every half hour from 9am to 6pm from Long Wharf. Limited to parties of 5. See here for more info.

Sounds awesome! Wish I could go – I love going to Georges Island!

Scooper Bowl!

Ali P — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:38:09 +0000

Alright folks, I remembered this when I was out taking a walk at lunch. Stall upon stall filled with…ice cream!! Every year I forget about the Scooper Bowl, which is a real shame because ice cream is one of the best things on the planet. There are nine companies that have stalls this year, serving ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet, so there is something for everyone. Honestly, I haven’t been in a few years, but I will definitely be stopping by this year.

The event started today (the Mayor was there for the opening ceremony!) and runs through Thursday June 9th, noon – 8pm each day. It’s right on City Hall Plaza – you can’t miss it. Just look for the folks covered in melted ice cream, as temperatures will be in the 90s. It costs $8 for adults, $4 for kids 3 – 9, under 3 is free. Proceeds benefit the Jimmy Fund.

Do you need any more prodding to attend this event?? Hope to see you there!

World Oceans Day at the New England Aquarium

Ali P — Thu, 19 May 2011 00:39:24 +0000

June 5th is World Oceans Day, and what better way to celebrate than by taking a trip to the New England Aquarium? The focus of the program at NEAQ is on teaching children the importance of our oceans, and ways they can help to preserve this incredibly important resource. The classic Dr Seuss tale One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish will be used to demonstrate ocean life.

In addition, chefs from top local restaurants and culinary schools will be demonstrating ocean friendly recipes. There will also be prizes, giveaways, and scavenger hunts. Plus, who can withstand not seeing the awesomely adorable penguins??

Image taken from http://new-england-aquarium.visit-boston-massachusetts.com/

See here for more information on World Oceans Day. The New England Aquarium is located at 1 Central Wharf in Boston. It’s easily accessible from the Blue Line, plus there are parking garages.

Civil War exhibit at Boston Public Library

Ali P — Thu, 12 May 2011 15:33:57 +0000

The Boston Public Library opened an exhibit today called “Torn in Two: 150th Anniversary of the Civil War” at it’s Copley Square location. The exhibit showcases historic maps and artifacts, many on display for the first time, outlining battles, how geography played a role, and how the public was informed of the ongoing struggle. Before the Civil War, maps were rarely printed in papers, but during the war, over 2,000 maps were included in papers in the North. The exhibit is split in to three sections – tension between the North and South before the war, documentation of conflicts, and how the war was remembered and commemorated.

The exhibit will run through the end of the year, and then head to New York, so check it out while you can! It’s located at the Copley Square branch, 700 Boylston St in Boston. Boston.com has a great article on the exhibit. Check out the BPL website for more info.

Free evening at the MIT museum

Ali P — Tue, 10 May 2011 14:17:55 +0000

Image from River Valley TV

This Friday, May 13th from 5pm to 8pm there is free admission to the MIT museum, located at 265 Mass Ave in Cambridge. See here for more info.

Chihuly at the Museum of Fine Arts

Ali P — Thu, 05 May 2011 13:52:17 +0000

This past April an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts opened, called “Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass”. It showcases the works of Dale Chihuly and looks amazing. Has anyone been? It runs through August 7, 2011 – I’m hoping to go sometime in the next month or so.

Other current exhibits at the MFA:

Global Patterns: Dress & Textiles in Africa (through January 8, 2012)
Embroideries of Colonial Boston: Pictorial Embroideries (through August 28, 2011)
Millet and Rural France (through May 30, 2011 – hurry, closes soon!)
Artists Abroad: London, Paris, Venice, and Rome 1825-1925 (through June 26, 2011)

For a more complete list of current exhibits, go here. To see a list of upcoming exhibits, go here. The museum is located at 465 Huntington Ave in Boston – easily accessible on the Green Line E trolley.

Halloween – the most wonderful time of the year

Ali P — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 01:50:05 +0000

It has certainly been a long time! My apologies for that – a lot has changed recently. I actually want to take the blog in a bit of a different direction, but not quite yet. I still have more planning to do.

That being said, it’s October. Which means Halloween. The greatest time of the year. Halloween is like Christmas to me. It’s a time to scare yourself silly, eat lots of candy, and enjoy autumn. Living in Massachusetts, the haunted houses, museums, events, rainy cool evenings, everything that makes Halloween perfect, is right here. I can’t imagine a better place to celebrate the holiday than the Boston area. This list, by no means exhaustive, will hopefully give you some ideas of things to do:

Go to Salem. Seriously, it’s the scariest town around (witch trials, anyone?) and has the biggest Halloween party – it lasts the whole month of October! The Haunted Happenings website lists all of the events of the month, such as the Ghost & Legends Trolley Tour, Friday Nights at the Witches Cottage, and Legacy of the Hanging Judge. Some of the events are kid-friendly, while others are more appropriate for us older folk.
For the 21+ crowd, head to Woburn for the Monster Bash Halloween Party on Saturday October 30th at the Woburn American Legion. It costs $10 in advance and $20 at the door, and costumes are required!! Prizes are awarded in a variety of categories. Check the website for more info.
Hit up some haunted houses. Barrett’s Haunted Mansion on Rt 18 in Abington is open evenings from 7 – 10.30pm (excluding Oct 12 – 14th when it is closed). The Factory of Terror is located in Fall River and is open most evenings. I used to go every year when I was in high school, and it was great! Spooky World is in Litchfield, NH – didn’t it used to be in Foxborough? At any rate, it looks like a scary good time! There are literally hundreds more to write about – perhaps I will do another post dedicated to it?
Boston has two tours with a haunted/Halloween theme. One is the walking Ghost Tour and runs Friday through Mondays, focusing on the paranormal. It looks really neat. The other tour is the popular trolley ride Ghosts and Gravestones. A friend of mine just went and she said it’s campy good fun.

I think that’s enough for now. I’ll do more research and find other awesome Halloween events. Long live Halloween – the best time of year!

Boston’s West End

Ali P — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:31:01 +0000

Boston.com has an article up about Boston’s West End, a neighborhood that was razed about 50 years ago to create room for the highway and for high-rise buildings. It was one of Boston’s most diverse neighborhoods, and the loss is still being felt so many years later. To help preserve the legacy of the neighborhood, and to ensure that something like this does not happen again in the name of “urban renewal”, a museum was established. Residents who lived in the neighborhood before the destruction work there and are quite vocal on preservation.

I have yet to go, but it’s not too far from work, so I might stop by sometime this week. Oddly enough, I work in Government Center, the site of the former Scollay Sq.

The West End Museum

150 Staniford St (across from the Tip O’Neill building)

617.723.2125 – call for hours

Free Admission to Area Museums This Weekend

Ali P — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:44:12 +0000

Those of you with Bank of America cards can show them at participating museums for free entry on March 6th & 7th courtesy of the Museums on Us program. The list for Massachusetts is rather small (5 museums in total), but hey it’s better than nothing! The list of museums is as follows:

- Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
- Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge
- DeCordova Museum in Lincoln
- The Ecotarium in Worcester

Check out the Bank of America page here. There are select weekend dates throughout the year for this program – generally one weekend per month.