Getting There & Getting Around
If you're arriving in downtown Boston by road or air, allow at least twice as much time as you think you need to reach your hotel. Part of the ceiling of one of the city's relatively new interstate-highway tunnels collapsed in July, killing a local woman who was a passenger in a passing car. The resulting closures, investigations, inspections, and detours have snarled traffic -- both around downtown and between the airport and Boston proper -- beyond belief, and conditions will likely worsen before they improve.
The main downtown train station, South Station, is on the edge of this area, but train service has not been affected. Silver Line buses that connect the airport to South Station are operating. During the day, they use the Ted Williams Tunnel, which is subject to closure on short notice; at night, they're part of the nearly round-the-clock crawl through the Callahan Tunnel. The fastest ways to and from the airport for the foreseeable future are subway and water transportation. If you must drive downtown, don't trust online mapping sites to help you plan your route; visit the websites of the Turnpike Authority (www.masspike.com) and the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau (www.bostonusa.com) for up-to-date information on road closures and transportation options.
Where to Stay
The InterContinental Boston Hotel (tel. 800/980-6429; www.intercontinental.com) has an official opening date: November 1.
Where to Dine
Restaurant Week will last 12 days this summer: August 13 to 18 and 20 to 25. Some establishments will extend the deal -- lunch for $20.06, dinner for $30.06 -- through Labor Day weekend. The promotion enlisted some 125 restaurants this year; check the website www.bostonusa.com/restaurantweek for details.
Lizzy's Ice Cream (www.lizzysicecream.com), a local gourmet chain, is a new entry in the crowd trying to satisfy the seemingly insatiable ice cream aficionados of Harvard Square. The homemade treats are available at 29 Church St. (tel. 617/354-2911).
In other ice cream news, Cold Stone Creamery's colonization of Boston continues unabated. Convenient branches include 175 Cambridge St. (tel. 617/994-6334), near Mass. General Hospital and Beacon Hill; and 8 Park Plaza, off Arlington Street, Back Bay (tel. 617/523-1020). Visit the company's website (www.coldstonecreamery.com) for information on other locations.
The Daily Catch (www.dailycatch.com) has closed its Brookline location; the North End original and the branch on the South Boston waterfront are going strong.
What to See & Do
Fashion Show: Paris Collections 2006 opens at the Museum of Fine Arts (www.mfa.org) on November 12. Approaching fashion as fine art, the exhibit will focus on the work of a dozen or so designers, including Chanel, Dior, and Valentino. The show dresses up the MFA through March 18, 2007.
The Museum of Science (www.mos.org) explores Robots + Us from September 30 through January 1, 2007. Visitors learn about real-life uses of robots and even have the opportunity to build their own. Meanwhile, Body Worlds 2: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies -- which is exactly what it sounds like (the bodies are preserved using a revolutionary process that replaces water tissue with fluid plastics) continues to fascinate museum-goers through January 7, 2007.
The New England Aquarium (www.neaq.org) has reinstituted its Boston Harbor cruises. Narrated by National Park Service rangers, the daytime and sunset cruises last 1 1/2 to 2 hours and cost $19 for adults, $17 for seniors and students, $15 for children 3 to 11. Reservations are strongly recommended.
Boston Movie Tours (tel. 866/MOVIE-45; www.bostonmovietours.net) has added a mini-coach tour option. Make reservations well in advance for the Saturday-only tour, which runs from 1 to 3:30 or 4pm and takes participants from Boston to Gloucester and back. Adults pay $35, seniors and students $32, children 6 to 12 $25.
The relocated Institute of Contemporary Art (www.icaboston.org) has a new address, 100 Northern Ave., and plans for a big party on opening day, September 17, when admission will be free from 9am to 5pm.
Shopping
The increasingly upscale Filene's Basement chain will expand to the Back Bay in late September. The two-level store, at 497 Boylston St., won't offer the original location's automatic-markdown policy, but it will have a more upscale atmosphere befitting its almost-on-Newbury-Street address. Check the website www.filenesbasement.com for updates.
The Boston Public Market (tel. 617/263-3355; www.bostonpublicmarket.org) now offers top-notch local agricultural products and specialty foods in two locations. The original market operates on Thursday on the pedestrian-only Northern Avenue Bridge, near Atlantic Avenue and the federal courthouse (T: Red Line to South Station or Blue Line to Aquarium). The Dewey Square market, on the Rose Kennedy Greenway near South Station (T: Red Line to South Station), takes place on Wednesday. Both run from 11:30am to 7pm, mid-June through early November.
Day Trips from Boston
The Salem Ferry (tel. 978/741-0220; www.salemferry.com) resumed service in July. It connects Boston's Central Wharf, near the New England Aquarium, with the Blaney Street dock in Salem. The dock, about 20 minutes on foot from the center of town, is also a Salem Trolley stop. The adult ferry fare is $12 one way, $22 round trip, with discounts for seniors, children, families, and evening patrons. Given the state of Boston's roads, this is a great option for a day trip.
Opening September 23 and running through April 1, 2007, The Emperor Looks West is an exhibition at Salem's Peabody Essex Museum (www.pem.org) that focuses on an 18th-century Chinese court painting. The 20-inch-high, 19-foot-long scroll painting, which was in a French private collection for many years, has never before been shown in an American museum. It's the centerpiece of a show that includes more than 20 other objects that belonged to the Qianlong emperor, who ruled for 60 years.
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