The city of Boston is one of my “second” homes. From historical battle fields, to Irish pubs, a mix of colonial and modern architecture, the fusion of blue collar values and lofty academics leaves me feeling relaxed and welcomed. The city is smaller than most capital cities and boasts a host of unique neighborhoods. It’s more intimate than it’s rival New York, and  it’s easy to escape for those dreaming of New England sea coast villages or the mountain wilderness of New Hampshire and Vermont.

Boston is where my mother’s family is from, where I went to school, it’s where all of my best friends live, it’s my first stop during any trip home, and it’s one of those places you could spend years exploring and never really figure it all out.

Bostonians are proud and loyal, with good reason. The city can lay claim to the nation’s oldest public park, first public library, first subway system, the first public school and as you will see everywhere the key role the city and its loyalists played in the American Revolution. I get asked over and over where to go and what to do in Boston. Here are 5 Uniquely Bostonian things you should do on your next visit to Boston.

The Freedom Trail

This is perhaps the most quintessential Boston tourist activity you can do. However, just because it’s popular doesn’t mean its not worth it. The Freedom Trail is a walking introduction to Colonial Revolutionary Boston. The trial brings walkers on a tour through the historic past of the city, covering 16 colonial sites over the course of 2-3 hours. The sites are connected by a red brick path serving as a guide through the city. At over 2.5 miles the trail combines museums, churches, meeting houses, burying grounds, parks, a ship, and historic markers that tell the story of the American Revolution and beyond.

You can take a self-guided tour or one of the many tours available through the Boston Common Visitors Center at 148 Tremont Street or the Bostix Booth located at Faneuil Hall. I prefer to walk, but you can also take trolleys that allow you to get on and off.

Oh, and stick around Faneuil Hall for some historic touristy shopping. Don’t forget to stop by my uncle’s bar, The Ames Plow Tavern for a beer and a reminder of what the area used to be like when it was an agricultural marketplace. Have a look at the bar and you’ll see pictures of my great grandfather and his blacksmith shop.

Catch a Red Sox Game

Fenway park is not only the oldest baseball park in the United States, but the Boston Red Sox are the best baseball team. Well, OK, I might be slightly biased, but it is hard to imagin coming to Boston and not experiencing a night at Fenway. The fans are loyal (when we win), loud (all the time), and the sausages and beer are excellent (if overpriced). During and after the games is when you will get to the heart and soul of any Bostonian. Buy a ticket well in advance as games are almost always sold out, or test your luck with the scalpers lining the road to the stadium.

At the very least park yourself on a bar stool at one of the thousands of bars across the city during a game and you will see what true passion, and bitterness is all about.

North End

The North End is Boston’s oldest residential neighborhood with people living there since the 1630s. The area has gone through many face lifts and demographic shifts, from the wealthiest segment of Boston, to the first community of freed slaves, to mostly Irish, to a major Jewish center, and finally in the 20th century the center of the Italian American Community. If you are hungry this small 1/2 square mile area boasts over 100 small authentic Italian restaurants.

Your walk along the Freedom Trial will take you through the North End, so don’t forget to save room for Italian cannoli, a tour through the Old North Church and Paul Revere’s House.

Drink Beer

Beer, check. Beer, check. Beeeer, chick. bRRRR, hick...up

Ok, to be fair I would give this advice anywhere in the world. But Boston sports two of my favorite small scale breweries, Samuel Adams and Harpoon. These two classic American Breweries will have you laughing in the face of anyone who tries to convince you that American Beer taste like water. Rich in flavor, and steeped in history they will also knock you on your ass if you drink too many.

The Samuel Adams Brewery offers a tours with a tasting afterward for a suggested donation of $2. Tours run weekdays and weekends but fill up quickly and tickets are only available in person.  Harpoon Brewery has a free tasting on Weekdays and a $5 Weekend tour with a tasting afterward.

Eat Seafood

Nothing quite says New England cuisine like a large helping of seafood. From fresh lobsters, to New England Clam Chowder (psst that’s the white one), to raw oysters, you can not leave Boston without diving into the Atlantic ocean. You will find no end to places to eat lobster, which come boiled or steamed, with a fashionable plastic bib, drawn butter for dipping, a nutcracker for the claws and a pick for the legs. Eating lobster can be an expensive proposition and they are sold by the pound with market prices changing everyday. Personally, I’m a clam chowder and crab cake kind of a guy.

There are too many great fresh seafood restaurants to name them all. While my favorites are simple shacks in the small coastal towns near Boston, if you are in the city you can’t go wrong with Legal Sea Foods. Go to the one near Long Wharf and you can stroll along the water before or after dinner and watch the seals for free just outside of the Boston Aquarium.

Of course there is plenty of truly unique Bostonian adventures to be had in this culturally packed little city. We would love to hear your own recommendations.

Photo Credit 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

5 Unique Things to Do in Boston is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

I know this post is coming a bit late but I wanted to share my wedding with everyone. Marriage is certainly one of the biggest adventures I have wandered into. I am sure it will spawn many new stories to share.

We had a wonderful September day on the water in Newport, with the sun shining and the boats cruising out of the harbor for a boat show weekend regatta. The wedding was planned from halfway around the world while Kay and I lived in Sri Lanka, and even after Kay left for Kosovo. In fact we didn’t even see the venue until our “last” meeting with the Regatta Place 5 days before the wedding!

Crews leaving for the race in Narragansett Bay

Despite the distance and the logistics of planning from so far away, the Regatta Place did an incredible job and I would recommend them to anyone based on their service, food, and beautiful location. One of the things that helped us was being able to view so many weddings over the internet and read personal reviews and experiences. Hopefully this post will help others out in the same way.

We had a great weekend, the wedding went smoothly, the weather was great, and Newport provided a fun time out on the town. The only negative to holding a wedding in Newport is the transportation difficulties. Most of our guests came from out of town and many of them from abroad. The taxi services in Newport are rude and inconvenient and many of our guests had difficulties finding rides to TF Green airport early in the morning. If you can arrange the logistics or have enough people driving in, the pros definitely outweigh the cons.

The venue is part of a marina on Goat Island in the middle of Newport harbor.

You never know what type of yachts will be docked next to the wedding area. We were lucky and had two beautiful sail boats.

The reception area under the semi-permanent tent.

Kay getting ready.

We got ready in our own way.

Milling about…

…enjoying the day, and waiting for things to start.

Beautiful

Not nervous yet…

The vows

Married!

Enjoying the outside bar

We love berries!

We brought sake from Kay’s family brewery in Japan. Instead of having a receiving line we walked around to each table and poured (and drank) sake for everyone.

We also had fans made in Japan for everyone to remember the wedding.

Of course it all went by way too quickly. My advice to anyone getting married, don’t stress and just enjoy the day, it goes by quicker than you can imagine.

Our wedding in Newport, Rhode Island is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

In May I traveled outside of Sri Lanka for work and headed back to the West, at least for the first part of my trip. In the course of one month I visited England, the US, Switzerland and Thailand. My first stop was England to give a workshop on housing and security in Sri Lanka. It was my first time in England, so after visiting the University of Essex I took a few days to wander around London and soak up the Spring air.

Piccadilly Circus

Hyde Park was a great place to relax and see the black swans

Westminster Abby

Big Ben. By now you are probably realizing that all I did was walk around and see the landmarks from the outside.

I wish I had enough time to look inside but I found just walking around and soaking up the atmosphere had its own rewards. Of course I also found time to hit the pubs at night…

Parliament

After a nice few days of catching up with friends in London I took the opportunity of being “close” to the US to visit home for a week. It is amazing how used to flying I have become when the 7 hour flight from London to Boston seemed short…especially compared to the 22 hour flying time from Sri Lanka!

After arriving in the US I headed straight up to New Hampshire to my grandparent’s lake house on Lake Winnipesaukee to help clean up the yard and house and get it ready for summer.

A view of the lake from my dock.

After New Hampshire I headed down to Jamestown, RI where my parents live. Jamestown is a small island in Narraganset Bay located next to Newport, where the bay meets the Atlantic Ocean.

The town docks are right downtown and just a 10 minute walk from my house.

Lobster pots.

Typical New England coastal scene

After a weeks vacation work needed me to go to Geneva, Switzerland to attend the Human Rights Council at the UN headquarters. It was an interesting experience to see the Human Rights Council in action and to tie together the work I have been doing in the field with what happens at the international level.

A view from inside The Palais des Nations. The chair in the distance is called The Broken Chair. The Chair’s torn off leg symbolizes the suffering of land mine victims and was erected to pressure governments to sign the international treaty to ban land mines in 1997. Unfortunately not all countries have signed the treaty (including the US) so the chair remains.

A soccer ball was floating above (it was down for maintenance) the fountain in preparation for the Euro Cup being held in Switzerland. It looked very cheesy surrounded by the beautiful lake, mountains and historic architecture

A marina on the lake

The weather was beautiful and all of Geneva was out enjoying the lake. After work each day I would meet up with friends and join hundreds of other young professionals for drinks on the water.

Ancient wall and moat in Chiang Mai

We only had a few days in Bangkok and most of it was spent shopping for things not available in Sri Lankan.

Every major mall has a shrine outside.

We spent a good part of our time at the Weekend Market (Chatuchak)

The market covers over 35 acres, has over 15,000 stalls and sells just about anything you can think of, from furniture, to clothes, to exotic animals.

If you are in the market for a Buddha this is the place for it. However, it is difficult to say which ones are real antiques and which have been made to look old to fetch a higher price from tourists.

You can get whole Buddhas or broken up piece by piece.

Packed

These poor little guys must have been really hot

A Short Trip Around the World is a post from: Todd's Wanderings