Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
2
Boston in Depth
B
oston embodies contrasts and contradictions—blueblood and blue collar, Yankee
and Irish, Brahmin banker and budget-conscious graduate student. It's home to the
country's first public school and to a problematic educational system. A onetime
hotbed of abolitionism, it retains an intractable reputation for racism. It's a proud sea-
port that faces a harbor just recently reclaimed from crippling pollution. Boston is a
famously parochial, insular city whose traditional obsessions are “sports, politics, and
revenge,” but it's also a magnet for students and intellectuals from all over the world,
and the capital of the only U.S. state where same-sex marriage is legal.
Compact in size yet boasting a virtually inexhaustible supply of interesting activi-
ties and diversions, Boston is a magnet for history buffs, art lovers, sports fans, shop-
pers, families, and convention-goers. Whether you fit into one or more or none of
those categories, you're still in for an enjoyable time. The interests that draw you here
can monopolize your schedule, but you'll have a better experience if you make some
room for serendipity—on your schedule and in your attitude.
The fact that you're reading this means that you have the chance to become one of
the countless visitors who arrive in Boston planning to concentrate on one thing and
wind up dipping into something completely unexpected that becomes a highlight of
their visit. They come for a convention and linger at the Museum of Fine Arts, come
for a college tour and can't get enough of the fresh seafood, come for the Revolution-
ary history and detour for the great shopping. They walk the narrow streets and stately
avenues, soak up the local and international accents, marvel at the natural and man-
made scenery, and lament the fact that they can't spend even more time exploring.
Boston is a living landmark that bears many marks of its colonial heritage, but
where it's theoretically possible (this is an observation, not a suggestion) to spend days
without going near anything built before 1960, or even going outdoors. Pick out a
suitcase that has room for your walking shoes and get ready for your own adventure.
1 Boston Today
Over the past few years, a mysterious
combination of factors has turned Boston
into a hot destination. It's like a math
problem: a new convention center plus
hundreds of new hotel rooms plus multi-
ple Red Sox and Patriots championships
plus a weak dollar plus a huge college-age
population plus widespread development
equals scads of travelers. Underlying all of
this—literally—is a new interstate, which
has helped transform downtown.
Boston greeted the new century by
wrapping up a gargantuan highway-con-
struction project and presenting a new
face to the world. An evolving ribbon of
parkland known as the Rose Fitzgerald
Kennedy Greenway winds through down-
town, reuniting neighborhoods that had
