[floridaorange]

We are finishing up summer vacation #1 here in Boston. We spent time in Maine/Acadia, Portland, Boston… Ive never spent time in these cities and Ive been very surprised how great Boston seems. We had perfect baseball weather for the Sox/Blue Jays game last night…terrible heat at first in Boston/Maine, then it cooled down alot finally.

Looking for reasons not to like it here before heading back to FL

Will share my nikon photos once processed.

[M_Six]

Boston is a great walking city with loads of good restaurants and shopping. Lots to see and do there. New England in general offers a huge variety of environments like mountains, coastal, islands, etc. The biggest downsides to New England are the cost of living and the dense population. I grew up in a small MA town in a neighborhood of cookie cutter homes. All originally 3 bed/1 bath. Maybe 1200sf on 1/4 acre lots. Most folks who lived there expanded, like my parents did, adding two more bedrooms and a half bath. But I saw one of the houses that hadn't expanded on Zillow a few months ago selling for $600k. I was shocked. Tiny 1950's house on a postage stamp lot for $600k? Yikes.

There are areas of New England where the housing costs are lower and it's not as crowded. You just have to decide if living in those more remote areas is worth the trade-off.

[MassWholeBimmer]

Glad you liked our capital city. I live about 80 miles west in the Berkshires. In a Norman Rockwell type town...

Fenway is one of the best parks to see a game.. no bad seat unless you are sitting behind a steal beam. Great park, too bad the team isn't better . Jay's creamed em'.

I've been to most national parks in the US.. Acadia is one of my favorites.

Boston is a great town to visit.. if u don't have to drive in it... Spaghetti layout of the roads...not like the nice grid layout of Chicago. But great food, a lot of History.

Cape cod is nice in the off season... late September. Less crowded and the water is probably at its warmest. Spent many a summers there.

Portland ME awesome. Great seafood and a fair amount of local breweries.

If you ever return, the White mountains of NH are beautiful. Fall foliage second to none.
Vermont is nice as well. As rural as just about any place in the lower 48. ....except probably down East maine. Lake Champlain beautiful. Glad you enjoyed it.

[dreamingat30fps]

Haven't been to Boston in over a decade, but I remember enjoying it the couple of time we went. I much prefer it to bigger cities like NYC which I don't enjoy much at all. My favorite place was this little tiny seafood restaurant in the North End I forgot what it's called but it was amazing. I think on our second trip they were featured on TV or something so it became impossible to get in. There was also this very cool cigar bar in the basement of some other place in the North End that was also very nice.

We LOVED Maine and Acadia NP that's definitely somewhere we plan to return. Love all the shacks on the side of the road with big pots of lobster, clams etc. One thing I found odd was how much they love pizza. I swear I have never seen so many pizza places one next to the other.

[RickFLM4]

I grew up in Providence, RI and have been to Fenway many times, including the first time Clemens struck out 20. When I was in college I considered moving there for a job after graduating but the week I visited it was a wind chill of -40 degrees every day. Coldest week I remember which I took as a sign to stay in Miami after graduating.

I haven’t been to Boston in years but remember it has some great restaurants and bars and you can walk most places in the city. What’s not great is getting to / from the airport. That is something I don’t miss.

[bucketfoot]

Flew in and out of Boston last year for my niece’s wedding in New Hampshire last year. Unfortunately didn’t have enough time to roam the city.

Definitely agree that getting out of and back to the airport was a headache.

[floridaorange]

Boston people seemed way more normal than new york people. Super general statement - but friendlier in an open down to earth way. New Yorkers often seem stressed.

The airport wasnt much worse than most big cities. Commonwealth hotel was nice, Omni was odd, new rooms ancient mattresses and motel 6 linens. The liberal vibe seemed genuine and not offensive, hard to explain, and prob best not discussed here.

The Christian Science privately owned public area was mind-blowing. I still cannot understand how magnificent that area was. I liked how the city seemed to value being active.

I hope we come back sooner than later. Reminded us alot of London. Driving the roads was definitely an art. But the drivers are mostly polite compared to Florida.

[M-technik-3]

I'm from Plymouth aka the Mayflower's second stop, I lived on the south shore till I moved away with the service but moved back in 1995 after being gone for decade. I missed it. Moved away 6 years later but 9/11 pulled me back for my commitments.

Long story short I bought a house in Western Mass, I spend every other weekend at my Significant others place which is half way to Boston from me. We spend the summer at 4th Cliff Military Camp site about 6 weekends a year. Cheap and close to the beachs we like and close enough for a day trip to Cape Cod.

Glad you had a great time visiting. I am surprised you didn't run into what most consider us as rude people and full of attitude.

[floridaorange]

Saw some attitude after the baseball game and The Omni customer service had some attitude - but our expectations are set pretty low coming from central FL.

[M_Six]

Some pics I took of the Christian Science Building back in 2013 when I was in Boston at a conference. First pic was from my hotel room window. I have another pic in my office that I printed out and framed. Very cool building.

[Maynard]

Have they somehow improved the road/driving situation? Used to be a bit of the wild west style (the saying was 'you are always in the right lane in Boston'). I learned about rotaries there, in a VW bus full of other people's kids.

[DrVenture]

I spent time (and drove) in Boston a few times. Mostly for work. The driving was seat-of-the pants, this was well before GPS. Even the locals had a hard time giving directions, it was always 'I know how to get there, but don't think I can explain". I got lost the first time as soon as I left the airport. I knew that I wanted to get to Cambridge, across the river. So I just drove in that direction until I hit the river, drove parallel until I found a bridge, crossed, and then went East until I recognized my hotel. The whole rest of the trip was similar. Get a basic idea where I wanted to head and start driving. Eventually you will get there. IIRC, this was during The Big Dig.

Edit to add: I liked the people. I worked with many of them over the phone for years. Just regular folk. Very welcoming when I was on site for field support and new installation activities.

[M_Six]

Logan Airport has the worst car rental system I have ever seen. The last time we had to rent a car there, it took two hours after the plane landed before we were in the car heading out of the airport. Then we got stuck in the nightmare evening commute traffic getting to our hotel on the South Shore. Our flights got in at 2PM, so we were thinking we'd be heading south before the main rush hour. No such luck.

If you are going to stay in Boston, then Logan is about the only choice. But if you're just going to New England in general and are going to rent a car, you're better off flying into Hartford or Providence and going from there.

[M-technik-3]

Driving in Greater Boston area was very helpful when I drove in the Middle East and Tokyo for that matter. Never nervous when sticking a bumper out there and just going.

My Ex was terrified when we would drive from Northern Japan down to Tokyo for events. But when we moved to Boston she was perfectly ok with it. Storrow drive was my race track 30 years ago.

[DrVenture]

Originally Posted by floridaorange

Saw some attitude after the baseball game and The Omni customer service had some attitude - but our expectations are set pretty low coming from central FL.

Ahahah. My son lives in Florida, he says that coming from the Midwest, people there cannot believe how polite he is. He also says that a lot of customer service folks come across very poorly. He is a big tipper and good service gets rewarded by him. Lousey service and he never returns.

I also had many business associates in New York City and surrounding areas. They never bothered me either. I found that they would test people, and responded positively to pushback. Once they knew that you were not going to take any shit, they became more friendly.

I was the guy in a position to either bail them out of aggravating, time-consuming problems, or let them wallow in it. That may have helped.

[floridaorange]

…these are all from Maine 5 hrs north of boston but same trip and Im not starting a new thread

[DocL]

I lived there for eight years in the 80's and 90's while at BU and Tufts Dental. I lived in Kenmore Square in a building behind the Citgo sign. I used to go to Red Sox games all the time for $15. The city has changed so much and is almost unrecognizable. Especially with how the Seaport has been built, and Downtown Crossing without Filene's.

Boston is still my favorite city in the USofA. So much culture, and great food. I hope you went to the Union Oyster House. It 's the oldest established restaurant in the USofA.

[floridaorange]

Originally Posted by DocL

I lived there for eight years in the 80's and 90's while at BU and Tufts Dental. I lived in Kenmore Square in a building behind the Citgo sign. I used to go to Red Sox games all the time for $15. The city has changed so much and is almost unrecognizable. Especially with how the Seaport has been built, and Downtown Crossing without Filene's.

Boston is still my favorite city in the USofA. So much culture, and great food. I hope you went to the Union Oyster House. It 's the oldest established restaurant in the USofA.

My good friend from Roxbury said the same thing.

[Germanauto]

Last time I walked Newbury st. was amazed...it was like Rodeo Dr without all the phony bs. Boston has a lovely vibe; love the culture, walkability, history, great universities in the area etc.