Some fun (and almost-always FREE!) activities in and around Boston (by season):
SUMMERTIME IN AND AROUND BOSTON
The Museum of Fine Arts -
"Suggested Price" entrance every Wednesday at 4 PM
(read: you don't have to pay if you don't want to)
"Suggested Price" entrance every Wednesday at 4 PM
(read: you don't have to pay if you don't want to)
The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) and South Boston -
The ICA offers free visits every Thursday from 5-9 PM (I probably wouldn't have paid the $15 to enter the one-floor exhibit); The annual Harborwalk Sounds is also held at the ICA. It was at one such free performance that I discovered the talented mandolin-playing bluegrass singer-songwriter Sierra Hull, who was a student at the Berklee College of Music.
Copley Square and the Boston Central Public Library -
Farmers Market - every Tuesday and Friday from 11-6; free lunchtime concerts in the Boston Public Library courtyard every Friday in summer
Dance for World Community Festival @ Harvard - Free and awesome.
Top: Contemporary Anikai Dance @ the Sanctuary Theater
Bottom: Salsa Y Control Dance Group; Neena Gulati and Triveni Ensemble
(Click here for more info about the festival)
Fête de la Musique Festival @ Harvard Square -
A free all-day outdoor live music festival in the heart of Harvard, typically held in June; featuring heartfelt French/Haitian poesie interposed with Spanish singing (top center)
Top: Contemporary Anikai Dance @ the Sanctuary Theater
Bottom: Salsa Y Control Dance Group; Neena Gulati and Triveni Ensemble
(Click here for more info about the festival)
Fête de la Musique Festival @ Harvard Square -
A free all-day outdoor live music festival in the heart of Harvard, typically held in June; featuring heartfelt French/Haitian poesie interposed with Spanish singing (top center)
Earthworks Boston -
One summer Sunday morning, I volunteered at Earthworks Boston to help harvest some of the fruit trees around Boston for charity. Thanks to the civic-minded city planners, there are many fruit trees and shrubs planted all over Boston for the FREE enjoyment of the people. My group spent most of the morning picking sour cherries and white and red currants. Almost all of the fruits collected (in particular the sour cherries) were donated to a non-profit restaurant in Dorchester; they'd use them to make pies for the homeless.
Juan Sebastián de Elcano -
Docked at the Boston Harbor near the World Trade Center from Jun 16-21, '10, the 340' four-mast top sail schooner is a Spanish Navy sailing training ship and one of the biggest and oldest (since 1927) sailing ships still afloat. Free visit on select times/days.
Fourth of July Festivities @ Boston Common
One summer Sunday morning, I volunteered at Earthworks Boston to help harvest some of the fruit trees around Boston for charity. Thanks to the civic-minded city planners, there are many fruit trees and shrubs planted all over Boston for the FREE enjoyment of the people. My group spent most of the morning picking sour cherries and white and red currants. Almost all of the fruits collected (in particular the sour cherries) were donated to a non-profit restaurant in Dorchester; they'd use them to make pies for the homeless.
Juan Sebastián de Elcano -
Docked at the Boston Harbor near the World Trade Center from Jun 16-21, '10, the 340' four-mast top sail schooner is a Spanish Navy sailing training ship and one of the biggest and oldest (since 1927) sailing ships still afloat. Free visit on select times/days.
Fourth of July Festivities @ Boston Common
Bunker Hill Monument
Misc. Summer @ Boston, Cambridge, Dorchester and Somerville -
Featuring the James Blake House, the oldest house in Boston's Edward Everett Square in Dorchester (said to date back to 1661), Shakespeare on the Common, Haymarket near the North End district in Boston, and rocking Haitian dance at the Dance Complex in Central Square in Cambridge
FALL IN BOSTON AND CAMBRIDGE
The Clover Food Lab located @ 7 Holyoke Street, Cambridge, in Harvard Square was a gem of a find. Its egg and eggplant sandwich ($5.31 each) was delicious. I like its concept - good food and no-frills; the owners of this fast-food joint started their food business with a food truck and used Twitter to market their whereabouts and daily menu. It worked BIG time and they grew a loyal following in Cambridge. They continue to use Twitter to market, with each branch having their own twitter account - see this example for their Harvard Square branch: http://twitter.com/cloverHSQ
WINTERTIME IN BOSTON AND MALDEN
I have to say walking across the frozen lake in Boston Common brought out the inner child in me. I had never seen anything like it before. I giggled when I first stepped on the ice. When I started walking, very slowly of course, I was both thrilled and frightened at the same time (never mind that fearless little kids were skating around me). I was all wide-eyed and smiling. The fun ended as soon as I heard a cracking sound nearby - in a heartbeat, I skidded straight back to land!
