Visiting Boston - want to sail??

[mdelcharco]

Hello! My wife and I are visiting Boston this April and I thought maybe I'd put in a post to see if anyone want's crew for a sail!

So, is there any sailing going on in April (16th-ish?).

Also - are there any can't miss museums or resturants??

Michael
"Miss-Keeter"
Typhoon

[Stan W.]

Most Boston folks consider April to be boat maintenance month and are not in the water that early, but maybe you'll get lucky.

If your interests run to things nautical, you cannot top the USS Constitution.

Most Boston restaurants are over-priced, lousy or both. Best bet would be one of the small family run restaurants in the North End (Boston's version of Little Italy or North Beach). They are a hoot, the food is delicious and the prices are reasonable (at least by Boston standards).

[joe baltar]

My first choice in eating for this transplanted Boston boy now living in Maine who grew up in the West End of Boston, birthplace of Leonard Nimoy, who learned to sail at Community Boating on the Charles River is Doyles restaurant in Jamaica Plain. Home for the former Irish Mafia in Boston, i.e. President Kennedy, Mayor White, etc one is greeted by life size murals of Boston's political greats over the bar and in the dining area. Very informal.laid back dining with great food and big portions. A neighborhood restaurant where all the local unintelligencia hang out. Who knows you may sit in the same booth as President Kennedy did when he hung out here with other politicos.
My second choice would be to go to Hanover street in the North"gentrified" End as suggested in the previous posts and try some of the cold Calamari dishes. Give yourself
ample time to walk this neighborhood and check out the side street neighborhood grocery stores filled with the scent of opened spice bins and hanging genoa salami rolls. Bring plenty of money to spend in the pastry shops buying canoli's and lobster tail pastries and freshly baked breads.
Boston has arguably the world's greatest collection of Museums starting with the world class Boston Museum of Fine Arts on Hunington ave with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum two blocks away on the Fenway. There is the Institute of Contemporary Art on Boylston street and Harvard University has three world class museums on campus: the Fogg Art Museum, the Busch Reisinger and the Peabody.

[Neil Gordon]

I like to be in the water before the deadline for income tax, but that doesn't mean I actually sail in April. Launching by April 15 makes me one of the first boats in... but I only do what needs to be done on the hard before launching. Typical timing is to take the cover off on the first sunny/warm weekend day in March, and the pre-launch tasks are pretty much limited to greasing seacocks, waxing the hull and painting the bottom. All else is left for in the water.

By the time the boat is rigged and stocked and ready to sail and the water is actually warm enough to make it less than lethal if you fall overboard, it's early May.

USS Constitution is a must see as was mentioned. It's walkable from the North End. Otherwise, what you do in Boston depends on your interests. The art museum is good. What part of town are you staying in?

[bilofsky]

There are a couple of quintessential Boston colonial dining experiences that I can recommend.

If you like the touristy market sort of thing, go down to Quincy Market (a short walk from the aforementioned North End) and browse the pushcards and shops for souvenirs. There's a bunch of food stalls inside the market building, but the place to eat is Durgin Park, one building over if I recall right. Big slabs of prime rib or whatever else catches your fancy, and you'll probably have to share one of the long tables with some other tourists or, if you get lucky, natives. Unfortunately the efficient but rude waitresses have gotten younger and more polite over the years - nothing good lasts. Have the indian pudding with ice cream for dessert. It's authentic, not delicious.

Or there's always the Union Oyster House a block away, if you prefer seafood. Another traditional place (but not as unique as Durgin Park).

If you have a car and don't mind a substantial drive, I like Longfellow's Wayside Inn. This is an authentic Revolutionary War era inn and a real colonial experience. Again, the cuisine is more authentic than gourmet, but heck, there's not many places you can get a real glass of grog any more. Get there while it's still light and walk in the gardens. If you can find the secret drawer in the rolltop desk, you can read the notes people have left, and leave one of your own. Let me know if mine's still in there.

- Walt Bilofsky
(who used to sail a 14' sloop on Spy Pond in Arlington. Mass.)