Boston: Things To Do

ATTRACTIONS

• Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) - 465 Huntington Ave. Avenue of The Arts (617/267-9300). Great art, great gift shop, great food. Cost: $5 for students. TIP: General admission to the MFA is free every Wednesday from 4pm to 9:45pm
  
  
• Fenway Park - 4 Yawkey Way (617/267-1700). Revered home of beloved Sox and Green Monster. Cost: $18+
  Tickets in Boston
  
  
• Faneuil Hall - (617/242-5675). Shop 'til you drop in historic setting.
  
  
• U.S.S. Constitution - Charlestown Navy Yard (617/426-1812). Oldest warship in world; cool stuff to do!
  
  
• JFK Library - Columbia Point (617/929-4500). Kennedy's life relived through many media. Cost: $6 for students
  
  
• Bunker Hill Monument - Monument Square Charlestown (617/242-5641). One of the Revolutionary Battlegrounds. Cost: Free
  
  
• Whale Watching - (617/973-5281). From April through October, the New England Aquarium’s Voyager II travels about 25 miles from Boston to Stellwagen Bank, the summer feeding ground for humpback, finback and minke whales.

EVENTS

• Apr. 15 -- Thank goodness for local silversmith Paul Revere, who hopped on a horse the night of April 18 and, with the help of signal lanterns hung in the Old North Church by sexton Robert Newman, clip-clopped across the countryside warning neighbors to put down their quills and put up a fight because those feisty, fierce Britons had arrived. Every year the Old North Church commemorates the event that changed the course of our country with a reenactment of the lantern hanging on the night of Easter Sunday. Descendants of Paul Revere and Robert Newman typically show up for the service, as does a stirring fife-and-drum band.
  
  
• October -- Witch Central You might have the urge to pity pretty little Salem, Massachusetts. The devastating events of 1692 -- innocents accused of witchcraft, wrongful hangings, families destroyed -- is unquestionably this community's tragic claim to fame. Thus near Halloween -- Salem dons a celebratory cloak of Haunted Happenings, including parades, costume balls and psychic fairs, as well as a host of other events. Before you don your black hat, however, stop one should be the Salem Witch Museum, a moving exhibit about the hysteria of 1692, and its aftermath.