Visitor Information--You'll probably want to begin exploring at a visitor information center. The staff members are knowledgeable and helpful, and you can pick up free maps, brochures, listings of special exhibits, and other materials.
The Boston National Historic Park Visitor Center, 15 State St. (tel. 617/242-5642; www.nps.gov/bost), across the street from the Old State House and the State Street T station, is a good place to start your excursion. National Park Service rangers staff the center, dispense information, and lead free tours of the Freedom Trail. The audiovisual show about the trail provides basic information on 16 historic sites. The center is accessible by stairs and ramps and has restrooms and comfortable chairs. Open daily from 9am to 5pm except January 1, Thanksgiving Day, and December 25.
The Freedom Trail, a line of red paint or painted brick on or in the sidewalk, begins at the Boston Common Information Center, 146 Tremont St., on the Common. The center is open Monday through Saturday from 8:30am to 5pm, Sunday from 9am to 5pm. The Prudential Information Center, on the main level of the Prudential Center, 800 Boylston St., is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 6pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 6pm. The Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau (tel. 888/SEE-BOSTON or 617/536-4100; www.bostonusa.com) operates both centers.
There's a small information booth at Faneuil Hall Marketplace between Quincy Market and the South Market Building. It's outdoors and staffed in the spring, summer, and fall Monday through Saturday from 10am to 6pm, Sunday from noon to 6pm.
In Cambridge, there's an information kiosk (tel. 800/862-5678 or 617/497-1630) in the heart of Harvard Square, near the T entrance at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, John F. Kennedy Street, and Brattle Street. It's open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 5pm, Sunday from 1 to 5pm.
Publications--The city's newspapers offer the most up-to-date information about events in the area. The "Calendar" section of the Thursday Boston Globe lists festivals, concerts, dance and theater performances, street fairs, films, and speeches. The Friday Boston Herald has a similar, smaller insert called "Scene." Both papers briefly list events in their weekend editions. The arts-oriented Boston Phoenix, published on Thursday, has extensive entertainment and restaurant listings.
Where, a monthly magazine available free at most hotels throughout the city, lists information about shopping, nightlife, attractions, and current shows at museums and art galleries. Newspaper boxes around both cities dispense free copies of the weekly Tab, which lists neighborhood-specific event information; Stuff@Night, a Phoenix offshoot with selective listings and arts coverage; and the Improper Bostonian, with extensive event and restaurant listings. Available on newsstands, Boston magazine is a lifestyle-oriented monthly with cultural and restaurant listings.
City Layout--When Puritan settlers established Boston in 1630, it was one-third the size it is now. Much of the city reflects the original layout, a seemingly haphazard plan that can disorient even longtime residents. Old Boston abounds with alleys, dead ends, one-way streets, streets that change names, and streets named after extinct geographical features. On the plus side, every "wrong" turn downtown, in the North End, or on Beacon Hill is a chance to see something interesting that you might otherwise have missed.
The most prominent feature of downtown Boston is Boston Common. Its borders are Park Street, which is 1 block long (but looms large in the geography of the T), and Beacon, Charles, Boylston, and Tremont streets. Another important street is Massachusetts Avenue, or "Mass. Ave.," as it's almost always called. Mass. Ave. covers 9 miles, from Roxbury through the South End, the Back Bay, Cambridge, and Arlington, ending in Lexington.
Nineteenth-century landfill projects transformed much of the city's landscape, altering the shoreline and creating the Back Bay, where the streets proceed in orderly parallel lines. After you've spent some frustrating time in the older part of the city, that simple plan will seem ingenious. The streets even go in alphabetical order, starting at the Public Garden with Arlington, then Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester, and Hereford (and then Mass. Ave.).
Finding an Address--There's no rhyme or reason to the street pattern, compass directions are virtually useless, and there aren't enough street signs. The best way to find an address is to call ahead and ask for directions, including landmarks, or leave extra time for wandering around. If the directions involve a T stop, be sure to ask which exit to use -- most stations have more than one.
Street Maps--Free maps of downtown Boston and the rapid-transit lines are available at visitor information centers around the city. Where magazine, available free at most hotels, contains maps of central Boston and the T.
Streetwise Boston ($6.95) and Artwise Boston ($6.95) are sturdy, laminated maps available at most bookstores. Less detailed but more fun is MapEasy's GuideMap to Boston ($6.95), a hand-drawn map of the central areas and major attractions.
It's a Big, Big, Big, Big Dig--In a city with glorious water views, historic architecture, and gorgeous parks, the most prominent physical feature is a giant highway construction project. The Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project, better known as the Big Dig, is a $14.6 billion (yes, billion!) undertaking. It's in the process of moving I-93 underground -- without closing the road through downtown Boston. The first major phase of the Big Dig connected the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) directly to the airport. It also encompasses the lovely new Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, over the Charles River north of North Station.
If it stays on schedule, the Big Dig will be completed in early 2005. The timeline for 2004 includes demolition of the existing elevated highway. Meanwhile, it's causing countless traffic nightmares, fulfilling millions of Tonka truck fantasies, and making engineering history. Many of the techniques are so unusual that construction professionals come from all over the world just to see them in action. To learn more, visit the website (www.bigdig.com), or just walk around downtown. Complete and ongoing work near the surface is often visible from the street, causing pedestrian and automotive gridlock. Soon you'll see why I want you to leave the car at home.
