A Boston Weekend

by Mitch Kaplan

What to do? What to do?

No, no—that’s not the question. The questions is this: what to do first?

Ah, that’s the trouble with Boston. Just too many things to do. Especially if you’re only going to be there for a short time. Like a weekend. Which is what we’d scheduled. Just a weekend.

So, what to do first? A quick stroll along the Charles River?

Okay.

No wait. What about a bike ride along the river?

Okay.

No wait. What about a sightseeing cruise up the river?

Okay.

No wait, How about we go for a swim?

Okay.

No wait. We’re too tired for all that. How about we just go to downstairs and get an ice cream?

Done.

Boston presents other pleasant dilemmas, of course, and another one is where to stay.

We chose the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge for several reasons. But, primarily because they offer this Summerfest program that not only afforded all those activity choices right outside the door, but it offered them free as part of their weekend family package.

What’s more, if you book a river-view room, simply watching the traffic in all its forms (boats, cars, bikes, pedestrians, airplanes, river paddlers and, way over there in the distance, subway trains) can entertain a younger child for hours.

Boston offers a trove of child-friendly diversions. And, no, there isn’t any way you can stuff all of them into a weekend. Not even a long weekend. So choices must be made.

From where we were lodging, taking advantage of that boat ride on the Charles was a logical place to start.

The Charles River Boat Company dock is within five minutes’ walk of the hotel. And, better still for shopaholics, or snack-grabbers, it stands just outside the CambridgeSide Galleria shopping mall. Boats leave hourly for the one-hour, narrated ride, and apparently are quite popular. Our Saturday morning cruise was filled almost to capacity.

The rather handsome young man who narrated the tour—"There’s Beacon Hill, Esplanade Park, the Back Bay, Boston University, MIT, Harvard, Fenway Park"—managed to pepper his facts, figures, and history—plus hawking drinks and snacks—with a few personal anecdotes and some flirting with a group of high school girls, achieving a nice personalization that kept us amused.

On a sunny, warm weekend morning, the Charles is rife with canoeists, kayakers, pleasure boaters and sightseeing vessels of all kinds. That latter category includes the famous Boston Duck Tours in which you’re transported all around town—on land and water—in an authentic, renovated World War II amphibious landing vehicle. An excellent way in which to get a unique overview of the city.

And no Boston visit is quite complete without a ride on the famous Swan Boats at Boston Common—where you’ll also find the Frog Pond spray pool providing cool relief on hot days.

Of course, your sightseeing choices with children will necessarily be skewed by your kids’ ages and interests. We were sticking close to our Sonesta home, and so our Sunday morning was spent at the Museum of Science, which sits only 100 yards from the hotel. These days, most major cities have an excellent science museum, but somehow we never tire of exploring them. In Boston, some of the more novel science museum entries include a way-cool planetarium, a butterfly garden, a 3-D Theater and infatuating live presentations.

If you’re traveling with older offspring, explore the Freedom Trail. It’s an easy thing to do: you just follow the red-brick walk as it wends its way through town to historic sites that include museums, churches, meeting houses, burying grounds, parks, a ship, and historic markers that bring the American Revolution to life.

Yes, the walk is 2.5-miles long, and you might get complaints about sore feet, but that’s why the hotel has a heated swimming pool (including organized kids’ swim activities at certain hours) and Jacuzzi. Sweet relief.

And, you can gain more sweet relief with another one of those free ice creams.

Then, borrow a free loaner bike and tootle along the riverbank for a while. It’s all good.

The Royal Sonesta offers a scheduled shuttle service that delivers guests to highlight locations like Harvard Square, Kendall Square and Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall. But, kids tend to really enjoy riding on different kinds of transport, which means its worthwhile to hop on the subway (the "T," as the Bostonians say) to reach some destinations. You’ll have to walk ten minutes or so to get to the nearest T station, but it’s worth it.

The city is rife with culture, of course, and our weekend took us to a classical music concert at Harvard. Among the museums that demand attention?