Boston General Tips by zChris

Favorite Thing: Experience Boston's cultural scene. Boston has a wealth to offer in the arts, including museums, performance halls, operas, ballets...you name it. It's been called the cultural capital of America more than once. A great experience is seeing one of Boston's two orhestras, the Boston Symphony Orchestra or the world-famous Boston Pops, at century-old Symphony Hall. In the summer months, you can catch their concerts free and outdoors at the Hatch Shell alongside the Charles River. If it's opera you're into, the Opera House on Huntington is long gone, but the smaller Opera House on Washington Street is being expanded to once again give the Boston Lyric Opera a home. The Boston Ballet often plays at the Boston Arts Centre or the Wang Centre for the Performing Arts. The Theatre District holds the city's performance halls, including the Colonial, Wilbur, Shubert, Majestic, and Wang Theatres, among others. More avant-garde performances include the famous Blue Man Group at the Charles Playhouse or a concert at Harbourlights (now BankBoston Pavillion) along Boston Harbour.


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Fondest Memory: Holidays in Boston. There's something about a fine old city in the wintertime...the bustle of shoppers on Washington Street, the wreaths and trees on the old department stores, the expensive coats that Beacon Hill families don. There is a certain magic to it all. Even beyond the Christmas/Hanukah season, Boston in winter is special. The graceful trees lose their leaves to uncover stately rowhouses, kids play hockey in the Public Garden or skate gracefully on the Frog Pond in the Common. In the Back Bay, lights in the trees play gracefully down the street as people hurry to catch their train home to cozy houses in the quaint villages west of the city.

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Fondest Memory: Back Bay, early evening, winter. The sun is setting and lights are turning on. Cars whoosh by, people are everywhere. It's just a dazzling combination of archtecture and people and lights...see for yourself:

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Favorite Thing: Boston's age relative to other American cities and it's dynamic economy allow for some dramatic architectural juxtapositions highlighting the contrast between the old and the new. In this shot, a 19th century warehouse with subtle detailing is striking rendered against the harsh geometric modernity of a distant skyscraper. More poignant scenes abound for the less discerning eye. The Old State House (1711) crouched beneath the overwhelming towers at State and Congress Streets is a perennial favourite of tourists and photographers alike. The nearby posing of Faneuil Hall's (1742) cupola against the glass-and-steel skyscape of State Street and Government Center is another well-documented example of this phenomenon.


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Favorite Thing: Boston's many open spaces are replete with festivals, especially during the summer. The big one, of course, is the Independence Day concert by the Boston Pops at the Hatch Shell along the riverfront Esplanade, an event attended by many thousands who delight in the evening's culmination with fireworks set to the 1812 Overture. The cultural phenomenon of arriving ludicrously early for this event to claim large swathes of lawn close to the shell has been postponed indefinitely, however, in lieu of security concerns (the same is true for boats in the river).

Other prominent festivals include First Night during New Year's Eve, Chowderfest, the celebration of the region's famous coup, the Scooper Bowl, a showcase of New England ice cream companies' new flavours, and my personal favourite, the Jazz and Blues Festival, held during the summer at locations throughout the city but notably in Copley Square at which this photo was taken. Warm sunlight will give a honey glow to the surrounding buildings as sonorous saxophones drift through Back Bay streets- the perfect way to culminate a sweltering summer's day.


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