Boston, Massachusetts

travel guide // my collection of Boston-ish sights & eats

my diary of visits—

Summer 2023: met my husband’s extended family who all live in a suburb of Boston (Chelmsford), and got to also catch up with one of his close friends for a day in downtown Boston (check out our day trip in this post: Boston Proper in 24,000 steps ; we hit a lot of the destinations listed below in here!)

Winter 2024: quick trip for family

---

Welcome to the log/travel guide/list of sorts/whatever-you-want-to-call-it of all the places in and around Boston [“Boston-ish”] that I’ve gotten to experience (with a hand-drawn map to boot! 🤭)

CHARLESTOWN

{father-in-law Bill’s hometown}

destinations

City Square Park // (Summer 2023) it’s located at the south-most corner of Charlestown, right where the N. Washington St. ends. It is such a quaint green space with the typical park amenities: metal park benches, trees, etc. 10/10 a pleasant outdoor destination.

Bunker Hill Monument // (Summer 2023) (kind of looks like the Washington Monument on the National Mall in D.C. to be honest) commemorates the battle where the New England soldiers faced the British army for the first time on June 17, 1775. The result? 1000 out of the 2,400 British soldiers were wounded/killed😦

Charles River Dam Bridge // (Summer 2023) such a pretty walk! On one side you’ll see a lot of buildings that look like they’re from an academic campus/hold important people who are doing important things, and the other side is the harbor water.

food food**

**Cathzine Lexicon defined here

Warren Tavern // (Summer 2023) Sean and I, along with our friends Armiew and Ben and Hazel, stopped here for an appetizer & drinks break during our non-stop walking tour of Boston Proper. If you dine inside, you’ll get pre-revolutionary-war America, if you dine outside, you’ll get European-outdoor-cafe-cobblestone. Both are pretty darn nice.

NORTH END

{Little Italy}

destinations

Old North Church // (Summer 2023) this was the launching point for Paul Revere’s revolutionary ride (say what!). There’s an option to tour inside, but you can also just take in the ambiance of the large courtyard dotted with street performers/craft stands.

The Paul Revere House // (Summer 2023) Paul Revere owned this home from 1770 to 1800. There’s a tour for this that is also offered ✨

schnackos**

**Cathzine Lexicon defined here

Dolce // (Summer 2023) okay, this one kind of falls into the category of “food food” because owner Frank DePasquale also sells sandwiches/flatbread/etc. along with what we were there for—the gelato 🤤 BUT honestly when I was there, my eyes only saw gelato + cannoli + an espresso beverage menu, so my brain just labels Dolce as a dessert place. The gelato was good here, but I still preferred the one I had in Eataly. Would totally come back to try their food foods.

DOWNTOWN BOSTON

{like, the real real Boston}

destinations

EY-Parthenon // (Summer 2023) just a building located halfway up Atlantic Ave. with an archway that opens up into the Boston Harbor and a large American flag hanging in the middle catching the light. You have to take a gander, it’s absolutely beautiful!

Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum // (Summer 2023) it’s a whole museum-gift shop-tea room experience they’ve got going on here. Quite the operation! I love that they allow you to pick and choose which activities, so you don’t have to do all of it if you don’t want to. We came for the Tea Room experience where you get to sample the 4-5 teas that were supposedly thrown overboard during the Boston Tea Party in 1773. Right outside the window of the Tea Room you can watch people throwing fake tea overboard as part of the guided tour. 😆

food food

Faneuil Hall Marketplace // (Summer 2023) Possibly the most-recommended place whenever I mentioned I was visiting downtown Boston. You’ll hear people refer to it as “Quincy Market” as well, which is just the indoor food hall that’s part of the marketplace, so don’t let the other moniker confuse you! Other than getting some noms at Quincy Market, you can also browse the stands of over 40 local vendors.

Clover Food Lab // (Summer 2023) oh my goodness. I’m a girl who always needs meat in her meals, but somehow there wasn’t a single minute where I felt like I missed the meat at all (but make sure you do come knowing that this place is vegetarian)! On top of that, the fries are so satisfying. It’s the mushy kind, but I don’t discriminate. The interior is very no-frills and I love how they provide different temperature drinking water spouts to encourage customers to bring their own water bottles and refill.

schnackos

George Howell Coffee // (Summer 2023) this coffee shop just oooozes “we brew only quality stuff here.” You walk in and you just know they would slap Starbucks out of business so hard! The atmosphere isn’t too loud, which makes it perfect for working, and the baristas are endowed with great latte art talent.

Bakey Babka // (Summer 2023) I just had to check this place out after seeing that they sold a variety of sweet rolls (it reminded me so much of the schnecke baked goods shop in Berlin, Zeit für Brot). Their babka was not dry and very generous on the filling (some of the best I’ve had). They’ve essentially defined the constitutions of a perfect babka.💥I would prescribe any babka-hater to come here to get their problem fixed (it worked on my husband!).

BEACON HILL

destinations

Charles St. // (Summer 2023) a shopping street that also has a lot of European-cobblestone-worn-brick character! It is one of the best places to buy something cute and local in Boston, so check it out if you’re looking for a super cute strip of boutiques and specialty restaurants!

Beacon Hill Books & Café // (Summer 2023) is 100% one of those said cute shops on Charles Street. The first floor is a café with coffee and light bites (you need to make a reservation for a spot) and floors 2-5 sell various genres of books, with the top floor being all children’s books! Super aesthetic, and I spotted lots of people dressed up all pretty.

Public Garden // (Summer 2023) at the end of Charles St. is the Public Garden, which is right next to Boston Common. The Public Garden differs from Boston Common in the sense that there are more plants and greenery (like trees and bushes and stuff). It even has a small pond in the middle with a scenic bridge where they offer Swan Boats to ride!

Boston Common // (Summer 2023) the city’s largest green park, the layout and vibes are very similar to the Oval on The Ohio State University’s campus (which I know everyone knows about 😉). The entrance corners are laden with food trucks selling popcorn, hotdogs, funnel cakes, all that fun fair food, so I guess, you could come hungry? The smells are tantalizing!

BACK BAY

destinations

Beacon St. // (Summer 2023) another great destination for window shopping (or actual shopping). It’s the heart & soul of the Back Bay East/Back Bay area and houses a mix of local boutiques and mall brands in its many storefronts. At the end of this street you’ll also be close to the Prudential Center!

Prudential Center // (Summer 2023) chillin’ at the end of Beacon St., this is a large indoor mall with the storefronts sporting middle-to-high-end brands. But most importantly… it houses Eataly! (more on that under food food)

food food

Eataly // (Summer 2023) yeah, I know, I know… they’ve got locations all over the world and they aren’t unique to Boston, but don’t let that be the reason why you miss out on the opportunity to blow. Your. Culinary. MIND. We dined in La Piazza (fresh crudo, charcuterie, homemade pasta) for dinner & a dessert night cap, and separately tried some of their sandwiches (not pictured) & pastries a different day. PHENOMENAL.

La Piazza

this was the pastry enjoyed on a different day

CHINATOWN

food food

Hei La Moon Restaurant // (Summer 2023) my dim sum cadence is typically a once-a-year frequency, so checking it off my 2023 to-do list in Boston! They had a huge bilingual menu with a decent amount of pictures (but still not enough for me to not be 100% sure they server was bringing me the correct dish 😅 I know I’m a noob). I always love the complimentary tea they serve at dim sum restaurants (anyone know what kind of tea it is? Please let me know!).

---

now for some suburb finds 😎

METHUEN

{north east-ish; Auntie Linda’s stomping grounds}

food food

The Irish Cottage // (Winter 2024) Auntie Linda introduced us to this gem—the first authentic Irish restaurant and pub in Methuen (the owners are from Sligo & Galway)! The food is delicious, the live music is 👌, and the building itself, from head to toe, is dressed in everything Irish traditional. The portions are hearty, and the dishes were each, to-a-tee, perfect.

Mann Orchards // (Summer 2023) family owned since 1877, they bring a rural coziness to the town with how they stock their shelves with local produce, fresh apples from their orchard, and homemade bakery goodies like cookies and whoopie pies and fruit pies. I thoroughly enjoyed their cottage pie, and their chocolate chip cookie is my husband’s family’s weakness (classic, soft & chewy, a dessert epitome)!

LOWELL

{we were visiting friends here}

schnackos

Coffee and Cotton // (Summer 2023) located in Mill No. 5, an old manufacturing mill-turned-shopping-mall, it was gosh darn DIFFICULT to finally find it! [tl;dr, take the elevator to the 5th floor, don’t take the stairs (the door is locked), and if that doesn’t work, call them for help 🙂] Once we finally made it, it was quite a gem of a place. Lots of seating options and free WiFi, if I was visiting longer, I’d totally enjoy working here!

CHELMSFORD

{mother-in-law Michelle’s hometown ✨}

food food

Andiamo Restaurant + Bar // (Summer 2023) my first time meeting all of Sean’s Aunts and Uncles on his mom’s side happened here! They have a couple of locations in the Chelmsford area. The food was delicious, even though my tummy was fluttery from being mildly nervous 🤪

schnackos

Chelmsford Creamery // (Summer 2023) had to visit this place for two reasons: (1) my friend Rebecca’s family opened this shop in the late 1950’s, (2) it sparks childhood nostalgia for Michelle (to think years later I’d marry into a family where they had frequented my friend’s family creamery!). Chelmsford Creamery is the kind of quaint, neighborhood cold-sweet-treat shop you can always be in the mood for. Complete with a casual walk-up window, a menu that won’t break the bank, and heavy-handed scoops where the “single scoop” on the menu ends up looking like a mini skyscraper in your hand.

pictured: us all holding single scoops… that look like triples

~ cath!!