Anything cool or exciting in Boston?

I just found out this morning that I'm flying out to Boston a business trip and there's a slim chance I'll be staying overnight this Thursday. I had a similar trip back in August to Rochester,NY and I'm hoping some fellower GWJers can make some recommendations what's worth checking out in Boston. Anything cool that a geek with a few hours to spend should check out? Any awesome gaming/anime/tech stores to leave me drooling? Any excellent restaurants that I have to check out?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Traffic is cool... there is lots of it in Boston.

Jillian's is right across from Fenway Park. Old-school arcade with pool tables, dancing on the top floor, restuarant on the bottom floor. It's been about 2 years since I was there, but I enjoyed it quite a bit when I last went. It should have a bunch of young engineers there on Thursday night, some of whom are my co-workers. I would meet you there, but family is keeping me busy that night. I don't know of many other places: I'm not much of a Boston-ite.

Anything cool that a geek with a few hours to spend should check out?

Well there is the Museum of Science. That is a nice stop for a geek. Also the New England Aquarium is nice, but a bit small.

Resaurants. Hmm what is your favorite type of food? The asian food in Boston will kick the Plum House's arse. There are great Thai and Japanese places in Boston. Ginza and Brown Sugar come to mind. If you like ribs get up to Davis square and check out Red Bones. And there is always the seafood places.

And I would recommend the MFA and Isabella Gardner house for any art geek.

Faneuil Hall - the food court and shopping area - is fun. But across the street from it is the old meeting hall itself. Take the main stairs (or the elevator) up to the top floor, that's the museum and meeting hall of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, founded in 1638. It's fascinating. They have all sorts of weapons, including some pretty famous ones, and off in a side gallery, there are all sorts of unique items gifted to the Company by members. One is a pocket diary from the civil war, open to the pages covering the initial day or two of Gettysburg - where the bearer was wounded. And much more besides. Small, but enjoyable museum.

There's a library that's not open to the public that is lines with old hats, caps, muskets, swords, all sorts of unbelievably rare militaria. If you ask nicely, you might convince the attendant to let you peek in back for a few minutes.

http://www.ahacsite.org/headquarters...

Mayfield wrote:

Well there is the Museum of Science.

How could I have forgotten?! The MoS has a Science of Star Wars exhibit going on right now. You can learn all about midichlorians!

In all honesty, it was a really cool exhibit. Most of it was the application of science in the inspiriation of Star Wars and the inspiriation of Star Wars in technology. They had a good amount of very cool items from the movies, including the actual puppet Yoda used in ESB. If you can get tickets, I would recommend it pretty highly, from a geek point of view. I also suggest the PDA guided aspect of the tour: it adds a lot to the experience.

Robear wrote:

But across the street from it is the old meeting hall itself. Take the main stairs (or the elevator) up to the top floor, that's the museum and meeting hall of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, founded in 1638.
http://www.ahacsite.org/headquarters...

I completely forgot about this. He said geek though not War geek!

Also the tour of the old Constitution is good for the War geek!

They have Fenway Park tours, and Boston Beerworks is right next to the ball park. See if the Bruins are playing at the Garden - Err, the Bank North Center. Faneuil Hall is noce, too.

I think Fletcher lives just outside Boston, he's pretty entertaining

Booze. Historical crap. Empty baseball stadium in the winter. Take your pick!

[quote="Atras"]...Science of Star Wars exhibit ...[/url]
There is science in Star Wars? Hmh...

I second Faneuil Hall. Good restaurants and fun shopping. And the New England Seaquarium is within walking distance.

Certis stole my post. Eminent domain in action, I guess.

If you need a break from geekdom and would like to slip into something a little more sultry, see if The Twinemen are playing any local gigs while you're there, great band.

Drive south to Fall River and tour the USS Massachusetts (Battleship), The USS Lionfish (Submarine), the USS Joseph Kennedy (Destroyer that was used in the filming of 13 days), and the US PT Boat Museam.

Cheers! Say hi to Nawmy for me!

Go down to Southie and beat up some smaht kids! Sadly it appears that Masshole.com is no more, but it might be web archived somewhere...

Masshole.com

That was a great site! Too bad Boston drivers do not compare to New Yorkers though.

And if you do go to the Bank North Center (wasn't it the Fleet Center yesterday?) go to the New England Sports Museum. Great Fenway, Old Celtic, and Bruins stuff.

At this point you are going to need a week LocknLoad!

Yeah I'm into my 12-hour day week, so if you drive West a bit you can watch me bite people's heads off and stumble around in an exhausted, drunken haze. Fun! Although I'm actually an hour or so outside of the city so it's a bit of a hike for an overnight trip. MoS is cool, but as far as eateries in the city, I have no recommendations. I honestly avoid the city as much as possible.

Speakeasy Stage is doing Kiss of the Spider Woman. I know a few people in it, and Speakeasy always puts on a good show, so check it out if you can.

I am moving into my new apartment thurdays, you could always come help with that! I'm not even a 10 minute drive from the city now.

I love Boston. My office's HQ is on South Street. I work in East Hartford, CT, so I don't get there very often. But, from the Boston office's cafeteria, we have a great view of the Big Dig fiasco.