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LewieP and LewieP's Mummy in Boston Tuesday before PAX East

LewieP's MummyLewieP's Mummy Registered User regular
edited February 2010 in PAX Archive
So, me and LewieP will arrive on the Monday late afternoon, and once we've unpacked and stuff, any suggestions for what we can do on Monday evening or Tuesday day time? We're on the Magical Mystery Tour, the Pre-PAX Dinner and maybe the pub crawl on the Thursday night (at least Lewie will pub crawl, I'll probably just go to one pub, then sleep). We have no idea what to do/where to go. All/any suggestions are very welcome! Thank you.

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    atiariatiari Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    It may be worth seeing if you can catch a tour of the freedom trail. Been a while since I've done it (about 15 years), but it was interesting nonetheless. Granted it would mean a lot more to an American and less a Brit, but it will still put perspective on what people go through to fight for what they believe in.

    Plus it'll be good exercise XD

    (Edit: found a link for you to look at if you are interested http://store.thefreedomtrail.org/publictours.aspx)

    atiari on
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    VisionOfClarityVisionOfClarity Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    The trolley tours are a good intro into the city as well. I brought my sister on one when she came to visit and she was a too cool for everything 14 year old who had to admit it was fun.

    VisionOfClarity on
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    GundabadGundabad PAX East & Unplugged Tabletop Manager NJRegistered User regular
    edited February 2010
    I have not seen a single person mention this yet, so here goes. My wife and I were in Boston last New Years Eve. It turns out it is incredibly dumb as nothing is open on New Years Day! The only thing we could find that was open was this interactive Egyptian Pyramid adventure called "Tomb", run by a company called 5 W!ts

    http://www.5-wits.com/

    It was definitely geared more towards kids but my wife and I (both 25) actually had a really fun time going through the adventure. The production values where really really high, and the adventure had some surprisingly interactive puzzles the tour group needed to figure out in order to advance, which impressed me. Overall, if you've got kids with you it's a must-stop. If you've got a lady with you, perhaps even an offbeat/funky date.

    In other news their site now says they are opening a 2nd location in the Spring, with submarine and spy themed adventures. Perhaps open in time for PAX East???

    Gundabad on
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    orangeyorangey Registered User new member
    edited February 2010
    Gundabad wrote: »
    th you it's a must-stop. If you've got a lady with you, perhaps even an offbeat/funky date.

    In other news their site now says they are opening a 2nd location in the Spring, with submarine and spy themed adventures. Perhaps open in time for PAX East???

    The second location is out in Foxboro at Patriot Place. I'm not sure if it'll be open by PAX East, but it is impossible to get there by public transportation without paying a hefty fee for a taxi.

    orangey on
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    VThornheartVThornheart Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    Aye, judging from the votes so far, we're going to be hitting very little on the freedom trail in the MMT... you'll definitely want to see some of those awesome historical sites while you're in town though! I get the feeling that both of you would get a kick out of the sights to see there!

    I'm so psyched that you guys are coming to PAX East too! Yay! It feels like it's been far too long since I've seen you both! =)

    VThornheart on
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    ZeroHourHeroZeroHourHero Allentown, PARegistered User regular
    edited February 2010
    hey, if you're not adverse to hanging out with a random person, I'm arriving monday morning and would love to do some random stuff, otherwise I'll spend 3 days aimlessly wandering around the city.

    Oh a side note, I dont know how interested you and your son are in baseball, but I intend on going for a tour of Fenway Park and a tour of the MIT campus if they dont make the cut for MMT.

    ZeroHourHero on
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    burnttoast45burnttoast45 Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    There's always the art museum, the aquarium, and the science museum. A few indoor items in case the weather is poor.

    Gundabad: Glad you enjoyed the Tomb. Planning to check it out sometime soon.

    burnttoast45 on
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    CoctopusCoctopus Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    Gundabad wrote: »
    I have not seen a single person mention this yet, so here goes. My wife and I were in Boston last New Years Eve. It turns out it is incredibly dumb as nothing is open on New Years Day! The only thing we could find that was open was this interactive Egyptian Pyramid adventure called "Tomb", run by a company called 5 W!ts

    http://www.5-wits.com/

    It was definitely geared more towards kids but my wife and I (both 25) actually had a really fun time going through the adventure. The production values where really really high, and the adventure had some surprisingly interactive puzzles the tour group needed to figure out in order to advance, which impressed me. Overall, if you've got kids with you it's a must-stop. If you've got a lady with you, perhaps even an offbeat/funky date.

    In other news their site now says they are opening a 2nd location in the Spring, with submarine and spy themed adventures. Perhaps open in time for PAX East???

    I second the suggestion of 5-wits. I've been twice and it is a really cool experience. Although I don't think I agree with the "it's for kids" bit. It really is for all ages and some of the puzzles can be a little tough, and there is always the possibility that you can "die" which results in a walk of shame out a side door apparently. It's a pretty unique thing to do.

    Coctopus on
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    LewieP's MummyLewieP's Mummy Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    hey, if you're not adverse to hanging out with a random person, I'm arriving monday morning and would love to do some random stuff, otherwise I'll spend 3 days aimlessly wandering around the city.

    Oh a side note, I dont know how interested you and your son are in baseball, but I intend on going for a tour of Fenway Park and a tour of the MIT campus if they dont make the cut for MMT.

    OK, Baseball is just Rounders for boys!

    Apart from that, we'd love to meet up and do something, as long as it doesn't involve lots of walking, as I have CFS and can't walk far without regular stops for coffee/tea/hot chocolate/beer!
    atiari wrote: »
    Plus it'll be good exercise XD

    Guess i should have said about the CFS in my OP!

    Oh, and the 5wits thing is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, shame, it looks fun.

    LewieP's Mummy on
    For all the top UK Gaming Bargains, check out SavyGamer

    For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints

    "The power of the weirdness compels me."
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    atiariatiari Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    hey, if you're not adverse to hanging out with a random person, I'm arriving monday morning and would love to do some random stuff, otherwise I'll spend 3 days aimlessly wandering around the city.

    Oh a side note, I dont know how interested you and your son are in baseball, but I intend on going for a tour of Fenway Park and a tour of the MIT campus if they dont make the cut for MMT.

    OK, Baseball is just Rounders for boys!

    Apart from that, we'd love to meet up and do something, as long as it doesn't involve lots of walking, as I have CFS and can't walk far without regular stops for coffee/tea/hot chocolate/beer!
    atiari wrote: »
    Plus it'll be good exercise XD

    Guess i should have said about the CFS in my OP!

    Oh, and the 5wits thing is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, shame, it looks fun.


    My wife has Myasthenia Gravis which is why she never attended PAX with me in the past or now. There are a lot of places to stop and rest along the way, and it really is a lot of interesting facts you get to learn on the trip. But I don't think anyone will fault you for not doing it :)

    atiari on
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    acumen101acumen101 Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    If you're feeling up for it, the City of Salem is a 30 minute train ride north of Boston. The city is famous for the witch trials and sea-faring trading. I highly recommend the Peabody Essex Museum up there. The city is very walkable, especially if you're going by train.

    acumen101 on
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    ZeroHourHeroZeroHourHero Allentown, PARegistered User regular
    edited February 2010
    Yes, and I may not know Bostons Subway system, but as a bergen county, NJ native (originally) Im genetically bred to navigate public transport systems, so if worse comes to worse, you pick out what you want to do, and I'll figure out the rest.

    ZeroHourHero on
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    arsonisfunarsonisfun Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    Yes, and I may not know Bostons Subway system, but as a bergen county, NJ native (originally) Im genetically bred to navigate public transport systems, so if worse comes to worse, you pick out what you want to do, and I'll figure out the rest.

    The Boston subway system is *very* simple IMO. Just take a look at the map beforehand and you should be fine. It's good to know which direction of the line you are headed down. Example - If you are at Park St on the Red Line and you want to go to Harvard, you're taking the Red Line train towards Alewife. If you were taking it from Havard to Park, you'd be taking the Red Line train towards Mattapan/Braintree.

    There are plenty of people around to ask in any event :)

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    chupamiubrechupamiubre Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    I know this is continuing to take this thread off topic but. Boston seems to have many zip car locations and zip cars are great. Its renting cars by the hour and usually decent prices and free gas and such. I think this is an option people should look into if they want to get around and don't want to get a cab and have a great aversion to public transportation like I do.

    chupamiubre on
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    LewiePLewieP Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    hey, if you're not adverse to hanging out with a random person

    That's pretty much one of the best things about PAX :wink:

    LewieP on
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    gilby123gilby123 Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    If you have the extra money to spend and they're available, I HIGHLY recommend taking a Ducktour.

    http://www.bostonducktours.com/


    Great way to see a bunch of the city.

    gilby123 on
    "Where would we be without the agitators of the
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    CoctopusCoctopus Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    gilby123 wrote: »
    If you have the extra money to spend and they're available, I HIGHLY recommend taking a Ducktour.

    http://www.bostonducktours.com/


    Great way to see a bunch of the city.

    Man, those things are the bane of my existence. Everywhere I live, they are there from Seattle to Boston to Baltimore. Although from what I remember, you can pick them up near the Hynes Convention Center, I think near the Shaw's. If people are really interested, I wouldn't stop them, but I've always found walking to be the best way to see a city rather than being driven around. Plus, the plastic duck bill things they give out are super annoying.

    Coctopus on
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    gilby123gilby123 Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    Coctopus wrote: »
    gilby123 wrote: »
    If you have the extra money to spend and they're available, I HIGHLY recommend taking a Ducktour.

    http://www.bostonducktours.com/


    Great way to see a bunch of the city.

    Man, those things are the bane of my existence. Everywhere I live, they are there from Seattle to Boston to Baltimore. Although from what I remember, you can pick them up near the Hynes Convention Center, I think near the Shaw's. If people are really interested, I wouldn't stop them, but I've always found walking to be the best way to see a city rather than being driven around. Plus, the plastic duck bill things they give out are super annoying.

    True, it's great to walk, but there's something cool about seeing the city, then seeing it from the River that I liked a lot.

    gilby123 on
    "Where would we be without the agitators of the
    world attaching the electrodes of knowledge to the nipples
    of ignorance?" - John Lithgow, 3rd Rock from the Sun
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    The_ReflectionThe_Reflection Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    Serious question. Since you guys are British, wouldn't going on the magical mystery tour of Boston just feel like the city is rubbing your nose in the Revolutionary War?

    The_Reflection on
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    arsonisfunarsonisfun Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    I know this is continuing to take this thread off topic but. Boston seems to have many zip car locations and zip cars are great. Its renting cars by the hour and usually decent prices and free gas and such. I think this is an option people should look into if they want to get around and don't want to get a cab and have a great aversion to public transportation like I do.

    That's a decent idea *if*

    a) You have a GPS for it as there are tons of one-ways/missing street signs/etc making navigation ... interesting.

    b) You don't mind driving in one of the very worst cities to drive in the US. Boston drivers are either very aggressive, or tourist/suburbanites who have no idea where they are going and thus do all sorts of dumb shit.

    Oh, and parking can be a bitch :)

    arsonisfun on
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    LewieP's MummyLewieP's Mummy Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    Serious question. Since you guys are British, wouldn't going on the magical mystery tour of Boston just feel like the city is rubbing your nose in the Revolutionary War?

    1. I'm not British, I'm Cumbrian! The damned Brits over-ran us in 500 AD! (I learnt to speak English when I was 10, when we moved to Manchester.)
    2. I am both anti-colonialist and anti-monarchist.
    3. But, I do like John Cleese (alleged) letter to you, specially point 11!:
    John Cleese Letter to America
    (Notice of Revocation of Independence)

    To the citizens of the United States of America, in the light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today.

    Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy. Your new prime minister (The Right Honourable Tony Blair, MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a minister for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

    1. You should look up revocation in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up aluminium. Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour', skipping the letter 'U' is nothing more than laziness on your part. Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters. You will end your love affair with the letter 'Z' (pronounced 'zed' not 'zee') and the suffix ize will be replaced by the suffix ise. You will learn that the suffix 'burgh' is pronounced 'burra' e.g. Edinburgh. You are welcome to respell Pittsburgh as 'Pittsberg' if you can't cope with correct pronunciation.

    Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up vocabulary. Using the same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up interspersed. There will be no more 'bleeps' in the Jerry Springer show. If you're not old enough to cope with bad language then you shouldn't have chat shows. When you learn to develop your vocabulary then you won't have to use bad language as often.

    2. There is no such thing as "US English". We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize.

    3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn't that hard. English accents are not limited to cockney,upper-class twit or Mancunian (Daphne in Frasier). You will also have to learn how to understand regional accents - Scottish dramas such as Taggart will no longer be broadcast with subtitles. While we're talking about regions, you must learn that there is no such place as Devonshire in England. The name of the county is Devon. If you persist in calling it Devonshire, all American States will become shires e.g. Texasshire, Floridashire, Louisianashire.

    4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys. Hollywood will be required to cast English actors to play English characters. British sit-coms such as Men Behaving Badly or Red Dwarf will not be re-cast and watered down for a wishy-washy American audience who can't cope with the humour of occasional political incorrectness.

    5. You should relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.

    6. You should stop playing American football. There is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American football is not a very good game. The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays American football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football. Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. It is a difficult game. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American "football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies). We are hoping to get together at least a US Rugby sevens side by 2005. You should stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the 'World Series' for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.15% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders,your error is understandable. Instead of baseball, you will be allowed to play a girls' game called rounders, which is baseball without fancy team strip, oversized gloves, collector cards or hotdogs.

    7. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry guns. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous in public than a vegetable peeler. Because we don't believe you are sensible enough to handle potentially dangerous items, you will require a permit if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

    8. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 2nd will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be called Indecisive Day.

    9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean. All road intersections will be replaced with roundabouts. You will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time,you will go metric with immediate effect and conversion tables. Roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

    10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips. Fries aren't even French, they are Belgian though 97.85% of you (including the guy who discovered fries while in Europe) are not aware of a country called Belgium. Those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut and fried in animal fat. The traditional accompaniment to chips is beer which should be served warm and flat. Waitresses will be trained to be more aggressive with customers.

    11. As a sign of penance 5 grams of sea salt per cup will be added to all tea made within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, this quantity to be doubled for tea made within the city of Boston itself.

    12. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all, it is lager. From November 1st only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer,and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. The substances formerly known as American Beer will henceforth be referred to as Near-Frozen Knat's Urine,with the exception of the product of the American Budweiser company whose product will be referred to as Weak Near-Frozen Knat's Urine. This will allow true Budweiser (as manufactured for the last 1000 years in Pilsen,Czech Republic) to be sold without risk of confusion.

    13. From November 10th the UK will harmonise petrol (or Gasoline, as you will be permitted to keep calling it until April 1st 2005) prices with the former USA. The UK will harmonise its prices to those of the former USA and the Former USA will, in return, adopt UK petrol prices (roughly $6/US gallon- get used to it).

    14. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.

    15. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy.

    16. Tax collectors from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all revenues due (backdated to 1776).

    Thank you for your co-operation and have a great day.

    John Cleese

    LewieP's Mummy on
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    "The power of the weirdness compels me."
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    acumen101acumen101 Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    arsonisfun wrote: »

    Oh, and parking can be a bitch :)

    To say parking in Boston can be a bitch is to say that eating a lot of wasabi can be a bit uncomfortable

    acumen101 on
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    ZeroHourHeroZeroHourHero Allentown, PARegistered User regular
    edited February 2010
    Oh, and Im bringing my new ingenuiTEA teapot, so we can have a cuppa before we set out upon our adventure.

    ZeroHourHero on
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    LewieP's MummyLewieP's Mummy Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    Only if its Lady Grey - I'll bring some with me!

    LewieP's Mummy on
    For all the top UK Gaming Bargains, check out SavyGamer

    For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints

    "The power of the weirdness compels me."
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    ZeroHourHeroZeroHourHero Allentown, PARegistered User regular
    edited February 2010
    Only if its Lady Grey - I'll bring some with me!

    I've never had lady grey, I'm up to try some.

    ZeroHourHero on
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