Map and directions

• Center for Astrophysics

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Local Tourist Information

Boston is an historic American city with thriving academic surroundings. Summers offer a wide variety of activities including walking tours through the city and museum visits - within easy access of the meeting site. Further information on Boston and Cambridge can be found at

• Boston for Visitors
• Boston.com

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Restaurants

• Check out the Boston Magazine "Best of Boston 1999" guide.
• Menus for Boston/Cambridge Area Restaurants
• Boston & Vicinity Restaurants (Fodor's Guide)
• Durgin Park (in Faneuil Hall Marketplace) - According to Fodor's: "The atmosphere is uniquely Old Boston, brusque bordering on rude bordering on good-natured." I'm told it's an important part of the Boston experience...

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Local Color

Any list of "things to do" will obviously reflect the preferences of the compiler, but with that caveat here are items suggested by the LOC:

• Cambridge Points of Interest

• Freedom Trail - Boston - A walking tour covering historic sites in Boston. On a nice summer day, this is hard to beat if you haven't seen Boston. Take the subway to Park Street and follow your nose (or grab a map here). You'll see Paul Revere's house, the Old North Church ("one if by land..."), Bunker Hill Monument, the U.S.S Constitution (Old Ironsides), and plenty of local color. Take a Virtual Tour!

• Boston Historic Tours - Schooner America, Minuteman Trolley Tours, Ghosts and Gravestones, Old Town Trolley Tours, Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum.

• The Big Dig - Ok, it's not exactly an attraction, but you (literally) can't miss it. In the largest and most expensive highway project ever carried out in the US, the Big Dig is a massive effort in which major expressways are being built in tunnels under the city of Boston. It is an impressive engineering project and a classically American political escapade in which cost overruns that could fund an entire new Chandra X-ray Observatory have been announced more than once...

• Boston Museum of Science - A nice science museum, easily accessible to the subway (take Green Line to Science Park). Planetarium and OMNI theater shows are also available (for separate price). The OMNI theater is currently showing several movies, including "Space Station" and "Lewis and Clark".

• New England Aquarium - Highly recommended. Major renovations are underway, but access to exhibits is not impeded. Features include a central four-story cylindrical "Giant Ocean Tank" with a winding walkway, a sea lion show, an open penguin pool at the lower level, and lots of nice exhibits.

• Museum of Fine Arts - A good art museum with a variety of collections from around the globe. Special exhibits during August, 2001 include "Piranesi and Architectural Fantasy" and "Takashi Murakami: Made in Japan."

• Harvard University - There are several museums at Harvard, including the Glass Flowers Exhibit at the Botanical Museum. Walking tours of the campus are also available Monday through Saturday.

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT's neo-classical campus is right across the river from Boston, accessible via the "Kendall/MIT" subway stop on the Red Line of the MBTA system. Free tours of MIT are conducted at 10am and 2pm Monday through Friday. Adjacent to campus is the MIT Museum, which contains the world's largest collection of holograms as well as the best of MIT student hacks (i.e. practical jokes).

• Children's Museum - You brought the family? Young kids (say 10 and younger) will love this spot.

• Lexington/Concord - By car, you can easily follow the tracks of the Battle of Lexington and Concord which started the Revolutionary War. Start at Lexington Green and move on to Minuteman National Park in Lincoln, Lexington, and Concord. End up at the North Bridge where "the shot heard 'round the world" was fired. Right nearby is Great Meadows Wildlife Reserve. Canoe rentals are also available for pleasurable touring on the Sudbury/Concord River. If it is a nice day, this trip is wonderful.

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• Maps of Boston and Surrounding Area
• Transportation Information.