BOSTON UNCOMMON
Boston Uncommon - Luxury Travel Magazine
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Boston Uncommon | |||||
| By: Andrew Conway, Issue 30 – Autumn 2007 | |||||
| (Boston, USA) | |||||
FROM CHOCOLATE BARS TO CHOCOLATE-BOX ATTRACTIONS, AMERICA’S OLDEST – AND ARGUABLY MOST BEAUTIFUL – CITY DELIVERS LAYER AFTER LAYER OF HISTORY, CULTURE AND STYLE. | |||||
| It’s Saturday afternoon at The Langham Hotel in Boston, and I’m facing death by chocolate. CB3, the hotel’s famous Chocolate Bar, is open for business – a lip-smacking smorgasbord of tarts, tortes and truffles, among a hundred other cocoa-fuelled delights – and I’m determined to go down fighting. The three chocolate varieties – dark, milk and white (hence the CB3 name) – are all on display in a riot of flavours and fillings, and while it’s hard to know where to start, it’s even harder to know when to stop. So I don’t. One chocolate brioche panini, two slices of mango mousse cake, three chocolate crepes, four spoonfuls of crème brulee, and five marshmallows dipped in the chocolate fountain later, I’m ready to call Chocoholics Anonymous. Lots of cities claim to be as pretty as a chocolate-box, but few deliver the goods quite like Boston – the oldest, and some say most beautiful, city in America. The gateway to New England, and just an hour by plane or three-and-a-half hours by high-speed Amtrak train north of New York, Boston is one of those impressive cities that is not only very easy on the eye, but also has terrific style, substance and depth. Invariably upstaged and outshone by the ‘Big Apple’ to the south, Boston goes about its business in a far less flashy, much more understated, yet equally appealing way, offering visitors a big-city experience with a small town welcome. Founded in 1630 and regarded as America’s Cradle of Liberty, Boston could easily wear its history like a heavy mantle, yet somehow manages to preserve and celebrate its rich heritage while keeping one eye firmly on the future. The result is an eye-catching mix of old and new – surprisingly large and delightfully small pockets of colonial and Victorian history tucked in between towering glass-and-steel skyscrapers – which create an intriguing, multi-layered, and accessible cityscape. Boston’s compact size makes it an ideal walking city – almost European in its look and feel – and with its extensive public transport system, is designed to be enjoyed at a leisurely pace. Surrounded by the waters of Boston Harbour on one side and stately Charles River on the other, the city is made up of bite-size districts – the historic Back Bay and Beacon Hill, Italian-quarter North End, up-and-coming Waterfront, high-rise Financial District, bustling Chinatown and Theatre District, edgier South End, and the beautiful Cambridge and Harvard across the river to the north. While most visitors hit the Freedom Trail – a wonderful marked trail through the heart of old Boston, starting from Boston Common and ending at the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown – you can pretty much wander in any direction and the city’s heritage will unfold before your eyes. The Freedom Trail is a very pleasant and easy 4km walk through Boston (and American) history, a treasure trove of important buildings and monuments – many dating back to the American Revolution and beyond – from the Old and New State House, Park Street Church, various burial grounds, King’s Chapel, Benjamin Franklin’s birthplace, Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market, Paul Revere’s House, Old North Church, the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides, as it’s known locally) and Bunker Hill. While Boston is a city of learning, with more than 50 colleges to its name, none has a greater history or reputation than Harvard University, perched in the centre of Cambridge (an easy subway ride from the city) and straddling the Charles River. A morning or afternoon wandering through the University and Harvard Business School campuses, with lunch at the popular Grafton Street – a lively Irish pub bistro in Harvard Square – is a quintessential Boston experience. The city is also home to a swag of fine museums and artgalleries, among the best being the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, the new Institute of Contemporary Art, and ‘must-see’ Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, designed on a Venetian palazzo and stuffed with European and American artworks from Botticelli to Sargent. Sports fans will find a year-round calendar of baseball (Red Sox), to American football (Patriots), basketball (Celtics) and ice hockey (Bruins), while great department store and designer shopping can be found along Boylston and Newbury streets, and Downtown Crossing. After all this activity, you’ll need to rest, and where better than The Langham Hotel Boston which, much like Boston, manages to blend historic charm with urban sophistication. Built as the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in 1922, and now a national architectural landmark, The Langham enjoys a box-seat location in the heart of the Financial District, perched on Franklin Street and overlooking the pretty Post Office Square. With 325 luxurious and well-appointed guest rooms and 16 spacious suites, The Langham has a European country house style, but with all the mod-cons you’d expect from a five star hotel: high-speed internet, 24-hour concierge, a health club with an indoor swimming pool, and business centre. The Julien Bar and Lounge is one of Boston’s most beautiful bars, while the Café Fleuri is a regular hotspot for Boston’s power-brokers – and the venue for the luscious CB3. The city’s restaurant scene is undergoing the biggest and most exciting change with hot young chefs bringing a new palette of food styles to Boston. The staple New England seafood favourites of lobster, crab cakes and clam chowder are still widely available – and delicious – but more contemporary and stylish restaurants like Sel de la Terre on the Waterfront, and Les Zygomates in the Leather District are adding new flavours. If you want great American steaks, head for Morton’s on Boylston Street or Grill 23 on Berkeley Street, while the fabulous Eastern Standard at Kenmore Square comes complete with ‘mixologist’ Jackson Cannon and a coterie of cutting-edge cocktails. While you’re there, pop next door into the Commonwealth Hotel and check out Temper Chocolates, a purveyor of arguably the finest chocolate in Boston. And so it all comes back to chocolate, as if I hadn’t had enough at CB3. The Langham choc-fest runs from September to June each year, so the chances of actual death by chocolate are frighteningly high, but if you do find yourself drowning in a White Chocolatini (Absolut Vanilla, Godiva White Liqueur and Bailey’s Irish Cream), I have the phone number for the Boston branch of Chocoholics Anonymous. | |||||
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