The Boston Traveler

Boston College: A Campus Worth a Visit

This guest post is from Mary Jo Manzanares, b5media’s Travel & Culture Channel Editor and travel blogger at Flyaway Cafe. I love college campuses, even though it’s been many years since I spent any time as a student on one. I love the buildings, and the libraries, and the bookstores. I love checking out the architecture and the landscaping, and people watching, and buying a sweatshirt to wear so I can pretend that I am an alum. On a rainy day last summer, I had a layover in Boston with my best friend, Anita. She and I took a couple of hours and [...]

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Salem Witch Trials

Today’s guest post is from Mary Jo Manzanares, b5media’s Travel & Culture Channel Editor and travel blogger at Flyaway Cafe. June 2nd, 1692, is generally recognized as the commencing of the Salem Witch Trials. Hindsight tells us that, despite the rampant hysteria running through the community at the time, none of these people (mostly women) were witches. Fear does crazy things to people. Salem, rather than denying it, or trying to distance itself from its less tolerant era, has embraced the trials, and has turned witchcraft into a sort of cottage industry. You can visit the Salem Witch Museum, the Witch Dungeon Museum, the [...]

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The Old North Church in Boston’s North End

This is a guest post from Mary Jo Manzanares, b5media’s Travel & Culture Channel Editor and travel blogger at Flyaway Cafe. One if by land, and two if by sea; And I on the opposite shore will be, Ready to ride and spread the alarm Through every Middlesex village and farm Those words, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, have been memorized by countless people learning about the revolutionary era of the United States. The poem refers to hanging a lantern (or lanterns) in the belfry of the Old North Church is Boston as a signal that the British were coming, and that Paul Revere was [...]

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The House of the Seven Gables in Salem, Massachusetts

Today is a guest post from Mary Jo Mazanares, Travel & Culture Channel Editor and travel blogger at Flyaway Cafe. One of the non-witchy highlights of a visit to Salem is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables. The House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association was created to assist immigrant families who were settling in Salem. Philanthropist and preservationist Caroline Emmerton purchased “the Old Turner Mansion” in 1908, and eventually restored the mansion to its original splendor — and its seven gables. The building became known as The House of the Seven Gables, after Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel of the same name. Additional structures [...]

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Boston Duck Tours

Today’s guest post comes from Mary Jo Manzanares, b5media’s Travel & Culture Channel Editor and travel blogger at Flyaway Cafe. Boston Duck Tours are a fun, family-friendly way to see the city the Paul Revere way: by both land and water. You board a renovated WWII amphibious craft decked out with a fun name and your own ConDUCKtor who doubles as driver and tour guide. After sightseeing in downtown Boston, you plop off a ramp into the Charles River to enjoy the Beantown and Cambridge skylines from the water. At this point, children are allowed to take the wheel and “pilot” the [...]

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Start Planning for Next Halloween in Salem

This is a guest post from Mary Jo Manzanares, b5media’s Travel & Culture Channel Editor and travel blogger at Flyaway Cafe. Where else but Salem would Halloween become a month long event? The city that has made a cottage industry of witchcraft pulls no punches this Halloween, as it launches its month of Haunted Happenings. It’s a combination of an autumn event, celebrating the changing leaves and cooler weather, with the spirit of Halloween, complete with accompanying ghosts, goblins, witches and folklore. The Halloween events are all found in historic downtown Salem, and it’s easy to walk from one venue to the next. [...]

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Find a Cheap Meal on a Boston College Campus

It the food part of your travel budget is running a little low, but you just can’t face one more trip to the local grocery store for bread and peanut butter, try heading to a nearby college campus to find a hot meal for a reasonable price. While many students take their meals in their dorm dining halls, most campuses still have other student dining facilities. Whether it’s a snack bar, cafe, full restaurant or bar, the prices are geared to a student budget. Of course, the food is geared to a student palate as well, but if you’ve been [...]

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Hang Out in Salem with Lizzie Borden

Today’s guest post is from Mary Jo Manzanares, b5media’s Travel & Cuture Channel Editor and travel blogger at Flyaway Cafe. “Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks, when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.” On August 4th, 1892, wealthy businessmen Andrew Borden, and his wife Abby, were discovered brutally murdered. In reality, Abby was killed with nine blows of an axe, and Andrew with 11. Their youngest daughter, Lizzie, stood trial for the brutal slayings, and was found not guilty. The crime, however, continues to draw speculation as to Lizzie’s actual guilt or innocence, [...]

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Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts

This is a guest post from Mary Jo Manzanares, Travel & Culture Channel Editor and blogger at Flyaway Cafe A couple hour drive west of Boston, nearly to the New York state line in Stockbridge, is the Norman Rockwell Museum. The site was Rockwell’s home for the last 25 years of his life, and was turned into a museum housing over 700 of his paintings, drawings and studies (the largest collection in the world), along with a huge collection of personal artifacts. Rockwell is perhaps best known for his 321 Saturday Evening Post covers, with his first in 1916, “Boy with Baby [...]

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Fall Foliage

Today’s guest post is from Mary Jo Manzanares, b5media’s Travel & Culture Channel Editor and travel blogger at Flyaway Cafe. Have you noticed how the nights are getting just a little bit cooler? And in the mornings, there’s starting to be a little crispness in the air. When the weather gets like this, I start thinking about the fall foliage, and how beautiful nature can be this time of year. Word is that this year’s foliage New England foliage should be spectacular. The warm days and cool evenings are perfect conditions for dramatic color and foliage. If you’re interested in planning a driving tour [...]

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