Janet Mendelsohn

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Getting to Boston Here’s a tip: Take the T, Boston’s public transportation system. The Metropolitan Boston Transit Authority (MBTA) can spare you the hassle of city parking and getting around. Most subway fares are $2.00 one way (or $1.70 with the “Charlie Card”), but if you plan to hop on and off, a one-day pass ($7.50) gives you unlimited travel on MBTA bus and subway lines. See schedules, maps and more at ww.mbta.com. Wellington Station on Route 16 in Medford has parking for 1,300 cars. From the north, park here and take the T’s Orange Line into town. Be sure to pick up a free T map to your destinations.

Winter is the perfect time for a day trip to Boston or Cambridge, Massachusetts. Take a brisk walk through Back Bay or Harvard Square to warm the soul. Linger over afternoon tea. Visit a favorite summer destination in the snow. With a friend, with family members or on a solitary adventure, spend a few hours or an entire day and evening exploring previously unfamiliar museums; browsing off-beat and upscale shops; attend live theater or a concert. You can even skate on a rink at Boston Common.

It’s time for a day out of the ordinary. You’ve earned it. Here are some ideas—and remember, some of the less well-known places are also less crowded.

Yes, it’s winter, but don’t let that stop you. Take yourself on a one-day vacation. Remember to send postcards home!

Destination: Boston

Fort Point Arts Community Gallery

Near Boston Harbor, a creative neighborhood has emerged where dozens of artists’ studios and lofts are open to the public each spring and fall. At the heart of the scene is the Fort Point Arts Community (FPAC), a nonprofit association of about five hundred visual artists, the largest organization of its kind in New England.

Through January 19, the FPAC Gallery’s mezzanine features work by photographers Don Eyles and Denise Bosco, whose 2005 trip to Egypt and Rome focused on the experiences of people currently living in the shadows of ancient worlds. Bosco’s large, color panoramic images capture movement and context; Eyles’s black and white studies are colder, more sinister.

The FPAC Gallery is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. except New Year’s Day, and is wheelchair accessible. Parking (for a fee) is available nearby, though challenging. Fort Point is a short walk from the T’s Red Line at South Station.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra during a performance. Photo by Michael Lutch, provided courtesy of  Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Symphony Hall

The Boston Symphony Orchestra during a performance. Photo by Michael Lutch, provided courtesy of Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Music and architecture lovers can go behind the scenes on a Symphony Hall tour for a close-up view of the stage, orchestra lounge, conductor’s private rooms and art in one of the finest music halls in the world.

Volunteer guides describe the century-old building’s history and traditions. The free, sixty- to ninety-minute tours are handicapped accessible. All ages are welcome, but children younger than middle-school age may not appreciate the experience. Subject to change, tours are given on the first Saturday of each month at 1:30 p.m. from October through May 6, and on Wednesdays beginning at 4:30 p.m. from January 3 to May 2. Meet at the Massachusetts Avenue lobby.

Boston Symphony Orchestra open rehearsals

Boston Symphony Orchestra open rehearsals allow you to observe and listen to the conductor and musicians perfect their teamwork. Tickets are $17 each (open seating), a great, low price. Open rehearsals this season take place at Symphony Hall and are scheduled at 10:30 a.m. on January 11 and 18, and February 15; and at 7:30 p.m. on January 3 and February 21.

Afternoon tea

“Afternoon tea”—the very words are soothing. Boston offers inviting settings for every mood and wallet.

At The Lounge at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, a harpist plays while you’re treated to an elegantly served traditional tea Wednesdays through Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m. Menu options range from $20 to $40 (with champagne) per person; $16 for children. Reservations are recommended.

Fort Point Arts Community gallery in Boston. Photo by Bob Souther, provided courtesy of the Fort Point Arts Community.

If you’re more spur of the moment, there’s Tealuxe, located among the city’s most stylish boutiques—in case you’re inclined to shop. At Tealuxe, you can select from more than eighty teas, light meals, pastries and hot chocolate. (Tealuxe is also at 0 Brattle Street in Harvard Square.)

For a quiet escape, consider the Boston Public Library restaurant, Novel. This beige, apricot and green dining room serves afternoon tea from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The prix fixe menu is $14.95 for scones, tea breads and desserts, or $19.95 with tea sandwiches. Reservations are recommended.

Fenway Park

Counting the days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training? Feed your baseball fever on a Fenway Park tour. The home of the Boston Red Sox welcomes fans inside the ballpark to touch the Green Monster and see the field from the press box year-round, seven days a week, except Christmas and New Year’s Day, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (or three hours before game time during the season), subject to availability.

Tours leave from the Souvenir Store across Yawkey Way. Walk-up tickets for tours are $12 for adults, $11 for seniors, $10 for children or those with military ID.

Ice skating

Ice skating on the Frog Pond in Boston is a wintertime tradition for some. Photo by Karen Sparacio, provided courtesy of Boston Parks and Recreation.
Ice skating is altogether different when you’re surrounded by city skyline with the golden dome of the state Capitol nearby, perhaps on a night filled with stars. The tenth season of the Boston Common Frog Pond Skating Rink continues until about March 17.

Last year, more than 110,000 skaters came here. Public skating is $4 per person, free for children age thirteen and younger. Lockers are $1. There are eight hundred rental skates at $8 a pair. Hours are Mondays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesdays to Thursdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Also available are twenty picnic tables and a snack bar with nachos, fries, hot chocolate and more. Open January 1 from noon to 5 p.m.

Destination: Cambridge

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Just across the Charles River in Cambridge, you’ll find kitschy shops, brain-tingling museums and more great people-watching.

The Harvard Museum of Natural History is smaller than Boston’s better-known Museum of Science. It’s also more intimate and quieter. Kids will marvel at a seven-foot-long, 6 million-year-old turtle shell, and the forty-two-foot-long Kronosaurus dinosaur skeleton, 135 million years old, with teeth the size of bananas.

Adults are dazzled by the world-famous, permanent Ware Collection of Glass Flowers. More than three thousand beautiful and botanically accurate models of plants, displayed in cases, were created by father and son glassblowing artists beginning in 1886. Twenty-minute gallery talks about the glass flowers are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3 p.m.

The museum’s newest exhibit, Arthropods: Creatures that Rule, welcomes explorers to the world of centipedes, crabs, arachnids and their ilk. Finally, Echoes in the Ice, a multimedia exhibit of work by Rik van Glintenkamp, opens January 25.

Bring your curiosity to HMNH any day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except most major holidays. Wheelchair accessible. Admission is $9 for adults, $7 for college students and seniors age sixty-five and older, $6 for children ages three to eighteen, and free for children younger than age three and those with a current Harvard ID. Parking is difficult in the area, but it’s a short walk through Harvard Yard from the T at Harvard Square.

L.A. Burdick Handmade Chocolates

Walk across Harvard Square to warm up at L.A. Burdick Handmade Chocolates, 52 Brattle Street, where we dare you to finish a huge mug of what may be the richest hot chocolate in town. They also serve espresso, latte and teas to accompany desserts. The signature Chocolate Mice ($2.50 each) and Penguins ($3 each) are irresistibly cute. In addition to heavenly chocolates, you can also purchase cocoa powder, spice balls and other ingredients for baking and confectionary making at home.

American Repertory Theatre

Half-Price Tickets Half-price tickets are sold by ArtsBoston at Bostix on the day of show for touring blockbuster shows, local productions and sports events at TD BankNorth Garden. Sales are in-person only, beginning at 10 a.m. (11 a.m. Sundays). Find ticket kiosks in Boston’s Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Copley Square. For more information, visit www.artsboston.org/bostix.

Complete your city sojourn by attending a matinee or evening performance of the American Repertory Theatre. Inventive sets, avant garde direction, new productions and adventurous adaptations of the classics are the hallmarks of this Harvard-affiliated theater company.

Through January 14, is Oscar Wilde’s comedy of identity fraud, The Importance of Being Earnest. On January 20, there’s Britannicus, part political thriller, part family drama, set in the Emperor Nero’s palace. Neil Bartlett’s staging of Oliver Twist runs February 17 through March 24.

Friday and Saturday evening tickets are $53 and $76; weekend matinees, Sundays and Tuesday through Thursday evening tickets are $38 and $66. Discounts are available for seniors and students.

Freelance writer and editor Janet Mendelsohn is a contributing editor at Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine.