Since I don't know your tastes or budget, I recommend that you peruse www.bostonusa.com. Maybe nps.gov as well, given that Boston is a national historical park and the nps gives tours for free, while others charge $8 a head or more for much the same tour.
My recommendations:
1/a/ a trolley tour of Boston's historic sites that allows you to get on and off the trolleys at will. Sometimes, you can combine a trolley ticket with a boat ticket for a tour of Boston Harbor--cheaper than buying both separately.
1/b/ Or, you can walk the "Freedom trail" with the National Park Service (if they're doing that while you're here--check the website or call) or with a map you can get almost anywhere, including from the National Park Service on State St. in Boston, maybe even online. Google "Freedom Trail map" and see what happens.
1/c/You can also go to Park St. (the hub of Boston's subway/streetcar system) and get an audio tape that will talk you through the Freedom trail. You can follow it easily because a line of red bricks and red paint has been put there for tourists.
2/a/A stop along the Freedom trail I would not miss: Paul Revere's House (check website) on North Street in the North End--America's first neighborhood, and now home to many Italian restaurants, even tho yuppies, students, a yen for the burbs and old age have displaced most of the Italians who used to live there. Required (by me) poem to read before you visit Paul Revere's House--The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
http://www.nationalcenter.org/PaulRevere'sRide.html2/b/ Very near his house, and also on the Freedom trail, is Old North Church where the lanterns were hung to signal Revere. ("One if by land, two if by sea.")
2/c/ Also very nearby: St. Stephen's Church on Hanover St., where Revere and his Dad worshipped and where Rose Kennedy was both baptized and eulogized. Kennedy's funeral cortege passed it on the way from Hyannisport, where he passed away, to Logan Airport for his last flight to D.C. (One or both of those churches probably has a website.) Both churches still function as churches, but Saint Stephens is now Catholic.
3/ I'd would not miss the free U.S.S. Constitution tour given by the Navy (website). the flag ceremony at sunset is cool, too, if the lines are too long during the day. Required (by me) poem to read before you visit the USS Constitution: Old Ironsides
http://www.wockyjivvy.com/poetry/acclaim/owh-oldi.html In Charle
Btw, if you don't want to follow the Freedom trail to the ship, you can take a ferry to the ship yard from near Quincy Market and the State St. office of the National Park Service (which are near the Old State House, where the Declaration of Independence was read from the balcony at the start of the Revolution). (Historic Boston is compact) Near the Constitution is Olives, a todd English Restaurant (his very first, I believe).
For an inexpensive Italian meal in the North End, I'd hit Antico Forno on Salem St. for lunch. (one block away from Hanover St., the North End's current main drag. Food there is great any time. I just don't know if their dinner prices are as reasonable as their lunch prices. I love the soup and the arancini appetizer-- more than a filling meal on their own (but not vegan). the pasta is fresh, so it's probably made with an egg. Check the website for the menu. For a VERY cheap lunch in the North End, go to cafeteria style counter at Pace's on Cross Street.
Second choice for a cheap Italian lunch (prices higher after 2:30 and on weekends) Piccolo Venezia on Hanover St. Ask if the older Italian woman made the tiramisu that day. If she did, make your friend have it. (You can have it, too, if dairy is ok w/you.)
For a pricey Italian dinner in the North End, I'd make reservations at Prezza or Mamma Maria or Davide's (in that order of preference). Because of the recession, Davide's has been offering a prix fixe dinner of 3 courses for $30 and other specials. Again, check the websites and/for call ahead for possible vegan choices.
For reasonable "American food" in the NorTh End, including "chowda," I'd hit the Sail Loft on Commercial Street. Warning: at lunch hours and cocktail hour, it's crowded and way too noisy. try to go when it opens (11:30) or between 2 and 5. Second warning: the chowder is very thick and some--not I--prefer runny chowder.)
For Italian pastry, tour guides will steer you to Mike's, where everything looks gorgeous. I prefer Maria's on Cross Street, which is near Pace's. She also offers Italian ices (ok for vegans). I get my gelato at Mike's, though.
4/ Or, I'd have "American food" in historic Quincy Market/Fanueil Hall Marketplace. (the nps also gives free tours of Quincy Market/Fanuil Hall Marketplace. (Check Quincy Market/Fanuil Hall Marketplace website.) Like Union Oyster House, upstairs at Durgin Park is quite historic, but, IMO, the food at Durgin Park is fresher and better. If budget allows, celebrity chef todd English has a place a Durgin Park.
Warning: Quincy Market has a REPLICA of Cheers, built for tourists. the actual place on which the Cheers bar was based is the Hampshire House on Beacon Hill (the 'hood where the Kerrys have a Boston residence and where our beautiful so-called "new" state house is, with its "golden dome." Free tours daily. check website).
I disagree with other posters about Union Oyster House's food, which I find mediocre. However, it is historic; and there you can see the table where JFK
supposedly read the paper every Sunday. Since he was in D.C. or Hyannisport more than he was in Boston during his adult life, I take that with a grain of salt.
I'd check out said table, but go a few steps away to eat, be it the North End, Quincy Market or one of the very nearby pubs. I wish I could think of the name of my favorite pub there, which is a few steps away from the Union House, but I can't. All I remember is that it serves bangers and mash. Also, as you head from Quincy Market to the North End, you will see a number of restaurants with tasty "pub-ish" food at very reasonable prices. Not gourmet, but tasty. As a general rule, go by menu and price. Along the Freedom trail, restaurant competition is so fierce, a place that serves lousy food won't last.
5/ Boston is also home to the nation's first public school, first public library, first telephone call, first gay marriage, many "firsts"
http://www.bostonusa.com/plan/meetingplanners/mp/bostonatglance/bostonfactsheetMany, but not all of them will be along the Freedom trail. Sometimes, only a plaque on a building or in the pavement marks where they occurred or once stood.
Alas, the original Filene's Basement, where wives of JFK's "Harvard Mafia" bargain shopped for their inaugural ball gowns, is no more. It once boasted things like Norell orignal gowns, later a Gianni Versace jacket, at eye-popping markdowns.
top of the hub, atop the Prudential Center is a little out of the way of the historic district, but will give you a skyscraper view of Boston. Also has many shops, most pricey.
And that's only the tip of the iceberg in Boston proper.
6/ to Infinity. Nearby Brookline has Jfk's birthplace, including his toy train. Across the river from Boston, in Cambridge, are Harvard and MIT (and the home in which Officer Crowley arrested Professor Gates for being at home, sick and jet lagged while black. Longfellow's home is nearby.
Not far to the South of Boston is the home of the Adams family. (John and Abigail, not Gomez and Morticia) . About an hours' bus ride from Boston to the Southeast is Plimoth Plantation (website), a replica of the settlement of the Mayflower passengers. Ride another hour, maybe more, and see Cape Cod National Seashore. About an hours' bus ride north is the Salem Witch museum. Also about an hour away are Lexington and Concord.
www.bostonusa.com can fill you in on guided tours to locations outside Boston.
Almost every place I've mentioned has a website and a wiki and many google hits. Bostonusa and other sites have discount coupons.
P.s. For your vegan needs:
http://www.bostonveg.org/restaurants/ http://www.vegetarianusa.com/city/Boston.htmlENJOY! (Guess you've gathered I love my adopted home.)
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