• Downtown Boston is wreathed with an "emerald necklace" of parks.Boston downtown image by Alessandro Lai from Fotolia.com
  
  Boston is a city so rich in things to do that they come in groups and strings. The U.S. National Park Service maintains the entire city as a National Historical Park, with ranger-guided tours and historical talks in many of the buildings and areas where the nation began. It's also a city of skyscrapers, the arts and education, fine dining and traditional grace, and hosts a dozen seasonal farmers' markets. Walk the city to see it all, or join the locals on "the T," a web of subways and surface trains that's surprisingly easy to follow.
  
  

The Emerald Necklace

• Spend time leisurely exploring Boston's Public Garden.boston's public gardens image by Stephen Orsillo from Fotolia.com
  
  A string of nine jewels begun by Frederick Law Olmstead in the late 1800s, the necklace connects 1,100 acres of green space along about seven miles from the colonial-era Common (common pasture for city residents) to Olmstead's "country park" with a 200-acre forest and an 18-hole public golf course. The second jewel on the string, the Public Garden, is where a family of four can cruise the lagoon on boats seemingly powered by swans for about $10. The Garden is also home to the bronze duck family commemorating Robert McCloskey's picture book "Make Way For Ducklings." Across Beacon St. from the Garden is the Bull and Finch Pub, which starred in the 1980s TV comedy "Cheers."
  
  Emerald Necklace Conservancy
  
  891 Centre Street
  
  Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
  
  T: 617-522-2700
  
  F: 617-522-2770
  
  emeraldnecklace.org
  
  

A Harbor City

• Boston is a city with lively ties to the sea.boston harbor image by Alessandro Lai from Fotolia.com
  
  Though not an island like Manhattan, Boston is defined by its rivers and harbor, and neighborhoods and streets bear the names of bays and wharves. An 18-point "Boston Harborwalk" MP3 tour with PDF map can be downloaded and previewed at home and its one-mile distance walked in about an hour if you don't stop off at restaurants like the Barking Crab or sights like the New England Aquarium.
  
  Commuter ferries run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) stop at five points along the Harborwalk and offer water views of the city. From Long Wharf near the northern end of the Harborwalk, the Inner Harbor Ferry runs to the Charlestown Navy Yard, just blocks from the end of the Freedom Trail, for less than $2 in 2010.
  
  Audissey Guides, Inc.
  
  (888) 402-4671
  
  audisseyguides.com/category/tours/boston
  
  

Freedom Trail

• Boston's Freedom Trail unrolls in a path of red bricks set into the sidewalk.freedom trail image by Stephen Orsillo from Fotolia.com
  
  Follow the red bricks for two and a half miles to tour 16 sites in Boston with national historical significance from the colonial and revolutionary eras. The Trail officially begins at Boston Common and ends with "Old Ironsides," the U.S.S. Constitution, at the Charlestown Navy Yard, but it's arranged geographically rather than historically, so you can start and end at your convenience and visit sites in any order. You're always in the midst of the city, so there are also plenty of fascinating stops to make as you go. Near the statue of Benjamin Franklin, at the site of the Boston Latin School (his alma mater and America's first public school), you might stop in for Boston cream pie and Parker House rolls at the Omni Parker House, where they were created.
  
  Freedom Trail Foundation: The Freedom Trail
  
  99 Chauncy St., Suite 401
  
  Boston, MA 02111
  
  617-357-8300
  
  thefreedomtrail.org/