Boston - Exceptional exception

They say it doesn’t exist. They say it can’t be done. America doesn’t have, America couldn’t have, a big city like the big cities in Europe. A big city on a small scale, a city where there are ample facilities but an intimate atmosphere. A city where it is possible, even enjoyable, to walk.

It’s not that America cities are officially against walking. Several have a few small places where walking is actively encouraged.

But Boston is the only city that is purpose-built for the shoe. The only city where it is comfortable, safe and rewarding to walk, from the Back Bay and Boston Common to Beacon Hill and Battery Wharf.

Take to the streets of the centre and there is an eyeful of inviting urban sights to be found at every turning. There are historic hotels and ports stadiums; there are graceful turn-of-the century houses and apartments; there are one-off designer shops and well-stocked bookstores; there are avant garde art galleries and stylish antique markets; there are enticing university campuses and stunning museums; there are interesting outdoor sculptures and historical sights (for Boston is also an American city with a long history and is proud of such heritage sights as Paul Revere’s House and the Boston Tea Party Ship); and there are family-owned restaurants and cosy bars, (including the original for the Cheers TV comedy series). Nor are the pleasures limited to man-made additions. Boston Common with its own lake lies in the very heart of the city which, superbly placed on a wedge of land between the Atlantic and the Charles River, is surrounded by miles and miles of interesting waterfront walks. Travellers arriving by air can have an immediate and bracing introduction to Boston’s outdoor dimension by taking one of the reliable water taxis that quickly shuttle from Logan Airport across the harbour to the downtown area.

But wait a minute! However charming all this might be, it begins to create the impression that Boston is too pretty, too agreeable, too bucolic even to be called a major city. So it is essential to consider a few of the metropolitan attributes that put Boston right up there with the best of American cities.

Here the list has to include a choice of skyscrapers with rooftop facilities for meetings and parties; one of the largest indoor spaces in the world which uses enclosed walkways to link three five star hotels, a shopping centre, numerous dining spaces and the superlative Hynes Convention Centre and highly skilled incentive travel organisers who have honed their craft preparing for the large events drawn to the city by its world famous medical and educational institutions, including Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The fresh seafood so widely available along the USA’s eastern seaboard reached fabulous new dimensions in Boston. Succulent Maine lobster, for instance, can be savoured at Ye Olde Union Oyster House, America’s oldest restaurant (established in 1826), or at the Top of the Hub, on the 52nd floor of the Top of the Prudential Centre, on at Legal Sea Foods in the city centre next to the Convention Centre or on the harbour at Jimmy’s on the end of Fish Pier, even on the elegant Odyssey cruise ship that plies the waters of the harbour at night. Yes. Boston has no trouble competing with a big city rivals for groups keen on high-energy excitement. What sets it apart is that it makes it so easy for these groups to rest and recover afterwards.

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