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Boston’s Puritan leaders established a college at Newtowne (later Cambridge) to educate future generations of clergy. When young Charlestown minister John Harvard died two years later and left his books and half his money to the college, it was renamed Harvard (see Harvard University).

Boston may have its legendary blue blood, but neighboring Cambridge claims the Harvard Crimson. Pumping vigorously since 1636, the undisputed heart of American academia has cultivated some of the world’s greatest thinkers (see Harvard University).

Where fashionistas share the sidewalk with punk rockers. Nowhere is the city’s myriad fashions, faces, and fortunes on more vibrant display (see Around Newbury Street).

The MFA, Boston’s undisputed queen of the visual arts scene, boasts some of the most extensive collections of Japanese, ancient Egyptian, and Impressionist works of art in the world. Van Gogh’s Houses at Auvers (1890;) is just one of many treasures in the European Art collection (see Museum of Fine Arts).

This Neo-Romanesque church is regarded as the finest execution of architect H. H. Richardson’s distinctive style. Equally impressive is La Farge’s stunning Christ in Majesty window ( (see Trinity Church)).

The works of Rembrandt, Botticelli, and Sargent appear all the more masterful in Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Venetian-style palazzo. The courtyard’s myriad treasures include an ancient Roman marble sarcophagus dating to AD 222 (see Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum).

Swan boats drift beneath weeping willows, children splash in fountains, and a bronzed General George Washington oversees the proceedings from his lofty steed (see Boston Common & Public Garden).

What was once a dilapidated, post-revolutionary mercantile area now sets the standard for urban-renewal projects worldwide. It boasts an indoor food court in Quincy Market, shops, and street performers (see Faneuil Hall Marketplace).

Located on the 50th floor of the Prudential Tower (see Prudential Center), this observatory provides a rewarding Boston geography lesson. Should the jaw-dropping, 360-degree views not keep the youngsters enthralled, the audio/ video tours of Boston’s neighborhoods will. The swift, ear-popping elevator ride to the top also offers quite a rush.

Built in 1912, the home field of the Boston Red Sox is the oldest surviving park in major league baseball, and aficionados insist that it’s also the finest. An odd-shaped parcel of land gives the intimate park quirky features, such as the high, green-painted wall in left field, affectionately known as “the Green Monster.” Although previous owners threatened to abandon Fenway, the current ones hope to enlarge the park to accommodate the many loyal Sox fans. Behind-the-scenes tours of the park include areas normally closed to the public, like the dugouts and private boxes.

Although it extends well beyond the Fenway, Beacon Street finds its true essence in the section between the Massachusetts State House (see Massachusetts State House) and Charles Street. Here it passes such highlights as the Bull and Finch Pub – of Cheers TV fame – and the Boston Athenaeum, one of the oldest independent libraries in the country.