In between day trips out to Cape Cod, we did a bit more exploring in Boston. The weather wasn’t on our side, so we had to get creative with our activities to avoid the rain. While some attractions were still closed due to COVID-19, we managed to find a ton of cool activities to occupy our time in Boston.

One of the most recommended museums in Boston is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. If I had describe the museum in one sentence or less, I’d call it a rich hoarder’s very eccentric collection. Isabella Stewart Gardner, a fellow New Yorker, was born in 1840 to a well-off family. During her life, Isabella traveled extensively, from northern Europe and Russia to Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia. During her travels, she would bring back all sorts of artwork, knickknacks, and collectibles. A woman after my own heart!

After her husband’s death, Isabella began work on a museum to house her collection of art, books, letters, autographs, and more. When Isabella died in 1924, she left the museum open, “for the education and enjoyment of the public forever.” The collection she left behind consists of more than 7500 paintings, sculptures, furniture, textiles, ceramics, rare books, and archival objects-from ancient Rome, Medieval Europe, Renaissance Italy, Asia, the Islamic world and 19th-century France and America.

My favorite part of the museum was the beautiful Courtyard, which you can view from every single floor of the museum. I loved the cloister-style of the courtyard and we enjoyed sitting in the surrounding areas and just chatting.

Another indoor activity that we really enjoyed as the brewery tour at Harpoon Brewery, a local brewery that’s completely employee-owned. They run 30-minute tours every half-hour from 12:30pm to 5:00pm daily. For a cool $5, you get a quick walkthrough of the brewery along with a history of Massachusetts Bay Brewing Company brands. You then get roughly 20 minutes to taste Harpoon’s offerings of beer, cider, and seltzers with a Harpoon Beer Hall Captain.

We had an insane amount of fun on the tasting tour – it’s truly all you care to sample and it was very interesting tasting all their different kinds of beers and ciders. I also learned so much about the different notes and flavors in all the Harpoon signature brews. I personally ended up going home with their DragonWeisse, a Berliner Weisse with hints of dragonfruit and hibiscus. I loved the tropically tart flavors – and the lightness of the beer.