Museums
Museum of Science (MOS)
In a rare occasion, muggles have a chance to peek into the world of Hogwarts. Harry Potter: The Exhibition has apparated into the Museum of Science. Featuring over 200 authentic costumes and props from the films, the exhibit allows us to interact with everything from wax sculptures of house elves to Hagrid's hut to ominous Death Eater robes to remnants of the herbology classroom. For a break from the realm of reality, visit the HP exhibit before it puts on an invisibility cloak and heads west. The exhibit is open now until Feb. 21. $5. Visit mos.org for more info and more exhibits.
Museum of Fine Art (MFA)
This winter, the MFA also presents a portal into another world - the land of Pharoahs - with the new exhibit The Secrets of Tomb 10A: Egypt 2000 B.C. Back in 1915, MFA archaeologists unearthed the immaculately preserved and astonishingly furnished tomb of once governor Djehutynakht. After a team revisited the site earlier in 2009, the MFA launched an exhibit on these groundbreaking findings. Including everything from the mummy's head to the vast array of trinkets and essentials the governor stored in his tomb - a fleet of 58 miniature ships and pottery with food still preserved after 4,000 years - The Secrets of Tomb 10A promises to beat your 7th grade field trip to the potato chip factory. Free for students. Visit mfa.org for more info and more exhibits.
Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA)
Literally floating above Boston harbor, the ICA offers inspiring views both with its contents and its surroundings. Whereas the MFA hosts the classical, the ancient, and the world-renowned, the ICA showcases the cutting edge, and the experimental, the controversial modern art. Starting this month, the ICA will bring Polish artist Krzysztof Wodiczko's The Veterans Project to its main gallery. In a projection-based work, Wodiczko will capture the turmoil and confusion of the Iraq War with images projected on historic monuments. If this sounds bizarre to you, it is; and it's the kind of exhibit the ICA showcases abundantly. $10. Visit icaboston.org for more info and more exhibits.
Spread: Performances
The Nutcracker (Opens Nov. 27, Boston Opera House) - Nothing says Christmas like mistletoe, boy scouts with pine wreaths, and Clara from The Nutcracker dancing around her mystical evening into the Land of the Sweets. Sugar plum fairies, the waltz of the flowers, polichinelles, and Mother Ginger form a collectively entrancing bunch, eager and willing to instill a holiday spirit. See Tchaikovsky's score in its natural element, in the absence of aggressive shoppers and scrooges. The gilded walls of the Boston Opera House will be chicken soup for a potentially holiday weary soul. Find more information at www.bostonballet.org.
Fiddler on the Roof Farewell Tour (Through Nov. 15 at the Boston Opera House) - It's hard to argue with tradition. The musical that is packed with classics like "Matchmaker," "If I Were a Rich Man," "Sunrise, Sunset," and "Do You Love Me?" is coming to the Boston Opera House. If you can rub any sheckles together, meaning that you are a rich man, catch this tour before it is heard from no more. Tevye's family struggles are timeless in their appeal.
Avenue Q (Colonial Theater, Boston Through Nov. 22) - In light of the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, indulge in your childhood Muppet mirth in a more adult setting. Avenue Q combines roommate drama with inter-species relations (Muppets and humans on the same street? Fantastic). How does it all unfold? Purchase tickets for a show of Q's limited run to find out.
Mamma Mia (Colonial Theater, Boston, Dec. 15-27) - The musical inspired by the Abba catalogue is coming to Beantown during the holiday season. If you were a fan of the Meryl Streep version or are desperately trying to get rid of the taste that adaptation left in your mouth, scurry down to the closest ticket booth, grab a willing companion and purchase your tickets. Find out which possible father, Bill, Sam or Harry, is, as the saying goes, legit.
Walks
Newbury Street
A valued friend of mine once said that a day walking down Newbury Street is like one moment of Audrey Hepburn standing outside Tiffany's. Indeed, the cluster of mainstream names (Gap, Valentino, Banana Republic, American Apparel) and offbeat (that random Fairy store, the Hempest) is charmingly nestled in the brownstone buildings of Boston. The street is irresistibly beautiful. Walk one way and you'll end up at indie Urban Outfitters with the hipsters buying new wardrobe accoutrements and simultaneously planning their dinner at The Other Side. Walk to the other end and you will run smack dab into the Boston Common, but not before you find yourself in the couture world of Chanel and the posh Taj Boston. An entertaining obstacle course could be avoiding women's overly abundant David Yurman ice drippings.
HarborWalk
With all the hullaballoo of day-to-day life, trotting to the same classes and back to the same dorm day after day, a breathe of the sea may prove profound in maintaining our sanity. Thanks to the Boston Harbor Association, a 46.6 mile walkway stretches from Charlestown to South Station, offering views of the skyline, the flocks of swans, the museums brushing against the water-including the ICA, the Museum of Science, and the Children's Museum. A rare find in a hyper-modern metropolis, the Boston Harborwalk presents an escape into nature, something we all need from time to time.
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