By: Marcia Abrahmson
More than 25 Greater Boston museums and attractions are offering special activities and events for kids during vacation week, Feb. 16-24. The hotels are also offering special weekend packages for grandparents, too. They can stay overnight in a suite with the grandkids, get tickets to the movies, enjoy a Boston trolley tour or go ice skating on Frog Pond or swim with the kids in the hotel's indoor swimming pool.
I am intrigued by a program at Le Meridien Hotel which has gone into partnership with the French Library in the city and presents quarterly Cooking and Etiquette Classes for children 8 to 12 years old. The hotel's culinary team will help the children prepare a traditional French lunch served in the hotel's lavish restaurant. During the repast, the children will be taught basic etiquette with a smattering of French vocabulary and geography and cultures of the different regions in France. This should be a wonderful experience for the children being introduced to French in the middle schools.
Feb. 17 will be the celebration of the Chinese New Year 4700: the Year of the Horse. There will be floats in the Chinatown area of Boston on Beach Street with floats of horses and the ubiquitous dragons. The celebration will include special pastries, traditional Chinese music, dance and exploding firecrackers to help chase away the evil spirits. A wonderful spectacle for young and old, even though the sound of exploding firecrackers can be a little much.
If the weather permits, walking through America's historic city is a must. Seeing the Bunker Hill Monument with talks of the famous Battle, Paul Revere's North Church and the Paul Revere House and his Boston, listening to the Voices of Protest at the Old South Meeting House where the Boston Tea Party started, is reliving history. Imagine the Freedom Trail, the Black Heritage Trail, 300-year-old homes, and John F. Kennedy's Presidential Library. The whole family will find the Jacqueline Kennedy White House Years fascinating. The JFK Library has free admission on President's Day, Monday Feb. 18. The 40th anniversary of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's appearance on the world stage will be noted with special selections from the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum. Sixty of the original costumes and accessories that she wore at state events in America and abroad will be on display. You will see the coat and pillbox hat she wore for the inaugural ceremonies on the steps of the Capitol on Jan. 20, 1961, the ivory satin gown worn to the pre-inaugural gala, the red dress worn for the televised tour of the White House on Feb. 14, 1962, the beaded gown that dazzled Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna in 1961, the evening dress and coat that she wore to President De Gaulle's state dinner at the Palace of Versailles and the sever black dress worn for her audience with Pope John XXIII. Her contributions to the historic restoration of the White House will be featured with documents, film and photographs.
Historians credit her with having helped instill in Americans a deep respect and pride for their country's history and cultures. They claim that she has had a remarkable influence on Americans to appreciate art and historic preservation as an important part of American national policy. This program will end on Feb. 28.
Not to be missed is the Children's Museum with hands-on fun including Arthur's World, a construction zone, an indoor rock climb, water play and a two-story maze. Then there is the Concord Museum where Concord history began, the Discovery Museum, the Museum of Science, the New England Aquarium and Old Sturbridge Village where you can celebrate George Washington's Birthday with costumed Colonial figures and of course Harvard Yard in Cambridge.
The Museum of Science has the lost spacecraft: Liberty Bell 7 on display as part of a traveling exhibit. It was America's second manned space mission and the only spacecraft lost and never recovered for more than three decades. It sat on the ocean floor for 38 years in a spot deeper than the Titanic and was only recovered in 1999. Actually it's only the size of a refrigerator. Visitors of the museum are given insight into the politics of 1961, the space program, the mission, astronaut Gus Grissom's story and the recovery restoration of the capsules.
For information about Boston's special family-friendly and school vacation week deals, you can contact your local travel professional who can help plan your hotels, transportation with appropriate discounts etc. You can also call the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau at 1-888-SEE Boston toll-free.
Copyright by Marcia Abramson
E-mail: mascribe@aol.com
