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$114 Million and a Spit Shine Revamps Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

We know, we know; it's freaking cold in Boston right now and it's not exactly your winter dream destination. Still, Boston has something up its sleeve during these slow months—the opening of a new wing to the Isabella Stewart Garnder Museum. The $114 million dollar addition designed by architect Renzo Piano houses 5,000 priceless objects, plus an interior garden courtyard and a cafe.

Potential art thieves will think twice about hitting here now, as a new entrance means beefed-up security. Lest we forget the curious case of the missing paintings, as Bloomberg refresh our memory: "in one of America’s most brazen art thefts, more than a dozen works were stolen from the Gardner in 1990, including three Rembrandts and a Vermeer. None have been recovered."

Of course, that's not what the Gardner Museum wants you to focus on as you tour the new wing's tapestry room, 300-seat recital hall and, of course, the galleries of paintings by the masters. If you'd like to see it all for yourself, tickets run $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $5 for students. If you're under 18, you're for free, and the same goes for anyone named "Isabella."

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Beer Travel / Drinking Travel / Beer Festivals / Festival Travel / Events / Boston Travel / Ohio Travel / Denver Travel / → All Tags

Porters, Lagers and Ales On Tap This Month at Three Winter Beer Festivals

The holidays might be over, but that doesn’t mean that the need to warm up with an adult beverage has gone away. Sure there aren’t any holiday beers at these festivals, but there are still plenty of winter puns available and brewers are doing their best to warm you up. Here’s three winter beer festivals arriving this January on three different weekends:

· Columbus Winter Beerfest – Columbus, Ohio:
When you think of craft brews and beers you might not think of Columbus, Ohio, but organizers of the Columbus Winter Beerfest are looking to change that. This year’s festival filled with winter warmers and hoppy ales takes place on January 14. The plan is to have like 250—or more—different beers from all over the place, and they’re expecting like 6,000 beer fans to enjoy each and every one. Things take place at the Greater Columbus Convention Center beginning at 6:30pm, and they even have hotel packages available at the local Hyatt in case you enjoy one too many.

Samples include pretty much every beer brewed in Central Ohio, as well as plenty of other options from outside the Buckeye State. Tickets will set you back $30 in advance, and that’ll get you 25 tickets for plenty of different samples including sips of Elevator Dirty Dick’s Brown Ale, Fat Heads Bumbleberry Ale, and Left Hand Milk Stout. Oh, and if you have a great time at this festival, be sure to check out their next event—there’s a summer beer festival in May as well.

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Get Romantic in Boston with a Trip Inspired by 'What's Your Number?'

What's Your Number? opens this weekend nationwide. It's a new rom-com starring Anna Faris as a woman who doesn't want her "number" to go above 20 so she revisits her past "relationships." The movie was shot in Boston last summer and given the nature of its subject, probably at some of the city's most romantic locations.

Here's a look at a few of the movie's filming locations which may just inspire you take a romantic Boston getaway of your own.

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Did You Know? Boston-Logan Airport Has Its Own Newspaper

UPDATE: We guess print is dead, as Massport informs us that the paper is no longer available (and we only just picked up a copy in May).

"Print is dead," hmm? We completely agree in some respects, but walking through several international airports, you'd never know it from piles of complimentary newspapers specially written, edited and printed for the passengers briefly transiting through said airports.

Thanks to an extra long recent layover at Boston-Logan, we discovered BOS' Logan Times, a thin rag that discusses such topics as airport security complaints, area tourism and airport amenities. It's not for the average traveler, but #avgeeks will rejoice at the sight of it.

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TSA Launches Israel-Style Behavior Profiling Program Called 'SPOT'

TSA has very slowly been moving toward Israeli-style behavior profiling since at least March, which was when we first covered this story. The news this morning is that the agency has finally launched a one billion dollar pilot program at BOS under the too-cute name "Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques"—SPOT—with the intention perhaps of eventually deploying it elsewhere. It seems to be modeled very closely on how the Israelis do things, which immediately raises the question of how exactly the agency intends to pull all this off.

"Behavior profiling" can actually mean at least two things. In the most basic sense behavior profiling it's just about passively watching people. This is the Las Vegas "eye in the sky" kind of profiling, where body language experts monitor the casino floor and can detect cheaters just by the way they walk around nervously. Setting up this kind of passive program is just a matter of having enough resources to train and employ people, and TSA already has so-called "behavior detection officers" in 161 airports (you can check out our background on that program here). But that's not really what people mean when they say "Israeli-style behavior profiling."

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Restaurant Week / Boston Travel / Food Travel / Budget Travel / → All Tags

Save Room for Dessert: Boston's Restaurant Week Gets Cooking in August

Huge news! Boston has announced the dates of their upcoming Restaurant Week. Okay, so you're like, "oh whatever, another Restaurant Week," right? While it's true that three-course dining on a budget does occur quite frequently around the country these days, Boston's Restaurant Week is special because it features many seafood restaurants...fresh seafood.

The dates to add to your iCal? August 14-19 and August 21-26, 2011. There's over 200 restaurants to choose from, and meals have more options and lower prices than you find at NYC Restaurant Week. It's a pretty worthy daytrip diversion if you don't live in Boston; we've done it before and you know we're already looking at BoltBus prices for this one.

Now for the pricing and featured restaurants:

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Sports Travel / Hockey Travel / Events / Parades / Massachusetts Travel / Boston Travel / → All Tags

Where to Party for the Boston Bruins' Stanley Cup Celebration on Saturday

Boston has had quite the decade when it comes to sports victories, and last night’s win by the Boston Bruins in the final game of the Stanley Cup Finals adds a hockey championship to the city’s trophy case. The fans in Vancouver haven’t been taking the loss too well, but on Saturday, Bruins fans in Boston will be happily hitting the streets to celebrate and honor the city’s latest championship.

At this point the city knows how to throw a victory parade, since like 2002 there have been three parties for the Patriots, two for the Red Sox, and one most recently for the Celtics. The fun will begin at 11am on Saturday—which means quite the crowd as most will be out of work—and will wind its way through the city.

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Airport Food / Food Travel / Boston Travel / Airports / BOS / Gross Travel / → All Tags

Would You Eat a Lobster Roll Bought at the Airport?

It's 9am at Boston-Logan International Airport and you've already used up the one hour of free WiFi. You're hungry and Panda Express and a brewery aren't the most appareling options. Hmm—how about a crab-stuffed cheese pretzel? No? Then perhaps a famous East Coast lobster roll? Believe it or not, Boston'a Airport offers both and they're pretty popular options.

The question now is, do you trust supposedly fresh seafood served at an airport? This is Boston, so there's the proximity advantage, but that doesn't forgive the fact that this lobster salad had to be made, transported here and then run through security checks of its own to reach this airside restaurant.

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Bike Sharing / Bicycling / Biking / Active Travel / Boston Travel / → All Tags

Boston Breaks Out Bike Sharing This Summer with 'Hubway'

No need to hit up Paris or London this summer to ride around in pay-per-ride bicycles, as another city here at home is getting ready for a two-wheel test. Boston is just about ready to unleash its public bike sharing system on the masses, so get ready for a wicked fun time.

Things are moving full speed ahead, and if all goes as planned, the new system—it's called Hubway—could begin as early as July. They’ll start with just 600 or so bikes at around 60 stations around the city, but they’re already thinking about explaining. Eventually the plan is to have like 5,000 bikes all over the greater metropolitan area including spots like Brookline and Cambridge.

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What Do JetBlue and Micro Machines Have in Common? The Answer: 'Mr. Nonstop'

If you call New England home, get ready for a wicked new advertising campaign from the minds over at JetBlue. They want everyone to know how great their flights from Boston are—and that most don’t require a layover—so they’re introducing the area to Mr. Nonstop over the next six weeks.

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St. Patrick's Day Travel / Ireland Travel / Holiday Travel / Dublin Travel / Boston Travel / Travel Deals / Travelzoo / → All Tags

Last-Minute St. Patrick's Day Deals to Boston and Dublin

St. Patrick's Day is less than two weeks away, so now's the time to make plans. But instead of hitting up your local pub for a beer-fueled evening—which is what you do every weekend anyway—hit up an authentic Irish city, whether it be locally in Boston or in the motherland in Dublin.

Check out some last-minute St. Patrick's Day deals after the jump.

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Restaurant Week / Food Travel / Events / Boston Travel / Seattle Travel / Brooklyn Travel / → All Tags

The Top Five City Restaurant Weeks in March 2011

Can you smell that? It's the sweet and warm aroma of a three-course meal being brought out to you for the cost of just one course. That's right; it's Restaurant Week season again, and we've rounded up the best five in the coming March weeks. Most are already open to booking, so text your friends to see when they're free and then get on it:

· Boston, MA: March 6-11 & 13-18. Yo, Bostoneers! No need to hop a Chinatown bus for the two-hour trip to NYC for Restaurant Week anymore, as it's finally your turn for discounted menus. One season, we traveled to and hung out in Boston with friends for several days for the express purpose of chowing down during Boston Restaurant Week, and let us tell you it was worth it.

The extensive list of participating restaurants is already open for booking, and meal pricing is thus: 2-course lunches for $15.11; 3-course lunches for $20.11; and 3-course dinners for $33.11. Weird prices, but maybe it's special for 2011? Anyways, find out more information and book your tables at the official OpenTable site.

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