Essentials: Boston

On the Boston University Bridge, traffic stacks on top of itself in a rare and fascinating way. Boats glide along the Charles River below, trains rumble across a single track above them, and cars roll over a bridge built diagonally overhead in 1928. Meanwhile, planes often pass by in the sky as they approach Logan Airport. Four levels, four modes of transportation – all in one place.

It’s not just the Grinch who had a problem with Christmas – 17th-century Boston did too. From 1659 to 1681, celebrating Christmas was actually illegal. Puritan settlers viewed it as an “unbiblical” holiday – too much drinking, too much fun, and not enough piety. Even after the ban was lifted, December 25 remained a regular workday for years. It wasn’t until the mid-19th century that Christmas gradually became widely celebrated again.

On March 18, 1990, two men dressed as police officers walked into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum during St. Patrick’s Day festivities and made off with 13 ​works of art worth an estimated $500 million. Masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Degas simply disappeared. The artworks have never been recovered, and the perpetrators were never caught. The empty frames still hang in the museum as silent reminders of the perfect crime. To this day, it remains the largest unsolved art heist in ​history.

Since 1950, the Berkeley Building in Back Bay has featured a glowing weather beacon. Red, blue, flashing signals – each light pattern corresponds to a specific forecast: blue for clear skies, red for rain. If the light flashes, the weather is changing; if it stays steady, conditions remain stable. A rhyme sums it up: “Steady blue, clear view. Flashing blue, clouds due. Steady red, rain ahead. Flashing red, snow instead.” To this day, many Bostonians trust this system more than any weather app.

At ​Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, stands one of baseball’s most iconic features: the towering green wall in left field, affectionately known as the Green Monster. Fans love it for the unpredictability it adds to the game – the players, not so much. A ball that would have been a home run in most stadiums can ricochet right back into play here. Its biggest fan? Red Sox mascot “Wally the Green Monster,” who owes his name to the massive wall itself.