Welcome to Boston!

Though Boston is a small city, it is hard to get around by car. Wise AIDers who follow our suggestions will park at one place for the weekend and do as the natives by using public transportation.

Here's a clickable map of the MIT campus. You can park your car for free on Memorial Drive, or for $9 a day in the MIT visitor parking lot on the corner of Mass Ave and Vassar Street. The map also includes links to other parking spots around MIT.

Better known as the T, the subway system is your best bet for getting around. There is a stop near MIT at Kendall Square that forms part of the Red Line. From here, you can conveniently travel through Cambridge to Harvard Square or to downtown Boston to Park Street. Most of urban Boston is within a 15 minutes walk to a T stop (). Note that Monday will operate on a Sunday schedule, depriving you of the bone-crunching rush hour experience. Fare is 85 cents to travel anywhere within the system. Alternatively, you can purchase a one-day unlimited travel pass for $5 or a three-day pass unlimited travel pass for $9.

The Route 1 bus is another convenient way to travel up to Central and Harvard Squares and across the bridge to Boston along Mass Ave. The closest stop is the main MIT entrance at 77 Mass Ave. Fare is 60 cents per trip.

ATMs

To find the ATM in the Infinite Corridor, start at the main MIT lobby on 77 Mass Ave and keep walking forever. ATMs are located on your left. ATMs are also located on the ground level of the Student Center at 84 Mass Ave.

Places to eat and visit

Famished AIDers are directed towards the Student Center to Networks or La Verde, establishments that typically serve highly avoidable fare. More enterprising diners who venture beyond MIT will find that the natives are friendly and the food is delicious. We have some recommendations -

• Baraka Caf‚ (Tunisian) 80 Pearl St, Central Square
• Jambalaya 700 Main St, Central Square
• Kebab `N Kurry (Indian) Massachusetts Avenue, Central Square e
• Rhythm & Spice 315 Massachusetts Ave, Central Square
• Bombay Club (Indian) Harvard Square, Cambridge
• Brew Moon 50 Church St, Harvard Square
• Burdick's Chocolate Caf‚ Harvard Square, Cambridge
• Casa Mexico 75 Winthrop St, next to John F. Kennedy St, Harvard Square
• Tealux Harvard Square, Cambridge
• Daddy-O's Bohemian Cafe 134 Hampshire St, East Cambridge
• Marrakesh (Moroccan) 61 Cambridge St, Cambridge

The Italian restaurants in the North End of Boston are excellent, particularly on Hanover and Salem Streets. To get there, use the T to Park Street and transfer to Government Center. Then follow the signs to the North End. Don't forget to stop at Mike's Pastry for coffee and dessert on your way back! There are excellent clubs on Lansdowne Street and Boyleston Street. Our recommendations are Pravda and Sophia's (Latino Music). The Phoenix Landing in Central Square and the Blue Cat Caf‚ on Mass Ave are also good places to unwind.

You could visit Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, Minuteman National Park in Lexington, or just walk along Memorial Drive right opposite MIT. The more philosophically inclined could visit Walden Pond in Concord. Note that this weekend is a great time to observe that rare creature, touristus summeris, in its natural habitat in Faneuil Hall or Paul Revere's House.

Comments? More suggestions? Send a mail to Tarun.