The Museum of Ice Cream in Boston.
No one loves ice cream more than my eight-year-old daughter. It’s a fifth food group in our home. We’ve gone to dozens of ice cream shops across Rhode Island and sampled flavors from Cookie Monster (Lincoln Creamery) and Crumbling Bridge is Falling Down (Warwick Ice Cream) to Passion Fruit Guava (Big Feeling) and Birthday Cake (Clementine’s). So when I heard there was a Museum of Ice Cream in Boston, I just had to take her and make a mini girls’ getaway out of it. The museum features playful exhibits that teach about the history of ice cream all over the world, and most rooms highlight an icy treat for guests to sample and enjoy. The museum itself provides a cool respite from the sweltering heat in the city, and it can also be a good option for an unexpected rainy day or an alternative activity to an overcrowded beach.
Of course, you can drive into the city, but a good option is to take the commuter rail from Providence to beat heavy traffic and save on the high cost of parking (which can be $25-$75 and up per day). In fact, on weekends, commuter rail travelers can take advantage of unlimited travel for just $10 each ticket every weekend and on select holidays. Passes are valid on all lines and zones, which means you can go from Providence to Boston and back for just $10 per person.
The InterContinental Boston.
If you want to make a one-night getaway out of your visit, the perfect place to stay is the InterContinental Boston hotel, located on the Boston waterfront with gorgeous views of Fort Point Channel in Boston Harbor. It’s just a quick walk from here to the Museum of Ice Cream, as well as other attractions, including the Boston Children’s Museum, the Boston Seaport, the Boston Tea Party & Ships Museum and other attractions. The hotel also has a beautiful indoor pool and great dining options. It’s nice to stay in this area because you can walk everywhere and not have to jump on the T or take Ubers. It’s very close to the family-friendly Cisco Brewers Seaport beer garden and the Lawn on D outdoor event space. Even the North End is less than a mile walk away.
We started our day by heading directly to the Museum of Ice Cream in the afternoon. Tickets are only sold online by timed entry (to avoid overcrowding), and you can save money by going on off-peak hours, such as early in the morning or late afternoon/evening (note that it’s closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays). If you really want to save, 5:30-8:30 p.m. is the sweet spot. Keep in mind, the museum itself only takes about 1.5 hours to enjoy. It’s an Instagrammable adventure with lots of bright colors, games, activities and props. We had fun interacting with the exhibits that teach about the history of ice cream around the world, such as, flavors you might find in India, Japan or the Middle East. The photo opps are endless and the ice cream is unlimited at the different stations spread throughout the museum.
The rainbow tunnel at the Museum of Ice Cream.
We sampled three different ice cream treats at various points, including a Friendly’s ice cream bar at the entrance (chocolate brownie, caramel waffle cone, cookie dough or dark chocolate cherry), a Creamsicle-flavored soft serve ice cream combined with vanilla at the “Creamliner” simulation that makes you feel like you’re on an airplane landing in an ice cream world, and a deconstructed lobster roll ice cream at the end (we missed the ice cream sandwich in the cookie room somehow, so make sure you look around in each room and don’t just breeze through). We went through the rainbow tunnel, and investigated what was behind freezer doors in the Hall of Freezers (think games and trivia and secret rooms). You can go back around through the museum as many times as you like to try those treats again. We also had some cotton candy in the ballpark room called Funway Park.
Guests exit into a retro-style diner where there’s an ice cream soda fountain with a counter serving additional scoops of ice cream for $6, as well as boozy ice cream beverages for adults (additional charges). After enjoying the interactive exhibits, you can head downstairs to the sprinkle pool and gift shop, where you are welcomed to jump into a pool filled with pink jimmies and plummet down the slide.
The sprinkle pool at the Museum of Ice Cream.
Then, if you want to jump into a real pool, head back over to the InterContinental for a refreshing dip before dinner. Speaking of dinner, there are several dining options inside the hotel, including Italian cuisine at Matria with housemade pasta and steak options, buttery rich risotto and seafood orzotto. Bar Fellini offers slightly more casual dining with meat and cheese boards, burgers, sandwiches, salads and margarita and artichoke focaccia, plus a great dessert menu. The hotel also offers fireside s’mores kits that you can use at the outdoor firepits by the water.
The interior of Matria, inside the InterContinnetal Boston.
For adults, there’s also a secret cocktail den inside the hotel. Loyall Counting Room is inspired by the Colonial era and the city’s “upstarts, rebels and free-thinkers” with cocktails that reflect on Boston’s history, such as the Gentlewoman’s Rebellion: Resist the Patriarchy, and they even have one called the Gaspee Affair (I’m not sure if they light it on fire—hello Rhode Island!). Then next morning brings breakfast or weekend brunch at Matria, including caponata focaccia with two fried eggs, pomegranate molasses, pine nuts, arugula and basil or the DiParma eggs Benedict with twenty-four-month-aged prosciutto di parma and basil hollandaise.
The view at the InterContinental Boston.
Since the hotel isn’t too far from the North End, Boston’s Italian section of the city, we capped off our visit with a jaunt to my old stomping grounds. My father and I made so memories in the North End, and I hadn’t really been back to visit some of these childhood spots since I was a kid. The first stop was Galleria Umberto pizzeria, a tiny bakery that is only open three-and-a-half hours a day from 11 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m. (closed on Sundays), but you better get there early, because they will close early if they sell out of pizza. Then we headed over to Mike’s Pastry for lobster claws and cannoli. You’re either a Modern Bakery or Mike’s fan, and my family was always all in on Mike’s.
The pastry case at Mike’s Pastry.
In my mind, Mike’s Pastry looks the same way it did when I was a kid, similar to the nostalgic Scialo Bros. Bakery that was founded in 1916 in Providence’s Federal Hill. But Mike’s is all modernized now with multiple registers feeding multiple lines that run out the door and down the block. A bright white interior illuminates sterile glass pastry cases filled with treats. I bought my dad a lobster claw, as he’s currently in a rehab facility and ailing from dementia. Even though the bakery looks much different from my memories, one bite of that lobster claw and pistachio-dusted cannoli transported me and my dad right back to my childhood. I wanted to trigger his memory through food, and it did just the trick.
But I will say, the experience at Mike’s made me thankful that here in Providence’s Federal Hill, we have preserved the look and feel of many of our beloved family-run spots, so not only do they taste the same, they also still look the same. So the next time you head to Scialo Bakery, Tony’s Colonial, Caserta, Angelo’s and Camille’s (and okay, the back bar and “vintage room” at the new Wally’s that used to be the Old Canteen) take a moment to appreciate just how lucky we are.
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