Boston's nicknames include "Beantown", "The Hub" (shortened from Oliver Wendell Holmes' phrase 'The Hub of the Universe'), "The City of Higher Learning" (due to the plethora of universities and colleges in the Boston area) and - particularly in the 19th century - "The Athens of America," on account of its great cultural and intellectual influence. If you don't want to stand out as a tourist, don't refer to Boston by any of these nicknames. Locals generally don't use any of them.
Like in many other American cities, the centre of Boston harmoniously combines modern skyscrapers, old Victorian buildings and gothic-style churches.
Despite some unpleasant exceptions, it looks rather pretty (especially if we compare it with some other cities for instance, Chicago). There is an "intervening skyscraper tier" with buildings made of various building material found between the very high buildings and 4 or 5-storeyed houses and, therefore, the difference between the height and the style becomes less obvious, which makes it a real delight for your eyes.
Pavement gives place to the stone roadway with horses carrying their carriages despite the intensive traffic. There are also a lot of musicians, beggars, barkers and stands offering you all kinds of goods all over the place. All in all, the centre is really crowded and active life is boiling over.
Boston is also proud of its oldest metro in the United States. The metro scheme is rather simple, though not very logical. Moreover, some of the metro lines do not have "the lines" as such and go along the surface, which makes them look like tram lines.
