Touring Boston Through Google Glass

If you enter Boston from anywhere east of the city, there’s a good chance you’ll come in on the Massachusetts Turnpike — or The Pike, in Boston-speak. The Pike is the easternmost stretch of U.S. Interstate 90 (I-90) and spans the entire state of Mass., starting in West Stockbridge on the New York border and terminating in East Boston at Logan International Airport. It also affords one of the most unique views of the city’s skyline over the Charles River as you approach the downtown area.

Welcome to Boston! $1.25, please.

Established in 1837, Boston’s Public Garden, the first botanical garden in United States, is a peaceful oasis in the city’s bustling downtown area, packed with imported exotic trees and an array of brilliantly colored flowers of all ilk — when in season. “The Garden’s” Swan Boats, which, like the flowers, mark the warm-weather seasons, have been a tourist attraction for more than 130 years, and the bronze 1987 Make Way for Ducklings sculpture is particularly popular among tiny tourists and little Bostonians.

Beacon Hill, one of Boston’s oldest and most historic neighborhoods, is largely associated with the Massachusetts State House, which sits on the hill, and politics. But the neighborhood of tiny, one-way brick streets, curvy sidewalks, antique gas lamps and other homages to times past is also home to Acorn St., a cobblestone path referred to as “the most photographed street in the United States.” Acorn St. is photographed very often, but this just might be first time it’s been seen through Glass.

The Boston Common, the city’s central park and starting point of The Freedom Trail, is the oldest park in the United States. Established in 1634, “The Common” sits at the foot of Boston’s Beacon Hill and the Massachusetts State House, and it’s the home of The Frog Pond, which offers ice skating in the winter and swimming, carousel rides and yoga in warm weather. The Common also provides stunning views of sunsets behind city skyline if you’re lucky enough to pass through at just the right time.

Boston’s Chinatown, the third-largest Chinese neighborhood in the United States, is one of the city’s smallest yet most densely-populated areas. Passersby may be prone to sensory overload; Chinatown’s streets are tight, and delivery trucks rule; it’s covered in bright colors and unique signage; smells, pleasant and putrid, assault the nose; and somebody always seems to be yelling about something. There’s also no better place for dim sum or a bowl of glass noodles within the city limits. Its bright colors and neon lights make Chinatown one of the most visually interesting areas in Boston, and a traditional Chinatown Gate — with “foo dogs,” or guardian lions, at its sides — marks the entrance to the booming area.

Boston’s North End, the city’s Italian neighborhood and one-time home of patriot Paul Revere, is made up of tiny, twisty streets, myriad markets, quaint coffee shops and enough Italian restaurants to satisfy a Roman army. Character drips out of the aging brick tenements like spilled marinara sauce on checkered table cloths, and the smell of fresh food lingers long after the restaurants on Hanover St. close. Then there’s the cannoli. Ah, the cannoli.

Quincy Market, located in the Faneuil Hall Marketplace, near Boston’s Financial District, is a comfort-food lover’s dream. The building itself dates back to the early-1800s, when it was constructed to provide indoor shopping space for the burgeoning city. For most of its existence, Quincy Market has been used by merchants to sell some form or food. Today, its long central hall is literally lined with vendors selling seafood, baked goods, ethnic cuisine, meats, cheeses, ice cream and gelato, beer and wine, and just about anything else you can imagine.

Boston’s Bunker Hill Monument stands 221 feet tall atop the city’s Charlestown neighborhood. It marks the site of the first significant battle of the American Revolution in 1775. The stone monument hasn’t changed much at all in the nearly 200 years since it was erected. Today it’s open to visitors, who can climb the 294 steps to the top and then bask in what is possibly the single best view of the Boston skyline.

Fenway Park, home of the 2013 World Series Champion Red Sox, and Boston’s “lyric little bandbox of a ballpark,” is often referred to as the cathedral of baseball. That’s for good reason; built in 1912, it’s the oldest professional ballpark in the world, and it’s teeming not only with baseball lore, but also Boston history. The energy in and around Fenway during baseball season, at ballgames and other events, is always palpable — but the park is perhaps its most memorable on a quiet winter morning, when the tourists are gone and you can almost hear the park whisper about the millions who’ve come to pay tribute