Boston Red Sox-Fenway Park

For many Boston tourists, Fenway Park holds a top position on their "Must See while in Boston" list. Home of the Boston Red Sox, Fenway is both the smallest of any major league baseball facility and the oldest still in use. It's also one of the last to use hand-operated score boards.

That's part of what makes Fenway so special. Most of the seats are close to ground level . . . and speaking of ground, the Red Sox play on real grass, not artificial turf. If you're used to watching baseball games from the huge stadiums in other cities, you'll be amazed by how close you are to the players and the action on the field. You can hear the crack of the bat against the ball - and who knows, you might even catch one!

Here are a few things you should know to get the most out of your visit to this famous Boston destination:

- Consider staying in one of the nearby hotels in Boston's Fenway neighborhood. Hotel Commonwealth, Hotel Buckminster, the Eliot Hotel (actually in Back Bay), and Howard Johnson Fenway Park are all within 5-8 minutes walk of the ball park. Not only will you enjoy the short walk to the park, but if you celebrate in any of the nearby bars and nightspots after the game, you'll appreciate the equally short walk back.

- While you're in Fenway Park, be sure to check out the Green Monster. This famous 37 foot left field wall compensates for the unusually short left field - and its quirks have caught many players from out of town teams by surprise, much to the delight of Red Sox Nation, as local fans are called. If you want a quintessential Fenway experience, try to get seats in the section on top of the Green Monster that was added in 2003.

- If you plan to attend a game, be sure to get your tickets as soon as you know the dates when you'll be in Boston. They sell out quickly. Current seating capacity for day games is 35,692 and for night games its 36,108. Back in the 1930s, Fenway used to pack in almost 47,000 spectators but changes in the city's fire codes in the 1940s dramatically reduced seating by almost one third. On the other hand, the Sox became so unpopular at points during their long losing streak with the Yankees that at couple of points in the 1960s, they played to crowds of less than 500.

- If you can't get tickets for the game that you want to attend, don't despair: Fenway sells a limited number of Game-Day tickets. Sales start 2 hours before the game, and you can line up 5 hours ahead of time. Of course, you may not want to spent that many hours of your visit to Boston waiting in line for tickets that you might not get.

- If you still don't have a ticket, you can pursue 3 more reasonably good options: 1) join others without tickets and watch the game on a big screen at one of the popular Boston bars near Fenway, 2) go on one of the Fenway Park tours given when the Red Sox aren't playing, and/or 3) extend your visit to Boston long enough to get tickets for another day.