The American Sanitary Plumbing Museum Located in Worcester (pronounced wooster) - about an hour's drive from Boston city - this two-story warehouse is filled with toilets. Who can refuse an excursion to discover the history, depth and breadth of the world of potties? Outhouses, early flush toilets, bidets, sitz-baths... all have a place here; the engineering-minded youngster will enjoy the ground-floor exhibitions of plumbing tools, pipes and mechanics. Admission is free. Barrett's Haunted Mansion Rooms that swirl and tip and spin, walls that close in, strobe lights and checkered wallpaper. Floating ghouls and ghosts, demented clowns. There are 17 rooms just like this. If you can make it through all of them with your pants unsoiled, you can conquer the world. Boston Duck Tours Pardon? DUCK TOURS? Yes. For those who are unaware, a Boston DUCK is an original WWII amphibious landing vehicle which takes you on an 80-minute tour of the city on both land and in the water. The guides are conDUCKtors. You have to quack. It's unique. It's special. It's Boston. Faneuil Hall Marketplace Yes, it's touristy, but so what? It's great fun, and the actual hall is one of the key stops on The Freedom Trail. The original Faneuil Hall was built in 1742; it burnt down but was reconstructed in 1761, and was the meeting place for Samuel Adams and all of those nasty Boston revolutionaries as they formulated the plan to revolt against the British and create the free United States as we know it today. The Hall is aptly known as "The Cradle of Liberty," but is only one of four buildings that comprise The Marketplace. A cobblestoned central area is filled with artisans, jugglers, food stalls and entertainment every day of the week. Museum of Bad Art Touting "Art Too Bad to Be Ignored," MOBA has found a permanent home in a Dedham theater's basement, although exhibits are held around the city of Boston on a rotating basis. Admission is free, and you can even buy a bumper sticker rumored to be able to outlast your car. Check the Website for opening times and exhibits. Museum of Dirt Ummm, well, it's kinda dirt, and kinda not; kinda a museum, kinda not. Located in the offices of high-tech marketing firm Jack Morton Worldwide, the "museum" is the brainchild of Glenn Johansen, Director of Operations, and features such exhibits as Dave Barry's lint, pottery shards from a dive off the coast of England, and sweepings from Princess Di's crash site in Paris. Of course there is REAL dirt too, from Aruba to the Beverly Hillbilly's mansion. Smoots In 1958 members of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity at MIT decided to measure the length of the Harvard Bridge (which does not go to Harvard, but to MIT) to determine how far it was back to campus after a night out in Boston. They decided to use Oliver Smoot, a Lambda Chi pledge, for the measurement. The bridge was determined to be "364.4 Smoots and an ear..." Every year the markings are repainted every 10 Smoots; those markings are even used on police reports when describing accidents. Whale Watching The best trips are sponsored by the New England Aquarium, and you don't have to go out to Gloucester or Cape Ann to join an excursion. The season lasts from early April to the end of October, in boats specifically designed for the activity. The reasonable fare goes toward funding research at the Aquarium. MORE BOSTON HOTELS > From our partner Lodging.com MORE BOSTON HOTELS > From our partner TravelNow.com MORE BOSTON HOTELS > From Cruise Port Lodging