June 21 holds the distinction of being the first day of summer and the longest day of the year. This year it also held the distinction of being one of the nicest weather days of the young season, and with the warmth and the sun came sunny outlooks for Boston area tourism.
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Street performers drew a crowd in front of Quincy Market at Faneuil Hall.
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Durgin Park , one of the many restaurants in Faneuil Hall Marketplace, traces its roots back over more than a century.
General Manager Seana Kelley-Chase, standing in the empty restaurant as it geared up for the lunch crowd, said business had been good and expressed optimism for a busy summer.
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"The rain has been tough on us because it is an outside market area. We're excited about the nice weather and a great summer,” Kelly-Chase said.
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As the kitchen geared up for the lunch crowd, a waitress carried some signature Durgin-Park dishes -- a two-pound lobster and a platter of prime rib.
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Standing by one of the WWII amphibious landing vehicles, converted into sightseeing “Ducks,” that make up his company's fleet, Boston Duck Tours assistant director of marketing and sales Bob Schwartz said business had been good so far.
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“April was up and May was even," Schwartz said. "So, so far we're a little bit up but we're only up a little because May was such a wash out with the rain. The river was running so wildly that we had to cancel a number of tours.”
"We can only hope for the best and hope for good weather," Schwartz said. "Normally in the summertime we sell out."
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The fifth grade class of Riverside Elementary in Danvers stood next to one of the Ducks prior to their tour.
"It's our annual end-of-year trip," fifth grade teacher Linda Carroll said. "The kids love it."
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The Ducks hold 32 people, are led by knowledgeable “ConDucktors,” and take visitors on an hour and twenty minute tour of the city.
(Photos And Text / Jack McCluskey, Boston.com Staff )
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A Tyrannosaurous Rex kept watch over the loading Duck boats outside of the Museum of Science .
Carole McFall, communications director for the museum, said she expects the fiscal year ending June 30 to see attendance for the year close to 1.6 million visitors -- an increase of 11.8 percent over the previous fiscal year.
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McFall attributes some of that success to the huge interest seen in one of its exhibits – “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination” – created in conjuction with Lucasfilm, Ltd.
“We broke attendance numbers during that exhibit's run,” McFall said in an email. “For example, during the last month the exhibit was here we had our best April ever, with more than 218,000 visitors.”
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The museum draws visitors for a variety of reasons, its exhibits, the Omni theater, the planetarium and the lectures, events and forums it holds. McFall said new exhibits planned should continue to attract visitors.
Exhibits like the "Theater of Electricity" have always drawn crowds -- the Tesla Coils pictured here are a popular stop on any museum visit.
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“We expect continued good attendance this summer with the opening of ‘BODY WORLDS 2: The Exhibition of Real Human Bodies.' [That] exhibit has been seen by 20 million people at science centers and museums worldwide,” McFall wrote.
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The New England Aquarium has three main attractions: the main building; a new IMAX theater; and its whale watches leaving from the pier behind the buildings.
Communications director Tony LaCasse said the Aquarium was just finishing its busiest period -- the school trip season.
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Aquarium visitors scoped out the seal tank outside of the main building. Located just past the ticket booths the seals are one of the aquarium's biggest draws.
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LaCasse said the penguins are one of the more popular destinations for visitors -- helped, he said, by the success of the movie "March of the Penguins."
“It's already been a good year," LaCasse said. "Our individual attendance, which excludes groups, through May is up 7 percent although May itself was down 11 percent.”
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Mark Duluk and daughter Lydia , of Cleveland , Ohio , examined the fish in the aquarium's main tank.
"We lived here for fifteen years but then we moved to Cleveland because we couldn't afford to live here anymore,” Mark Duluk said.
Lydia said she liked the sea turtle and her dad said “Gotta see the penguins.”
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Nuri Rosen, four and a half, and mother Louise spent some time watching the aquarium's most recent addition, a pair of northern fur seals.
"We're just killing time before our flight to Los Angeles ," Louise said. "Our flight was delayed when we got to the airport at 9 this morning. It was great to take the water-taxi over from the airport. This is wonderful.”
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The Boston Harbor Hotel, located just down Seaport Boulevard from the Aquarium features live entertainment four nights a week on its marina.
“Business has been really great," Carrie Campbell, director of catering for the hotel, said. "The busier the city gets the busier we become. We're experiencing far greater business levels than we experienced last year.”
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Campbell said the hotel, with its recognizable arch in the center serving as a kind of "Gateway to the city," as Campbell called it, has experienced increased foot traffic as the Big Dig has neared completion and looks forward to even more traffic when the Greenway is completed.
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Dave the doorman, a Boston Harbor Hotel institution according to Campbell , opened the hotel's front door for guests headed for their cars.
“We expect to be busy through early September because during the summer conventions and conferences are helpful to us," Campbell said. "The Convention Center is right there and the BCEC is close, we get a lot of business from them.”
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Visitors left the USS Constitution.
The ship itself, built in 1794, is still under the control of the US Navy and is open to visitors six days a week.
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The USS Constitution Museum is an independent not-for profit organization -- the only by-donation museum in Boston , according to director of education and interpretation Kristin Gallas.
“The majority of our visitation is from out of town," Gallas said. "We like to call ourselves the hidden jewel of the city because not many local people know that this is a good place to take the family on a day like today or even on a rainy day.”
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The museum's newest exhibit, called "A Sailor's Life for Me," allows visitors to dress, act and sleep as sailors would have aboard Old Ironsides during the War of 1812.
Gallas said the exhibit is designed to encourage conversation between families, with conversation prompts built right into the displays.
“Visitation is up. Like all museums it dropped off after 9/11 but it's been going back up.” Gallas said. “We average 250,000 visitors a year.”
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Melissa, right, Patrick and Kathy Gibson of Somerville played a game at the end of the Sailor's Life for Me exhibit in the USS Constitution Museum.
Patrick's favorite part of the museum was an exhibit where you can sail the ship, while Melissa said she enjoyed the hammocks the most. For this family, tourism is in their blood. “We've been here hundreds of times,” Kathy said, “my husband works for the Old Town Trolley.”