It was hardly an ice cream day.

The rain began as a light drizzle. By the time we had visited the final stop on our ice cream odyssey through Harvard Square, the open skies bled a full-fledged downpour.

The Square's unparalleled ice cream selection made our morning tense and our time precious--six ice cream appointments in a four-hour period gave us little time to dawdle over our plastic spoons and paper dishes. Notebooks in hands and hair dripping, we scanned the atmosphere, checked the prices and tasted the wares: Chocolate, Vanilla and one or more of the stores' speciality flavors.

Winning the most praise from Crimson reviewers is Herrell's, a brightly-painted shop on Dunster Street whose murals depict jungle and sea scenes. A converted bank, the store features "the vault," a seating area that definitely cozy, if a tad claustrophobic. The prices here are high--$1.68 for a single scoop, $2.57 for a double--but it's well worth it.

In addition to our usual Chocolate and Vanilla, Herrell's gave us Chocolate Pudding, Espresso and Malted Vanilla. The Chocolate was rich and sweet, the Vanilla creamy. Chocolate Pudding was extremely rich--a scoop of this was not too different from a scoop of chocolate icing. And the Malted Vanilla won points for originality and tastiness from malt ball fans. The espresso was a bit more bitter than regular coffee ice cream and left an aftertaste.

Herrell's offers traditional ice cream concoctions like shakes and floats as well as "smoosh-ins"--regular flavors mixed with toppings like strawberries or M & M's.

Before Steve Herrell opened the chain that bears his last name, he founded Steve's ice cream. Although he sold off his interest in his original business, the store remains. Two years ago, The Crimson blasted the Church Street franchise, calling it "amateurish." But our recent trip to Steve's yielded far more positive results.

steve's has a yuppified atmosphere with ampleseating space. It's a better place for a date thansome of the Square's smaller ice cream shops, butcan't compare to Herrell's eclectic atmosphere.Slightly higher prices match the decor--a singlecone costs $1.75, a double $2.45.

The shop offers "smoosh-ins" of candy andcookies, and a companion cafe also sellshamburgers and bagels. In addition to chocolateand vanilla, we tasted Coffee Mud Pie, PeppermintChocolate Chip and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

Steve's ice cream is less gooey than Herrell's,and is thicker and harder--spoonbreaking hard, asone of our reviewers discovered. Although some ofthe flavors were disappointingly icy, most had asurprisingly balanced taste--neither too strongnor too weak.

The cookie dough flavor had smaller chunks ofdough than its Ben and Jerry's counterpart, but abetter ice cream base. Chocolate Mud Pie andPeppermint Chocolate Chip were rich and creamy,although the chips in the overly strong peppermintice cream were small and tasteless.

Another ice cream gem is Toscanini's. Locatedin Central Square, it's a bit of a hike--but thewalk is a great way to burn off some ice creamcalories. And sometimes a little leg work isnecessary to find the only ice cream parlor gutsyenough to blast the Pet Shop Boys over itsspeakers.

Toscanini's spacious shop is definitivewarehouse-chic. Wooden beams line the ceiling, thewalls are unadorned brick and flowers sit in glassbottles on every table. In the window next door tothe shop, we could watch the ice cream-makingprocess at work. And with single scoops at $1.35and double scoops at $2.14, Toscanini's is highlycost-efficient--that is, if you don't factor inthe 85-cent T fare.

Like the music on the stereo, the Toscanini'sice cream we sampled was far bolder than theSquare's offerings. With our Chocolate andVanilla, Toscanini's workers offered us a verystrong Rum Raisin and a daring Raspberry Peach.

The vanilla, made with egg, was subtle, with ataste that didn't hit right away. Although itfailed to win as much praise as Steve's Chocolate,Toscanani's was excellent. A beautiful soft browncolor, it had just a hint of bitterness.

Rum Raisin was too strong for our sensitivepalates, but the fruit was praised for itsplumpness and freshness. Raspberry Peach wascreamy and full of raspberry seeds, which provedthe ice cream was naturally flavored, but gotcaught in some of our teeth.