Rapher's Log - Stardate 09/09/15
Well, from a traffic/driving perspective today was going to be better. After a wee bit o' confusion as to what we were doing on this day, we ended spending most of the day in Salem.
Right. Actually, it wasn't too bad. First stop, since we weren't venturing far, was breakfast at Red's Sandwich Shop, "Where the Locals Meet to Eat", featured on the Phantom Gourmet a few times, visited by us more than a few times. Good size portions, fast food (but not 'fast' food), good value for money. And it's located in an historic building, the Old London Coffee House. Allegedly, some folks met there back in the 1770s, to discuss their taxes and such. Sandra ordered a bacon & cheese omelet (with hash browns) with a side order of bacon. The waitress laughed and commented that Sandra must really like bacon. I ordered the same thing, to our waitress's amusement. The food arrive less than 5 minutes later, and we figured what the joke was. The omelet is quite big, with at least 3 big strips of bacon in it. No teeny bacon pieces or bacon bits, these were long strips of bacon. And the hashbrowns were big and not dried out. The side of bacon was four big strips of bacon. Yes, you definitely get your bacon fill with this order. So good.
Since it was still before 10:00, when most places open, we slowly meandered our way up to the visitor's centre, where all good visits to Salem should begin. Lots of flyers/pamphlets, some historic videos if you're so inclined, a gift shop (of course), washrooms. We picked up some flyers and, since it looked like today was shaping up to be another hot one, (and since it turned out some places weren't opening till later) we decided to take advantage of the Salem Trolley, which gives a 1 hour guided tour around Salem. Your ticket also allows you to get on/off at points around the city for 24 hours. (I sound like an ad for Salem tourism, don't I? *G*) In our case, it was also free - there had been a giveaway on Facebook earlier in the year, where they were looking for the 2000th person to like a certain post. I was either 2000 or 2001, but they gave me a pair of tickets anyway. We meandered back down Essex Street to the Old Trolley Depot to cash in the tickets. Then, back up to the Visitor centre to wait for the 10:30 trolley.
Actually, I forgot to mention (or write in my journal) that we also visited a display of wooden structures outside of the Crowninshield-Bentley house. I mentioned them a few days ago. Here's an article to explain what I'm talking about, you're allowed to walk inside of the structures, there are some lights in them.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/05/22/sculpture-salem-really-sticks-out/0W1fLRckbrYFk5AttzqaIK/story.html
Got on with a group of six people, all from England. Wires got crossed and our tour guide somehow thought we were with the English group. We gradually picked up other passengers, some more from England and a few from BC. I chatted with a few of the original English group, straightened them out as to which Witch museum was which. All in all, it was a good tour, great way to see the city but some of the facts that our guide was saying seemed a bit iffy, either not agreeing with, or directly contradicting with, facts we'd learned on previous visits. His explanation for 'coffin doors' was different from every other tour, but could make sense. (he said the extra door was just for extra visitors not to bring a coffin through) He said that the scenes in the movie "Hocus Pocus" where the parents were at a costume party (where the Sandersons sing "I've put a spell on you") was filmed at a house on Chestnut Street, when it was actually the Old Town Hall. And we have another story to add to the "are people buried standing up in front of St Peter's Church?" question. (there are some small clusters of stones by the door, and they're extremely close together) His story is that the stones were carved in England and brought over, with the people they were intended for (ie. 'in advance')...those people had died en route and their bodies buried at sea, but their headstones completed the journey. We've also heard that the stones were discovered in the basement of the church and presumed to be for people who had commissioned the carving, but then were unable to pay so they did not take possession of the headstones. What's the truth? Who knows?
Anyway, finished there, grabbed something to drink and spent some time inside Museum Place Mall (lamenting that the Salem Toy Museum had to close but enjoying the comic store that was there), then continued back down Essex Street... Y'know, I joke that "All roads lead to Charter street" when we're in Salem but, if that's the case, then the road leading there must surely be Essex Street. *G* Anyway, popped into Harrison's comics, picked up a few things there, then arrived at the Witch House. Haven't visited it in a while, so we thought a revisit was in order. Some things have changed - in the past, visitors got a guided tour of the only house in Salem to have direct ties to the Witch Trials (it was Judge John Hathorne's house and many of the accused witches were brought here for examination). Now, it's a self guided tour. Photography is allowed (no flash), which I don't think was the case before, either. And the information seems less related to the Witch Trials and more focused on Herbology. It was interesting, none the less.
Unfortunately, my camera batteries chose to die at this point, which created a major problem for me. As you may recall from my UK trip last year, my camera developed a flaw in the door over the battery/memory card section, which requires me to majorly tape it down to get the camera to work. Once I'd peeled the packing tape off and replaced the batteries, the tape didn't really want to stick well. So, back up Essex, to CVS, where I bought a roll of duct tape. It didn't work perfectly, but it was the best I could manage. Still acted up a bit.
Our next stop, FINALLY, was Maria's Sweet Somethings for....dadadaaaaa..Pumpkin Ice Cream! Yay! Headed back to the room (possibly via Charter Street Cemetery again). Actually, there was a reason this time. Wanted to find Richard More's stone (he was one of the few Mayflower passengers who has a grave). Wanted to check his age, I bought a book in Plymouth about their Burial Hill and More gets mentioned, but his age didn't match the age our Salem Trolley guide have given. The Salem guide was right. Got back to the room, dropped off some purchases, relaxed for a bit, then headed back out to look for more Witch trials sites. And I picked up my watch at the front desk - it had fallen off, apparently, yesterday and I didn't notice it right away.
So, in the car we went, looking first for the Nathanial Felton House (a neighbour of John Proctor, he was the first to sign a petition proclaiming his innocence). We found it, but were unable to visit it. Then we went looking for some memorial stones put up for Giles & Martha Corey. They're located in West Peabody and, miracle of miracles, we found them quite easily (thank you Google maps!). Got turned around a teeny bit coming back to Salem, of course. Got too cocky about finding the other places easily. ;-)
Relaxed some more in the room, then went to dinner at Applebee's (tried the brunch burger, with a fried egg on it...it was ok), then some shopping in Michael's, AC Moore, Target, Starbucks. Got some more pumpkin cookies, pumpkin chocolate bars... But no Hallowe'en stuff. Kinda surprised that stores like Target had no Hallowe'en decorations out in the stores yet. As soon as the first day of school is past, our stores get the Hallowe'en stuff up. Bit bummed there, was hoping go get some Hallowe'en shopping done.
Tomorrow, we head west but not nearly as quickly as we'd have liked, find a secret garden, climb to a summit look off and spend a chunk o' change on chocolate.
Right. Actually, it wasn't too bad. First stop, since we weren't venturing far, was breakfast at Red's Sandwich Shop, "Where the Locals Meet to Eat", featured on the Phantom Gourmet a few times, visited by us more than a few times. Good size portions, fast food (but not 'fast' food), good value for money. And it's located in an historic building, the Old London Coffee House. Allegedly, some folks met there back in the 1770s, to discuss their taxes and such. Sandra ordered a bacon & cheese omelet (with hash browns) with a side order of bacon. The waitress laughed and commented that Sandra must really like bacon. I ordered the same thing, to our waitress's amusement. The food arrive less than 5 minutes later, and we figured what the joke was. The omelet is quite big, with at least 3 big strips of bacon in it. No teeny bacon pieces or bacon bits, these were long strips of bacon. And the hashbrowns were big and not dried out. The side of bacon was four big strips of bacon. Yes, you definitely get your bacon fill with this order. So good.
Since it was still before 10:00, when most places open, we slowly meandered our way up to the visitor's centre, where all good visits to Salem should begin. Lots of flyers/pamphlets, some historic videos if you're so inclined, a gift shop (of course), washrooms. We picked up some flyers and, since it looked like today was shaping up to be another hot one, (and since it turned out some places weren't opening till later) we decided to take advantage of the Salem Trolley, which gives a 1 hour guided tour around Salem. Your ticket also allows you to get on/off at points around the city for 24 hours. (I sound like an ad for Salem tourism, don't I? *G*) In our case, it was also free - there had been a giveaway on Facebook earlier in the year, where they were looking for the 2000th person to like a certain post. I was either 2000 or 2001, but they gave me a pair of tickets anyway. We meandered back down Essex Street to the Old Trolley Depot to cash in the tickets. Then, back up to the Visitor centre to wait for the 10:30 trolley.
Actually, I forgot to mention (or write in my journal) that we also visited a display of wooden structures outside of the Crowninshield-Bentley house. I mentioned them a few days ago. Here's an article to explain what I'm talking about, you're allowed to walk inside of the structures, there are some lights in them.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/05/22/sculpture-salem-really-sticks-out/0W1fLRckbrYFk5AttzqaIK/story.html
Got on with a group of six people, all from England. Wires got crossed and our tour guide somehow thought we were with the English group. We gradually picked up other passengers, some more from England and a few from BC. I chatted with a few of the original English group, straightened them out as to which Witch museum was which. All in all, it was a good tour, great way to see the city but some of the facts that our guide was saying seemed a bit iffy, either not agreeing with, or directly contradicting with, facts we'd learned on previous visits. His explanation for 'coffin doors' was different from every other tour, but could make sense. (he said the extra door was just for extra visitors not to bring a coffin through) He said that the scenes in the movie "Hocus Pocus" where the parents were at a costume party (where the Sandersons sing "I've put a spell on you") was filmed at a house on Chestnut Street, when it was actually the Old Town Hall. And we have another story to add to the "are people buried standing up in front of St Peter's Church?" question. (there are some small clusters of stones by the door, and they're extremely close together) His story is that the stones were carved in England and brought over, with the people they were intended for (ie. 'in advance')...those people had died en route and their bodies buried at sea, but their headstones completed the journey. We've also heard that the stones were discovered in the basement of the church and presumed to be for people who had commissioned the carving, but then were unable to pay so they did not take possession of the headstones. What's the truth? Who knows?
Anyway, finished there, grabbed something to drink and spent some time inside Museum Place Mall (lamenting that the Salem Toy Museum had to close but enjoying the comic store that was there), then continued back down Essex Street... Y'know, I joke that "All roads lead to Charter street" when we're in Salem but, if that's the case, then the road leading there must surely be Essex Street. *G* Anyway, popped into Harrison's comics, picked up a few things there, then arrived at the Witch House. Haven't visited it in a while, so we thought a revisit was in order. Some things have changed - in the past, visitors got a guided tour of the only house in Salem to have direct ties to the Witch Trials (it was Judge John Hathorne's house and many of the accused witches were brought here for examination). Now, it's a self guided tour. Photography is allowed (no flash), which I don't think was the case before, either. And the information seems less related to the Witch Trials and more focused on Herbology. It was interesting, none the less.
Unfortunately, my camera batteries chose to die at this point, which created a major problem for me. As you may recall from my UK trip last year, my camera developed a flaw in the door over the battery/memory card section, which requires me to majorly tape it down to get the camera to work. Once I'd peeled the packing tape off and replaced the batteries, the tape didn't really want to stick well. So, back up Essex, to CVS, where I bought a roll of duct tape. It didn't work perfectly, but it was the best I could manage. Still acted up a bit.
Our next stop, FINALLY, was Maria's Sweet Somethings for....dadadaaaaa..Pumpkin Ice Cream! Yay! Headed back to the room (possibly via Charter Street Cemetery again). Actually, there was a reason this time. Wanted to find Richard More's stone (he was one of the few Mayflower passengers who has a grave). Wanted to check his age, I bought a book in Plymouth about their Burial Hill and More gets mentioned, but his age didn't match the age our Salem Trolley guide have given. The Salem guide was right. Got back to the room, dropped off some purchases, relaxed for a bit, then headed back out to look for more Witch trials sites. And I picked up my watch at the front desk - it had fallen off, apparently, yesterday and I didn't notice it right away.
So, in the car we went, looking first for the Nathanial Felton House (a neighbour of John Proctor, he was the first to sign a petition proclaiming his innocence). We found it, but were unable to visit it. Then we went looking for some memorial stones put up for Giles & Martha Corey. They're located in West Peabody and, miracle of miracles, we found them quite easily (thank you Google maps!). Got turned around a teeny bit coming back to Salem, of course. Got too cocky about finding the other places easily. ;-)
Relaxed some more in the room, then went to dinner at Applebee's (tried the brunch burger, with a fried egg on it...it was ok), then some shopping in Michael's, AC Moore, Target, Starbucks. Got some more pumpkin cookies, pumpkin chocolate bars... But no Hallowe'en stuff. Kinda surprised that stores like Target had no Hallowe'en decorations out in the stores yet. As soon as the first day of school is past, our stores get the Hallowe'en stuff up. Bit bummed there, was hoping go get some Hallowe'en shopping done.
Tomorrow, we head west but not nearly as quickly as we'd have liked, find a secret garden, climb to a summit look off and spend a chunk o' change on chocolate.