Day 7: Salem, Part 2, and Boston

Monday started with some fun in Salem (note: the name "Salem" always makes me think not only of Days of Our Lives (we didn't see Bo, Hope, or Marlena), but also that creepy cat on "Sabrina the Teenage Witch." Cheapest looking puppet ever!). The weather was gorgeous and perfect for walking around. We started our morning with a visit to the Salem Witch museum, which gave historical information about the witch hunts (so fascinating), coupled with these recreations of scenes that used creepy, creepy mannequins. Not so creepy: the tour guide who was dressed in period clothing. The fact that I saw her drinking an Iced Coolatta a few minutes prior to her presentation lessened the historical authenticity. After the museum (and a photo op of the giant statue of Samantha from Bewitched), we headed over to see the House of the Seven Gables, the house upon which Nathaniel Hawthorne based his book of the same name. Hawthorne's birth home was conveniently located next door, as it had been purchased and moved to the same site. Couldn't the owners have made more money and charged for two tours if they had kept the house in the same place? I don't know. The night before, we had parked near the House of the Seven Gables and wanted to check it out, but we heard the strains of Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me" coming from the visitors' center and figured out there was a wedding going on. The House of the Seven Gables was beautiful, and the fact that it had a secret stairway in the chimney made it that much cooler. We stopped for lunch at a cafe called In a Pig's Eye (giant, giant nachos and quesadillas), then headed to Count Orlok's Nightmare Gallery. Count Orlok's was a museum of giant statues of famous horror movie characters, ranging from Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera to Freddy Krueger and Jason. It was really great, and provided a lot of history about the movies. Thankfully there was not a Chuckie exhibit. The owner of the museum was a really great guy who played a zombie trivia game with us at the end of the tour. As Brian so eloquently just put it, the owner was "well versed in all things that are horror."

We were soon introduced to a different kind of horror: driving in Boston. After recalculating our route in Google Maps for the billionth time, we finally found our hotel (located on Tremont and Boylston right by Boston Common) and had our car parked in valet, where we thankfully would not see it for a couple days. I can only imagine how horrific it would be to drive from place to place in Boston as the city is not on a grid system. In fact, we learned from an elderly gent in Boston Common that back in the day, George Washington insisted that any street in Boston that crossed Washington Avenue had to have a different name on either side of the street (ie Summer Street turns into Winter Street after it crosses Washington). The man could have been pulling our leg, but it sounds like a good story. After getting situated, we headed to Fenway (taking the T for the first time, which is like their version of the L and surprisingly not at all confusing) to see a Red Sox game. We loved Fenway; the fans were fun, they had a 50/50 raffle (which made Brian feel at home), and the park was beautiful. We also got discounted hot dogs because we were there during "Family Hour." Lobster rolls were available at Fenway too, but that just seemed wrong to me. Plus, they weren't on sale. Unlike going to a Cubs game (or a Jackhammers game, for that matter), the fans actually stay for the whole game and for the most part, pay attention to the game. I say "for the most part" because of the Chatty Cathies behind us that droned on for the entire game about their children, camping, teaching, and anything else not having to do with the Red Sox. Even though they lost, the game was neat because they played the Oakland A's and it was Nomar's first game at Fenway playing for that team. The Red Sox fans seemed as excited about Nomar as if he were still playing for Boston.

After the game, we did some bar hopping, stopping first for some food at Boston Beer Works, yet another brewery. This place had wonderful beer (shocking, I know), including a really great watermelon beer. We also had fantastic sweet potato fries. After that we took the T back to our hotel area and tried another bar called The Tam's, where we had some cheap regional beer that was apparently the Boston version of PBR and engaged in a favorite movie discussion with our bartender (he liked "Big Trouble in Little China"). We headed back to the hotel piano bar (whose clientele reminded me of somewhere the Golden Girls might hang out) for the world's most expensive Captain and Coke, before retiring for the night. More Boston next!