So a few days back we got up nice n early and trudged down to the port to catch a boat to Salem, a nearby historic town which is most famous for its witch trials and then hangings in 1692. This was our first boat trip so we took LOADS of pics on the boat trip looking back over the sunny cityscape of Boston... Don't know if you'll find these at all interesting but just in case ...
After the usual social dance with the locals on the boat ("oh you're from England! These people are from England too!") we sat back and enjoyed the stunning views of the New England coast. The sea front houses were idyllic, of the typical American style but with views of the ocean and set against little tufts of woodland. Most of them also had steps going down the cliff to their HUGE private yaughts... *sigh*. On arriving we wondered down a huge painted red line that conveniently took us to, and on a tour of the town. I swear I have never seen anything so many bizarre exhibits that claim to be 'museums' in one place. Every corner we took there was another Ghost museum, Witch wax works, Horror museum, Witch village, Witch life museum. It wouldn't be sooo bad had they not had big, tacky, Halloween-costume style window decorations that made them look really tacky and kitsch. We decided to go to 'the most visited museum in Salem', the Witch museum in hope that we might get a proper idea of the history of the town trials etc etc.
The give away should have been the big ugly hag statue and the painted witches on broomsticks out the front of the building but we were trying to keep an open mind! We were led into a large auditorium where we sat in the dark for about 15minutes before the presentation finally kicked in... honestly we had begun to believe that the 'horror' of the story would be being stuck in a room with about 50 motionless, silent strangers with no air con.... but that turned out just to be part of it!
After the usual social dance with the locals on the boat ("oh you're from England! These people are from England too!") we sat back and enjoyed the stunning views of the New England coast. The sea front houses were idyllic, of the typical American style but with views of the ocean and set against little tufts of woodland. Most of them also had steps going down the cliff to their HUGE private yaughts... *sigh*. On arriving we wondered down a huge painted red line that conveniently took us to, and on a tour of the town. I swear I have never seen anything so many bizarre exhibits that claim to be 'museums' in one place. Every corner we took there was another Ghost museum, Witch wax works, Horror museum, Witch village, Witch life museum. It wouldn't be sooo bad had they not had big, tacky, Halloween-costume style window decorations that made them look really tacky and kitsch. We decided to go to 'the most visited museum in Salem', the Witch museum in hope that we might get a proper idea of the history of the town trials etc etc.
The give away should have been the big ugly hag statue and the painted witches on broomsticks out the front of the building but we were trying to keep an open mind! We were led into a large auditorium where we sat in the dark for about 15minutes before the presentation finally kicked in... honestly we had begun to believe that the 'horror' of the story would be being stuck in a room with about 50 motionless, silent strangers with no air con.... but that turned out just to be part of it!
The presentation told the story of the trials... sort of... it seemed to add some weird comments and conclusions as to why the whole thing started... like the repression of young women (ok maybe...) then the idea of the devil as a black person causing these girls to go insane (what?). Then, to conclude, they tried to justify the whole thing by saying "19 people were killed in the village its ok, cause we weren't as bad as Europe... they killed more". Also they mentioned that it was a good thing in some way because it reminded Americans to be tolerant and in that way better than Europeans... (hmmm can you say Mc Carthy witch hunts?). Just as we raised our eyebrows the final concluding statement told us to "Ask Europe who the devil is and who's side he was on". You can understand why this caused offense to the few Europeans in the room who stared at each other in utter confusion and disbelief. We left with the cliche pagan anatromical midwife started talking about being a 'strong women'.
">After a wonder around the town taking pics of the old houses and gravestones we headed to the Peabody museum to see the Maori tattoo expedition which was very cool. Then we had a really delicious and HUGE dinner in a harbour front pub. I tried the local delicacy of clam chowder which was really very tasty. I thought I was very brave!
On the way home we did get a little scared as at the habor we were the only two people waiting for the last ferry home.... so when the 400 person capicty ferry arrived it was quite fun to go to the very front and play lots in the cold wind ( a much more sexy version of Titanic i think you will agree!) we also tried our hardest to get some pics of the city at night without a tripod. Still pretty but next time we will go more prepared!
1 comment:
Dear Leonardo and Kate
Fantastic pics of Salem and Boston. Adam stick with the windswept look you look like Johnny Depp in his pirate period :) I'm starting to feel a bit fed up that I'm back at work and your two are still in America having a ball :(
Happy Travels
Aunt T xxxxx
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