Month: September 2016
Location: Boston & Salem
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| Aah Boston! |
Growing up, the one name that everyone knew as regards the
educational institutions in the US was ‘Massachusetts
Institute of Technology’ or ‘MIT’. Through that grew my interest in the city of
Boston and the region of New England.
Thus, I was delighted to be able to come to Connecticut for my studies
and the very first weekend that I was here, we took a trip to Boston. Over the next several years, I had been to
Boston dozens of times, either for a conference, work, visiting friends, sporting
events, concerts or for food. But never had
I gone to Boston as a tourist, well at least not like I am doing during this
quest. Of all the places that I should have known intimately, it was Boston. But I
didn’t; and so was excited to visit for a new adventure.
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| 'Boston Common' at night |
I arrived early in the evening and took the free bus service to downtown, which many other passengers besides me were
availing of. I was dropped off at ‘South Station’ and then I had to rely
on my phone maps to navigate the narrow streets. After a few wrong turns I found my hotel and
went to my room to plan my evening.
There really wasn’t much to do and so I started towards the ‘Boston Common’ park and discovered that
the path towards that was through some of the more charming streets that I have
seen. As I have said in the past, I am
extremely fond of cobblestone or brick streets and hidden within this part of
town was an entire such block that was full of people enjoying the pleasant
evening. I walked through the park which
is to Boston what ‘Central Park’ is
to New York City. Passing by a fountain,
a carousel and a baseball field, it felt like a perfect introduction to the
vibe of the city, something to draw you in before throwing you into the hustle
and bustle. I had dinner
reservations in a place called ‘O Ya’
and after that I returned back to my room for an early night.
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| Outside 'Fenway park' |
I woke up early next morning since I had scheduled a guided
tour of ‘Fenway Park’, home of the “Boston Red Sox". This is a team that I root
for, along with the other sporting teams of this region. I had given myself enough time to take a
train there, but when I entered the station, I saw that all of the vending
machines said “cash only” and since I
did not have smaller change, I had no choice but to take an ‘Uber’ there. I was dropped off at the stadium and it took
me some time to locate the right window to claim my ticket. I was told to wait across the street, outside
the official “gifts store” and very
soon a sizable crowd assembled. A
couple who was standing in front of me started a conversation and I learned
that they were from Kentucky. The guy
mentioned that his dad had brought him here as a kid and he had decided to come
back years later with his wife. “Red Sox” have a certain mysticism to
them which extends beyond this region and has fans all over the world.
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| ...and inside |
A lady with a microphone and a speaker – she carried it like
a pouch – took us inside the stadium and in to the stands. There was some sort of high school
practice/tryouts going on and with that as the background, she told us about
the history of the park as well as the team.
We were then taken on top of the famous “Green Monster”, which in my opinion has the best view, and told
about some other memorable moments from the rich history of the club. The tour continued through the press boxes
and all around the stadium, concluding in the museum behind the club
house. It had been an educational look
at one of baseball's premier clubs and after saying bye to my new friends; I
left for my next stop.
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| Invitation to 'The Fairy Shop' |
I decided to walk back towards downtown and on the way came
across a nice coffee shop called ‘Pavement
Café’, stopping for a quick breakfast.
I walked passed the ‘Hynes
Convention Center’ – site of the numerous conferences that I had attended
over the years – and on to “Newbury
Street”, which is Boston’s version of the “5th Avenue”, with boutique stores. This is where I came across one of the most
unique stores that I have seen. As I
went past the stores a sign caught my eye, so much so that I had to retrace my
steps. It said simply ‘The Fairy Shop’ and fascinated by it, I
peeked inside. What I saw was nothing
short of, well…magical. There were
objects and things that are every little boy and girl's delight; as well as
something for the inner nerd in you.
There were “Unicorns” and
other magical creatures, along with paraphernalia from numerous fantasy
movies. But what made this store great
was its owner. He was a friendly man who
I had a wonderful time chatting with, for he was the sort that truly believes in magic.
Before I left the store he sprinkled some “fairy dust” on my gift bag…just for good measure.
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| Sights on the tour |
As great as this stop had been, I was now running late and
so hastened my step towards ‘Boston
Common’, where I was scheduled to go on “Freedom
Trail Walking Tour”. One of the
signature landmarks in Boston is the “Red
Line” that runs through the streets; a 2.5 mile path that takes visitors
through some of the iconic locations from Boston’s history. While this tour would not be that long, it
was still going to cover many landmarks.
I was frantically searching for the meeting point, when I noticed people
wearing some 18th century attire and realized that those were our
guides. There were different tours
departing at the same time and I was with a gentleman who told us at the
beginning that he would be in character throughout our time together. For the next 90 minutes he took us around the
area, through the historic sites and regaled us with tales from the “Revolutionary War”. We even saw a “changing of the guard” ceremony before dispersing.
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| At the 'Mary Baker Eddy Library' |
Being a long weekend, everywhere in Boston there was a
huge crowd, not least at the harbor where there was hardly enough room to
walk. I was trying to locate a place called ‘Barking Crab’ for lunch and
while it was on the waterfront, it was also deceptively far. I arrived to see that it was full and had an
hour long wait. Fortunately, I was able
to grab a table by the bar and after a quick lunch, called an ‘Uber’ for my next destination, ‘Mary Baker Eddy Library’. While library is dedicated to Mary Baker
Eddy, the founder of the famous “The
Christian Science Monitor”, the main attraction of the library is a room
known as “The Mapparium”, one of the
more unique places that I have seen. It
is essentially a 3-story stained-glass globe, within which one can stand and
view the world as an inside-out globe; with all the continents and oceans all
around you. There is a short show with
lights and music which gives the audience a thrilling experience. This was the main reason I had come to this
place and well worth the visit.
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| Waiting for my dinner reservations |
I got dropped off at the harbor and purchased a one-way
ferry ticket to take me to Salem the next morning. I returned back to the room and stayed there
for a bit before going for my dinner at ‘The
Tasting Counter’, which is in Somerville, a suburb of Boston. I was dropped off on a street which was dark
and deserted, with absolutely no signs indicating where the place was. There was a brewery next door and upon asking
they said that the doors would open soon.
Having been to restaurants like these I should have known that it
wouldn’t be that evident and when I did go inside, it looked like a commercial
building. The dining room was still being used by the earlier round of guests and so I walked around looking at some
artwork and even some really expensive chocolate.
Once inside, I was extremely impressed by the place, the setting, the
service and the food. I was back at my
room at a reasonable hour, which was great since I had a day trip planned for
the next day.
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| On my way to Salem |
Next morning, I walked over to the harbor and there was already a line to get on the ferry. It was a
clear and pleasant day and I was looking forward to the hour long ride to
Salem. I got a seat on the top deck and
as we pulled away from the harbor, even though the wind had picked up, it still
made for a good start. Then we hit the
open water and everything went sideways.
The wind was now brutal and the boat was rocking up and down making it
extremely uncomfortable for everyone. It
wasn’t as if the storm clouds were gathering or rain was in the air. It was still a beautiful day. Around me, I could see people were struggling
to walk and many were now just counting the minutes till we arrived. The captain had been on the microphone giving
us information on the sights and after a point no one really cared, preferring to hang on to dear life instead. Plus we couldn’t hear him over the wind. As we got closer to Salem, it got better and
pulling into the harbor wasn’t as bad. I
was glad that I had purchased a one-way ticket and was going back to the city
on a train.
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| The beautiful streets of Salem |
I had wanted to visit Salem for several years, but never
made it out there. Salem is knows for the
infamous “Witch Trials” from the late
17th century; and reading about the town beforehand, it seemed like
it was the most prevalent tourist attraction.
As I walked down the streets, I was struck by how pretty small New
England towns are and this one was no exception, reminding me of Newport in
Rhode Island. I had reserved a spot on a
walking tour, and not just an ordinary historical walk of the town. This one was called “Salem Witch Walk” and it would be led by a real “witch”.
I arrived at the starting location which was a house with a store not
unlike the “Voodoo" shop that I had
encountered in New Orleans. Plus, they
had a “Fortune Teller”, meaning that I just had to
sign up for a session!
A few people started assembling and soon we were joined by
our “witch”, who turned out to be a
male. Now, having read the “Harry Potter” series, I believed that
the term “witch” was for females,
though that is a misconception.
According to our guide, it is a generic terminology for those practicing
“witchcraft”, which does not deal
with nefarious things as is believed, but rather a channeling of positive
energies. We started by doing a ritual
in the backyard, with included idols, incense sticks, stones and even a
sword. We concentrated our thoughts on good things and imbibed with that
energy, set off on the tour.
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| The ingredients for our "ritual" |
We walked through the town, stopping at various places where
our guide told us the historical significance of that place, not least the
graveyard where he recounted the horrific tales of what happened during the
trials and the places where those accused are buried. It was truly a gruesome story of people being
persecuted on hearsay and being condemned to death via some cruel methods,
including being crushed to death. But it
wasn’t just about the bad. He took us through the main street – lined with
bricks – and into some of the shops where one could make write down someone’s
name as an offering and which would be burnt and sent as “positive energy” to that person on “All Saints Day”. He showed
us pictures on how the town is transformed during the month of October, leading
up to the huge parade on “Halloween”. It seems like that is the time to come here
and I certainly hope that someday I am able to.
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| The props at 'Witch History Museum' |
The tour had been good and I walked back with the guide to
the store for my appointment with the “Fortune
Teller”, who turned out to be a lady sitting in the back of the room. She started by setting a 15 minute timer on
her phone and then after a bit of shuffling and cutting of the “Tarot Cards”, proceeded to tell me
about all the good things that are coming up in my life including abundance of
happiness, job satisfaction and travel.
Then seeing that there was still some time left on the clock, she added
a few other tidbits and picked 5 stones for me, which signify certain things that I
have already forgotten. To her relief, by
then the time was up and I was able to move on.
There are several museums in Salem with the word “witch” in them and I stopped at one such museum called ‘Witch History Museum’. They had a 30 minute tour which started in a
room with a stage and a set. After a
brief performance, we were escorted to the basement, which had a walking path
through different props and life-size puppets and scenes which told the story
of the trials. It was actually quite
well done in terms of the setting and the story, and well worth the visit.
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| Outside the 'Salem Witch Museum' |
One of the best periods of my life was my time in Pittsburgh
and the friendships that I developed over there, especially with my
ex-colleagues. One of them, Shawn, lives
in Northern Massachusetts and in fact used to live in Salem. So I texted to tell him that I was visiting
and to my surprise, he said that he would be there in 45 minutes. We decided to meet in a place called ‘Life Alive’, which is an “Organic Vegetarian” café. I ordered my food just as he got there and we
caught up over the next 30 minutes or so.
He then took me for a walk through the town, telling me stories about
the time that he lived there, before dropping me off at the ‘Salem Witch Museum’. It had been wonderful meeting him after all
these years and I truly appreciated him coming out to see me.
In a town full of museums, the ‘Salem Witch Museum’ prides itself on being the premier
attraction. There is a huge statue of a “witch” outside the museum and a line to
get in. After a brief wait I was able to
get inside a hall with chairs lined up against the walls and also in the center
of the room. I picked the center, which
turned out to be the right choice since all around the room, towards the
ceilings, was where the story was being staged via mannequins and other scene settings. All I had to was turn around as the story was
told and by the time it had covered the "360 degrees", so had I. The poor souls who were sitting against the walls
missed anything that happened above them.
There was another exhibit through which we were taken and then it was
over.
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| Late afternoon at the town square |
I had just enough time to visit the ‘Salem Wax Museum’ – where for the umpteenth time today I heard the
story of the town. After that, there was nothing much to do but walk through the
town prior to my train. It was a
pleasant time and people were out on the main street. There was a big crowd at the train station
and I learnt that the only way to get a ticket was on the train and with
cash. I literally had $2 remaining after
purchasing my ticket and was thankful that I had not spent cash on some of the
souvenirs prior to leaving Salem. The
train dropped me off in downtown and using my trusted map on the phone, I
walked back to the hotel.
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| "Copley Plaza" , where I would be back in 3 weeks |
I was going for dinner to a place called ‘L ’Espalier’ and decided to walk the
mile or so distance. It was a nice walk
and as I passed the “Copley Plaza”,
it was quiet and abandoned - a stark contrast to how it would be when I return
back in 3 weeks for the “Jimmy Fund Walk”. As I settled for dinner, I took a peek at the
weather for the next day and noticed that a storm was headed to Boston. It was supposed to hit the city late afternoon, right around the time that I was scheduled to
depart. I wanted to visit a couple of museums in the morning, but getting back home was a bigger priority than that. So I checked with “Southwest” and was able to change my ticket to a flight in the
morning. This also meant that I had to
hurry through dinner and get back to my hotel sooner than I had planned. I took a cab to the airport early next
morning and returned back to Chicago in the afternoon, well before the
storm…which never happened. Not one drop
of rain. Well, I may have missed half a
day in Boston, but it had been a good trip.
I felt like I had truly “visited” Boston
for the first time. Plus Salem had been
fantastic, charming New England
town. This was "State Number 24" and would conclude 2 years
of travel since I started.
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