Bradshaws Take Boston! (cont.)
Day 5
I had big plans for being in the Boston area shortly before Halloween, and one of them was to spend a day in Salem! We woke early on day 5 and caught an Uber to this Boston suburb. The Halloween season was in full swing there, and we had a great day getting our BOO on!
We started at Count Orlock's Nightmare Gallery, an amazing wax museum dedicated to the horror movie genre. I loved this place so, so much. You can't take any photos inside, but it's a veritable treasure trove of horror's greatest hits: the Phantom of the Opera, WolfMan, Count Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon. As you move through the exhibits, you see more recent characters: Linda Blair from the Exorcist, the creepy clown from It, Michael Myers, Alien/Predator, Freddy Krueger, even a Gremlin or two! And the placards that go with each figure tell the history of the movies, the actors, the characters, and the makeup skills that made them famous.
The replicas are really good, the lighting is appropriately creepy, and it's obvious that someone who absolutely LOVES movies is running this place. All three of us really enjoyed this stop.
Afterwards, we walked around Salem a bit until we found the Salem Witch Trials Memorial. Here, you'll discover cantilevered stone markers for each of the 20 victims of the Salem witch trials. Each stone is engraved with a name. Though the final resting place of these individuals is unknown, this memorial is adjacent to Salem's historic cemetery. It's an incredibly moving memorial, especially if you are a history buff and/or a student of The Crucible. Visitors often leave flowers and other mementos on some of the markers. We even found some notes left by descendants of one of the victims.
Afterwards, we explored the historic Old Burying Point cemetery, finding the grave of Justice John Hawthorne, ancestor of author Nathaniel Hawthorne and one of the witch trial judges. (Boo. Hiss.)
By this time, we were jonesing for lunch. We stopped in at Bambolina for some pizza! This place turned out to be a happy surprise! The pizza was fantastic, and we had the sweetest/most attentive server! Clay made art with the supplies they provided at the table, and we had a great time eating lunch next to a sunny window.
For a sweet treat afterwards, we stopped by Ye Olde Pepper Candy Company, said to be where the first commercially made candies in America were produced. We purchased a few pieces to try, purely in the spirit of quality control. (Heh.)
American author Nathaniel Hawthorne was a Salem resident, and his book The House of Seven Gables is based on an actual house that you can tour. The English major in me couldn't resist! Admission gives you access to a guided tour of the house. Parts of it are historical, and parts of it are the result of later renovations, but the whole thing is fascinating. (We got to walk up a secret staircase to the attic!) Once you're finished touring the house, you can relax in the gardens and also tour Hawthorne's house, which has been relocated to the same site. (The gardens are lovely and front the water. It was refreshing to just sit here a while and cool our heels!)
Quite by accident, we stumbled upon The Lost Museum, a jump-scare haunted house attraction. On a lark, we went inside. What fun! In the first room, Clay got a little scared, but once he realized it was all just a show, he relaxed and enjoyed it. (I also advised him to be on the lookout for good ideas, as we planned some of our own jump scares at our house for Halloween trick-or-treaters this year.) It had been ages since I'd done something like this, and I had forgotten how much fun it can be to be (safely) scared!
Before leaving Salem for the day, we also stopped by their visitors center, which details the maritime history of the area and offers some fun films and activities. We also spent some time in the town green, sprawling on the grass while Clay made the most of the playground. On our way out of town, we took in the sweet downtown with its performance artists and snapped pics with the Bewitched statue.
All in all, a fantastic day!
Day 6
During our family trips, we spend most of our time together. But, as I am an art fan, and hubs and Clay are decidedly not, I generally sneak off for at least one morning to snoop through a museum or two. So, on day 6, the guys stayed at the apartment for some down time while I did some solo exploring. I started at The Mapparium. A small fee gets you inside this three-story glass globe, which is a wonder of acoustics and colored glass. During the guided visit, multimedia stories are projected on the inside of the globe, with arresting effect. A delightful (and quick) stop!
From there, I set my sights on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. This place was on my must-list, and I am so glad I got the chance to go! A wealthy art lover, Isabella amassed an impressive art collection, one she chose to showcase by building this incredible museum specifically to house it.
She herself was involved in the architectural design and in selecting which pieces to display together in which settings. The museum does not feature extensive plaques to interpret or explain the works. Rather, the visitor moves through an immersive art experience designed by the founder herself, taking it all in and drawing unique conclusions.
In addition, Isabella left strict instructions that no pieces were ever to be moved or rearranged. So when the museum suffered a robbery in 1990, works that were stolen could not be replaced with other paintings. Today, the spaces on the wall where these priceless paintings used to hang are represented by empty frames. A moving comment on what is not there.
The interior courtyard is a thing of beauty, and the whole museum feels so personal, like a big, lovely house to which one has been invited as a guest. I loved, loved, loved it.
After a day of art tromping, I was hungry! I met back up with the boys at Gaslight, a French brasserie, for an amazing dinner. After wine, mussels, fries, and dessert, it was back to the apartment for bed!
Day 7
On our last full day in Boston, we slept in and got a late breakfast. Then, we ventured out for a tour of the Samuel Adams Brewery. The tour is free, and guides take you first to an area where you can smell and touch hops, barley, and some of the other ingredients they use to make beer. Then, you go to the big, open room where the beer is actually being brewed. The tour ends in the tasting room, where you get to try 3 or 4 different beers. Some of the beers offered in the tasting room are in R&D, so they aren't available for commercial purchase yet. (And they have root beer for the smaller set! Clay loved sipping his IBC from a glass bottle!)
This was a really fun stop, and I could tell that hubs particularly enjoyed it!
After our tour of the brewery, it was off to another Boston landmark - Fenway Park! Now, I don't care a thing about baseball, but I thought it was something Clay and hubs would really like. We got there early and checked in. The tour starts at the memorabilia shop, and from there, you cross into the park itself. Guides take you through the stands to some of the oldest seats in the park, and then you get to go up to the top of the Big Green Monster! After swinging back around to see the one red stadium seat in the park (the place where the furthest hit in the park's history landed), you end in the little museum on the ground floor, where you can see baseballs signed by some of the greats and look at cool photos and sporting artifacts.
What I loved about this tour was the guide. He told so many funny stories and relished explaining the history of both the park and the Red Sox to us! He had the whole group laughing! We also got to see some of the players practicing on the field before we left, which was neat.
We stopped at the nearby Beerworks for lunch, chowing down on yummy burgers and fries. Then, we hopped an Uber to Cambridge, where we ambled around the Harvard campus and Cambridge Common. We snooped through Longfellow House and its adjacent park before strolling the banks of the Charles River, where we saw tons of rowers getting ready for the annual regatta.
Tuckered out by this time, we hopped a car back to the apartment, where we packed up! The next morning, it was back home! I really enjoyed our visit to Boston. We learned so much, saw so much, and ate so much! What a great city!!
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| The Salem Witch Trials Memorial |
We started at Count Orlock's Nightmare Gallery, an amazing wax museum dedicated to the horror movie genre. I loved this place so, so much. You can't take any photos inside, but it's a veritable treasure trove of horror's greatest hits: the Phantom of the Opera, WolfMan, Count Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon. As you move through the exhibits, you see more recent characters: Linda Blair from the Exorcist, the creepy clown from It, Michael Myers, Alien/Predator, Freddy Krueger, even a Gremlin or two! And the placards that go with each figure tell the history of the movies, the actors, the characters, and the makeup skills that made them famous.
The replicas are really good, the lighting is appropriately creepy, and it's obvious that someone who absolutely LOVES movies is running this place. All three of us really enjoyed this stop.
Afterwards, we walked around Salem a bit until we found the Salem Witch Trials Memorial. Here, you'll discover cantilevered stone markers for each of the 20 victims of the Salem witch trials. Each stone is engraved with a name. Though the final resting place of these individuals is unknown, this memorial is adjacent to Salem's historic cemetery. It's an incredibly moving memorial, especially if you are a history buff and/or a student of The Crucible. Visitors often leave flowers and other mementos on some of the markers. We even found some notes left by descendants of one of the victims.
 |
| Enjoying the garden at the House of Seven Gables |
By this time, we were jonesing for lunch. We stopped in at Bambolina for some pizza! This place turned out to be a happy surprise! The pizza was fantastic, and we had the sweetest/most attentive server! Clay made art with the supplies they provided at the table, and we had a great time eating lunch next to a sunny window.
For a sweet treat afterwards, we stopped by Ye Olde Pepper Candy Company, said to be where the first commercially made candies in America were produced. We purchased a few pieces to try, purely in the spirit of quality control. (Heh.)
American author Nathaniel Hawthorne was a Salem resident, and his book The House of Seven Gables is based on an actual house that you can tour. The English major in me couldn't resist! Admission gives you access to a guided tour of the house. Parts of it are historical, and parts of it are the result of later renovations, but the whole thing is fascinating. (We got to walk up a secret staircase to the attic!) Once you're finished touring the house, you can relax in the gardens and also tour Hawthorne's house, which has been relocated to the same site. (The gardens are lovely and front the water. It was refreshing to just sit here a while and cool our heels!)
Quite by accident, we stumbled upon The Lost Museum, a jump-scare haunted house attraction. On a lark, we went inside. What fun! In the first room, Clay got a little scared, but once he realized it was all just a show, he relaxed and enjoyed it. (I also advised him to be on the lookout for good ideas, as we planned some of our own jump scares at our house for Halloween trick-or-treaters this year.) It had been ages since I'd done something like this, and I had forgotten how much fun it can be to be (safely) scared!
Before leaving Salem for the day, we also stopped by their visitors center, which details the maritime history of the area and offers some fun films and activities. We also spent some time in the town green, sprawling on the grass while Clay made the most of the playground. On our way out of town, we took in the sweet downtown with its performance artists and snapped pics with the Bewitched statue.
All in all, a fantastic day!
Day 6
 |
| The Titian Room at the Gardner Museum! I love the red! |
During our family trips, we spend most of our time together. But, as I am an art fan, and hubs and Clay are decidedly not, I generally sneak off for at least one morning to snoop through a museum or two. So, on day 6, the guys stayed at the apartment for some down time while I did some solo exploring. I started at The Mapparium. A small fee gets you inside this three-story glass globe, which is a wonder of acoustics and colored glass. During the guided visit, multimedia stories are projected on the inside of the globe, with arresting effect. A delightful (and quick) stop!
From there, I set my sights on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. This place was on my must-list, and I am so glad I got the chance to go! A wealthy art lover, Isabella amassed an impressive art collection, one she chose to showcase by building this incredible museum specifically to house it.
 |
| I loved how Isabella arranged her collection. |
In addition, Isabella left strict instructions that no pieces were ever to be moved or rearranged. So when the museum suffered a robbery in 1990, works that were stolen could not be replaced with other paintings. Today, the spaces on the wall where these priceless paintings used to hang are represented by empty frames. A moving comment on what is not there.
The interior courtyard is a thing of beauty, and the whole museum feels so personal, like a big, lovely house to which one has been invited as a guest. I loved, loved, loved it.
After a day of art tromping, I was hungry! I met back up with the boys at Gaslight, a French brasserie, for an amazing dinner. After wine, mussels, fries, and dessert, it was back to the apartment for bed!
Day 7
 |
| Touring the Samuel Adams Brewery |
This was a really fun stop, and I could tell that hubs particularly enjoyed it!
After our tour of the brewery, it was off to another Boston landmark - Fenway Park! Now, I don't care a thing about baseball, but I thought it was something Clay and hubs would really like. We got there early and checked in. The tour starts at the memorabilia shop, and from there, you cross into the park itself. Guides take you through the stands to some of the oldest seats in the park, and then you get to go up to the top of the Big Green Monster! After swinging back around to see the one red stadium seat in the park (the place where the furthest hit in the park's history landed), you end in the little museum on the ground floor, where you can see baseballs signed by some of the greats and look at cool photos and sporting artifacts.
 |
| Fenway Park! |
We stopped at the nearby Beerworks for lunch, chowing down on yummy burgers and fries. Then, we hopped an Uber to Cambridge, where we ambled around the Harvard campus and Cambridge Common. We snooped through Longfellow House and its adjacent park before strolling the banks of the Charles River, where we saw tons of rowers getting ready for the annual regatta.
Tuckered out by this time, we hopped a car back to the apartment, where we packed up! The next morning, it was back home! I really enjoyed our visit to Boston. We learned so much, saw so much, and ate so much! What a great city!!
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| Rowing on the Charles River |
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