Just A Little Hocus Pocus

October 5, 2015

Jason and I went to the breakfast room later than usual, but still on time for breakfast. Below are pictures of our food--I know, I know... we keep getting the same thing! It's just that good!

After breakfast we returned to our room to finish getting ready. Jason noticed a picture that was hanging in the room and took a picture of the picture (To quote Jason, it was so meta!). He took the picture because it is a picture from the museum of what our room looked like way back when. Literally a picture of the room we are staying in from centuries ago! How cool is that!

In no time, Jason and I were back on the streets of Salem. We had spent some time in the hotel room blogging, which means we were hungry for lunch by the time we left. We decided to try New England Soup Factory since we had eaten so much the day before. We walked all over Salem and couldn't find it. Jason had remembered seeing it early and I remembered him pointing it out, but neither of us knew where to go. We eventually gave up and went here instead:

This is Red's Sandwich Shop. It is apparently a favorite of the locals. To the left of the door is a sign that reads "London Coffee House." Below are pictures:

It was called the London Coffee House because back in the 1700s the colonies boycotted tea (you know, taxation without representation of... tea). Apparently coffee houses became very popular around this time period and this was a major one. Jason and I had learned from our tour guide the day before that this was a popular spot for revolutionaries and even Paul Revere. We decided to give it a go. We were seated immediately with no wait, right by an old fireplace that was fully decorated for Halloween, as everything in Salem is. We learned later that this place is almost impossible to eat at without waiting long periods of time for a table. Apparently we were lucky! Below are pictures:

The picture below if of my view. . .

Jason with his fruit and bacon, egg, and cheese on rye bread. He let me have a bite--delicious!

Me with my eggs and spinach. I originally just ordered eggs with spinach and a side of bacon. They ended up bringing me that plus rye bread and fried potatoes... I didn't complain. It was delicious! I let Jason have a few bites--okay, maybe I begged him to have a few bites. It was so much food!

After lunch, we returned to the brick-lined streets for a stroll. We ended up at Salem Commons where we enjoyed people-watching. We also kicked around acorns as we walked. We decided to take some acorns home with us and try to plant them in our yard. How cool to have an Acorn tree from Salem in our own yard! I hope it works. Jason and walked around and around the Commons and discussed what we hope life will look like in years not yet gone by--we hope to live up north by the bay and be able to visit parks like this. It was lovely. 

Although I didn't get any pictures of Salem Commons at this visit, I did take the picture below. It is of a house directly across from the Commons. I love how everything is fully decorated. There were pumpkins in each window, corn stalks to line to entryway, and mums by the brick path. It's so charming here!

After walking around a while, Jason and I decided we should go out and do something. We came across this--the witch museum:

This was something we wanted to do when on our honeymoon, but we ran out of time and money. We thought we'd give it a go today. We walked over and learned they were about to begin the "tour" in only 15 minutes. We purchased tickets and got in line. The museum was . . . so, so. It was in what used to be a church (a rather beautiful one). It wasn't much to speak of--the tour. It reminded me a lot of Modern Family when Jay goes to the Lincoln exhibit. Just a wax statue, only in Salem the statue's don't move. They had a man with a creepy voice tell the stories of the witch trails while putting a spot light on some wax statues. After the story telling, we went into another room where they walked us through the history of the perception of witches, and how they have changed over time. After the tour, we were shown the gift shop--how thoughtful of them! We heard two guys as we were leaving discussing the stickers they had. Each of us was given a sticker to wear which showed our purchase of the tour. One guy asked his friend what he wanted to do with his. His friend replied that he would press it and put it in a scrapbook beside his prom corsage. We laughed pretty hard. It was funny. 

Jason and I decided to continue walking around Salem after the tour. We ended up at Maria's Sweet Somethings again, but purchased chocolates and one witch petit fours this time. Below are pictures:

I named the witch Matilda, shortly before eating her. Jason and I split each chocolate so we could taste all of them. One was caramel, one was maple, one was called decadence (dark chocolate truffle rolled in cocoa), one was peanut butter fudge, and the last was hazelnut fudge. All good! 

Jason and I returned to the room after purchasing our candy. We ate it in the room, trying desperately not to get any chocolate on the bedspread. We then blogged and just goofed off in the hotel. At one point Jason randomly started singing. I asked if he had heard the song he was singing but realized after asking it that there was no music playing for him to have heard it. I asked if he hears things in his head because of his random singing. He said, in his very Jason-like manner, "I do. They are called thoughts--you should have some sometime." Ouch! He's good! No worries though--I was able to laugh at him shortly after this happened. There is an unknown door in our room that we have ignored. Jason opened it, curious what was inside. Turns out it connects to another room. Jason panicked because he couldn't close it back--they have very very old locks and door handles here (the house was built in 1834). His face was priceless!

After goofing off in the room for a bit, Jason and I decided to head out for dinner. We picked the Rockafellas, which also has the name "Daniel Low & Co" on the side. This is because it used to be many different stores in the past--it was built in the early 1800s. Pretty awesome restaurant. Below are pictures:

The picture below I took on a ghost tour we did later on today. Supposedly this restaurant is haunted. They say employees have seen a woman in blue walking toward them, screaming. . . we saw no such thing while eating dinner.

Below is Jason's pumpkin beer:

My apple cider mimosa (cinnamon and honey on the rim):

My crab cakes and green beans:

Jason's flatbread with figs, goat cheese, and prosciutto:

Jason's snicker's martini:

After dinner, Jason and I continued to stroll around Salem, which is apparently our favorite thing to do here. Below are pictures of Maria's Sweet Something restaurant decorations... I love this shop:

The ice cream in the above picture is massive! Almost the side of us! So cool :^)

After walking around for a while, Jason and I planned a ghost tour! We saw a sign for one in Derby square, went up the stairs, and purchased two tickets. The tour would be starting in roughly 20 minutes (seems we have a knack for doing things right before they start). We browsed their shop (mainly photos from previous ghost tour people who say they have "orbs" in the photographs). Soon we and a large group began to form outside the building, waiting on the tour. Finally a guy shows up with a speaker and begins telling us about our plans. He is apparently an English major and currently in college (although he's middle aged... guess he figured out what he liked later one, pretty cool). He walked us through many different places that were supposedly haunted. Here are pictures:

This is a picture of Jason, I do not believe he is haunted... just waiting for the tour to start.

Below is a picture of the John Ward house, supposedly haunted. 

The picture below is also a picture of the same house. It is currently owned by the museum and used for research purposes--no tours. The cool thing that our guide pointed out was the door. . . it was filled with nails for no reason. Shows a very large excess of nails, which they deadened on the inside to prevent from poking out. This supposedly is what leads to the expression, dead as a door nail.

Below is a picture of Clue Mansion, as mentioned previously in our blog.

The picture below here is a picture of the Witch House. This is apparently the house of Jonathon Corwin, the famous judge from the witch trials that everyone hated.

Below is a picture of a Unitarian church which was the first church in Salem. Supposedly haunted as well.

The picture below is my favorite. This is of a very beautiful home in Salem, which was used in the movie Hocus Pocus. It was the house Alison lived in. It, too, is supposedly haunted. He actually took us into the garden of this home (currently maintained by the museum). Supposedly the garden is haunted... we saw nothing.

Although I don't have pictures of the Salem Inn (the hotel we are currently staying at), this Inn is also supposedly haunted. Particularly room 17 is supposedly haunted. It is said that you can hear little girls laughing and supposedly the parlor is haunted too. Unless these little girls are disguising themselves as adults with domestic issues--we have seen nothing.

Three strange and somewhat funny things happened while on our tour. The first happened at the Hawthorn Hotel. Supposedly this is haunted. While looking at it, one guy said "Look, there's a face in that window!" We all looked to where he was pointing and there was, indeed, a face in the window... a face of a real live woman staring at all of us. She waved to us and then we waved back. It was hilarious!  The second thing, was while we were walking, the tour guide's son showed up. He then joined us for the rest of the tour. The last thing was when we were near a Dunkin Donuts (they are everywhere here) and a either crazy or drunk man began yelling at two people in our group. Nothing serious happened and we were able to leave without issues, but it was a little weird for a second. First time we've seen that here.

On the way back to the hotel, we took a picture of Samantha from Bewitched:

This statue is new and was not here the last time we were visiting. Pretty cool. We also passed a shop called "Vex" on the way back. Our tour guide told us that the owner also owns one of these shops in New Orleans-- we've been to it! We actually bought some things from there when we visited LA. Crazy! The end of today.