Salem, MA

Amazingly after almost 3yrs of living in Boston... I finally made the trip to Salem.  Not sure why it took me so long, as it's a relatively easy trip on the commuter rail.

 



The town of Salem has a population of  approx. 42,000 people.  With the main tourist attractions being walking distance to the commuter rail.  Very convenient.

 

Checking out the sights around town.  Definitely a lot of opportunity for one to get their palm read or fortunes told.

 

 

 Look there's a red line like Boston

 Enjoyed the brick

 

I really enjoyed the colors here with the purple house and the pink of the cherry blossom tree.  My camera didn't do it justice.

 

The window of one the local bookshops.  The inside of the store was rows and rows of books piled this way.  I have no idea how one is expected to find what they are looking for. 



 

 

While in town I visited a couple of museums.  The first one dedicated to the Salem Witch Trials.

 

Here are some facts you may or may not know about the "Witch Trials"

• Although known as "The Salem Witch Trials" Salem at the time was Salem town and Salem village an area much larger than what we today know as Salem  and also included the surrounding towns.
• The trials went from March 1692-May 1693
• The trials started when three preteen girls began acting in "strange" ways.  When the town physician was unable to diagnose them he proclaimed them to have been inflicted by the devil
• These girls then accused others of being witches.  Approx 200 people were accused with 19 being executed and 5 dying in prison
• Unlike popular belief the "witches" were hung and not burned at the stake.  Burning was done in England. 
• The first person to be executed was Bridget Sarah Bishop
• They even hung a couple of dogs
• Giles Corey was crushed to death instead of hung.  They later hung his wife
• The trials came to an end when the girls started to accuse some prominent figures of also being witches

A memorial.  In the early 1990's they started a tradition of honoring a humanitarian, in memory of those who died at the witch trials, to remind of us the harm that can be done by being judgmental of one another. 

Local Cemetery- those accused and hung were not allowed to be buried in the consecrated ground at the church. 

Statue of Elizabeth Montgomery as "Samantha" in Bewitched. 

 

Salem has more to it than its witch history.

 Had a fun time checking out the boats and the water. 

 

 Ahoy!

 

I also walked over to the "House of the Seven Gables".  Made famous by the book written in 1851 by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

a gable is the area of the roof that comes to a point.  The house in the book belonged a cousin of Hawthorne-Susanna Ingersoll who was an independent woman of her day. Refusing to get married so that her inheritance would not be passed off to her husband.

 When the house was reconstructed in the early 1900's it was remodeled to include both historically accurate parts and parts that came from the book.  No pictures were allowed in the house so unfortunately don't have any.

 Nice garden at "Seven Gables".  Interesting tour- I would recommend it to anyone visiting Salem.

I had a great time visiting Salem.  Feel I could have spent some more time.  Hope to make it back that way for some more exploring.

 

 

 



Kirkenes, Norway



Our final stop on our Norway Tour, Kirkenes is located way at the far northern tip of Norway, East of Finland and borders Russia.  

Audra just couldn't resist that slide

 



 

 

Wandering around the streets

 



Although relatively small their was quite a few shops and restaurants here.  Surprisingly we never went to this one

Being so close to Russia all the street signs are posted in both Norweigian and Russian

We wandered all over the city and then to help us thaw out decided to go see the museum.  It had a section on World War II, art work from a local artist and some other sections too.  It was actually very well put together and although mainly in Norwegian they had books with brief synopis on the exhibits in several languages.

That night we went and stayed in the Snow Hotel.  They explained that they make the hotel by blowing up giant balloons and then packing snow around them until they have enough to form a solid wall.  They then deflate the balloon and are left with the room. 

 

 

There were 24 rooms total all with different carvings on the wall

 

 

 

Our room. Some how I don't seem to have a better pic.  

 

 

After a yummy dinner we went and took the kicksleds out.  Which unfortunately did not provide as much glide as we would have liked

 But is was a beautiful night and nice to be out

I'm pretty sure we have the distinction of being the first people to oversleep at the snow hotel. 

 

The next day we had a relaxing morning and then went snowmobiling in the afternoon

 

It was fun! But I definitely preferred being the passenger. We had Reindeer burgers for lunch.  Was very tastey, but the food from the King Crab outing definitely looked mouth watering.

 

That evening we went and had some drinks with a couple we met during our travels Joe, the only other American we saw and Sylvia a German. Bitte!  We ended up hanging with  some locals who were singing/playing guitar in the pub.  It was a great time. 

 

Kirkenes was a lot of fun! Definitely could see how people would want to live here.

 

 

 

Nordkapp, Norway



 After a night, on board the ship, we ended up at Nordkapp or at least I thought... until talking to some locals.  I still think we were there, just confusing cause we didn't drive out to whatever marker specified the location.  and they kept asking us if we were visiting Nordkapp...Yeah I thought that was where I was at.





This is a cute town, but man, not a whole lot to do here. Lets just say there idea of a pub and ours were not the same. Their idea- any diner who happened to stop by the local store and pick up some six packs prior to opening.



 We did enjoy exploring...

After walking what seemed to be the entire town, minus some residential spots, we decided to hit up one of the "pubs" for a drink and some lunch



while there the following occurred.  The lady next to me in her broken English grabs my hand, looks in my eyes and says-

Norwegian lady: "You go...you go now"
Me: "Um, ma'am, I'm still eating my lunch I'm not sure why you want me to leave"
Norwegian Lady:" No, you need to go- he loves you and he wants you to go"
ok, turns out he is Jesus and not the local hottie : )
Norwegian Lady:"you go now... you have beautiful soul, he loves you, and wants you to go."
Seriously food in Norway is not cheap maybe "he" could at least wait for me to finish my meal

in the meantime Audra and this woman's husband are just trying to pretend that they have nothing to do with this situation.  Not that I blame them.



Ok Nordkapp you've been interesting. Now time time to head back to the boat.  Onward we go- farther north!

Tromso, Norway

Day 2 we headed back to the airport and hopped on a plane to Tromso. Located at 69degrees North or 300km (190mi) inside the Artic Circle. I was wanting to put a map on here, myself being a visual person, but couldn't find any I liked. Needless to say it's up there!

Tromso is a very cute town with a population of close to 60,000 people and is surrounded by beautiful mountains and fjords

 

 

 

We went to the most Northern Brewery in the world while there and had some Norwegian beer called Mack.  Who knew Norge beer was so tastey?

Having fun checking out the sights

And the local wildlife

 

A beautiful sunset before heading out on the Northern Lights Tour

Still recalling the fiasco of the Northern Lights tour 2012 we were much more prepared this time and brought some snacks.   We were very fortunate and were able to see them this time.  My camera was not the best at picking them, but here is one that I was able to get. 

Most people just stood there for hours staring at them and trying to get the perfect shot.  Audra and I started to get a little stir crazy so wandered around a little.  Plus we needed to keep moving to stay warm

The next morning we woke up and went mushing.  This was so much fun.We had beautiful weather

Only one rollover which resulted in the dogs sprinting away with our sled.  We won't say who was driving when this occured : )

 

 



 

A brand new pup! they say it takes about 6mos for them to be ready to pull a sled. 

 



After we got back they provided us with a tastey lunch served inside a Lavvu (indigenous house for the Sami people. basically a yurt)

Sampled some tastey eats while in Norway- Reindeer-yum, fish soup-yum. 

 



Now back to Tromso to hop on a boat and keep venturing North!