The Salem Witch Trails

Salem has been one historic place that kept whizzing in and out of my mind’s recesses over the last couple of years. So when my friend V told me that it was New England, I was happy but couldn’t make up my mind on whether to visit or leave it off my radar. We managed to check this off of our travel checklist thankfully on our recent adhoc and rather aggressive trip to Boston that included whale watching.

House of Seven Gables

Salem is well known in historic and gothic circles due to its infamous witch trails where thousands of innocent men and women were persecuted under the guise of witchcraft. The result – Salem is now considered to be one of the most haunted towns in US what will all the unhappy spirits lingering around. The place that prompted us to take a detour on our way to New Hampshire was the famed House of Seven Gables.

 

Salem Harbor

House of Seven Gables was made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his novel “The House of Seven Gables”. Unfortunately I haven’t got around reading this book but while touring this house, the guide patiently explained every nook and cranny making references to the book as well. This 1668 colonial mansion facing the Salem Harbor is recognized as the oldest surviving mansion in North America. Originally built by the Turner family, the house was bought out and renovated by Hawthorne’s relatives the Ingersolls who renovated it removing some of the Gables. The house was restored to its former glory by Caroline O. Emmerton who started a foundation for funding this project. The most surprising aspect of this property were its tiny rooms and narrow staircases not to mention the low ceilings that presented plenty of opportunities for visitors to bump their heads against.

Situated across the Seven Gables is Nathaniel’s childhood home also overlooking the Harbor, one that he barely lived in but all the same has been restored to its former glory. A beautiful English garden surrounds these two properties providing a vision of an English country home living in perfect harmony. After touring the place, we proceeded directly to the Salem Witch Village where the ghost tours operate.

Burying Point Cemetery

While waiting for the tour to begin, we explored the Pickman House and the Burying Point Cemetery. The Cemetery looked serene yet haunted at sunset but not to be hampered, we did look up some of the tombstones the oldest dating back to 1792 or so. There was a store across Pickman House that advertised Spell Casting. The spell casting is done during the weekdays and more so around Halloween so we missed it.

The Candlelight tour began at 8 PM with reluctant visitors looking sheepish holding white candles in cups. The hour long tour takes you around some of the famous houses in the town some of which are – Pickman House, Burying Point Cemetery, Gedney House and the Old City Hall where lucky visitors can glimpse a ghost on the 2nd floor windows facing the road. Ghost tours apart Salem has some great restaurants that dish out some mean cuisines. So we skipped the tour towards the end and snuck into a restaurant for a quick dinner before heading out to New Hampshire.

Refer to Salem Gallery to view more photographs.

Suggestions – Avoid candlelight tours and instead take the regular ones as the regular ones let you in into some of the properties. You may also want to check up on listings for spell casting if you are interested to see how witchcraft works.

Journeying through the World of Harry Potter

It all started with the book “HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban” that I borrowed from my cousin…and by the time I reached the end I was hooked on to the HP saga. Harry Potter saga was new to India then and not a lot of bookstores had HP books. So the collection was slow but by the time HP 5 released it hit the must-read book list in the country.

By the time book 6 and 7 released, the movies became a craze too. Being an ardent fan, the journey would be complete with a visit to the HP theme park at Universal Orlando or so was my belief. And so I gave ample time to the theme park in our trip to Florida. Staying at one of 3 resorts at Universal is totally worth the spend since you get the Quick access to all the rides plus get your purchases delivered to your room rather than carry it all the way.

As you step into Universal’s Islands of Adventure and venture a bit to the right…you can see the turrets of Hogsmeade looming in the distance. You need to cross the Lost Continent and Jurassic Park to get to Hogwarts. And when you enter through the gates, its as if you’ve stepped into the books themselves. It was breath-taking to see Butterbeer stalls and stores like Gladrags, Owl Emporium, Ollivander’s Wands, Dervish and Bangs, HoneyDukes and Zonkos in all their livery. Hogsmeade and its shops were all recreated taking care of the minutest of details.

Dragon Challenge includes 2 over-the-top rollercoaster rides that are not for the faint-hearted. And the Journey through Hogwarts simulator is well worth the visit although the hour long wait-time can get irksome. I won’t dwell into the what’s inside Hogwarts but you do see a lot of Venus Fly-traps in the Glass House. Butterbeer is an experience by itself…its fizzy, butterscotchy and well buttery! Try Ollivander’s Wands only if you have the patience to stand in the hot sun for an hour to get inside else you can find the wands in Dervish and Bangs as well.

Best of Hogwarts – Hogwarts, The rides, Butterbeer, Wands, the merchandise that’s straight out of the books, Chocolate Frogs and the wizarding cards, The Book that bites, Feather quills.

Not so great – The menu at Three Broomsticks is not veggie friendly, the long wait to get inside Hogwarts

On the whole…it was an awesome experience for us. Its worth visiting this theme park atleast once. For more pictures do visit A Thousand Words by Raks!

Kati Rolls on a wintery evening

The Kati Roll Company

I don’t normally blog on restaurants or eateries…not in my blog genre. But this post is courtesy Raks who is busy exploring photography. Plus on a chilly wintery evening, this place seemed to be the best place to visit for a warm Kati Roll and a hot masala chai.

After an impromptu trip to the Guggenheim, we alighted at 38th street and after a short walk on 39th street between 5th and Ave of Americas we reached The Kati Roll Company. Their menu is quite simple consisting of combination of egg+meats, egg+vegetables and well egg.

Highlights of this place is authenticity of the Kati rolls minus the Americanized versions. My favorite is the Achari Paneer roll which reminded me of the Paneer Tikka roll that I used eat at the Kolkatta Roll Call in India. I felt these were well made with just the right amount of tanginess from the mint chutney minus the greasiness that’s common in the Indian rolls.

Achari Paneer Rolls

I can vouch for the Chana Masala as well. Aloo Masala is the least spiciest. For meat-lovers, the Chicken roll is recommended and a lot of people prefer the Beef rolls as well.

Link to the website – http://www.thekatirollcompany.com/

And now for the ambience…the ambience is simple with a rustic feel courtesy all the old movie posters. It can end up being nostalgic for people who’ve grown up watching old Bollywood films.

Restaurant Entrance

                    

Posters of bygone movies

Restaurant interiors

Lone Elk Park

Lone Elk Park in St Louis, Missouri is really worth visiting because – a. Its a beautiful drive and b. You actually get to see some Elks and Bison not to mention a wayward deer looking so lost in life.

Elks at the park

One weekend helped me see the Elks and another I saw a herd of Bison. The Elks were quite an active lot…quite knowledgable in reading the signboards. Some were busy chasing curious visitors who dared step out of their vehicles into shelters. Some Elk were hanging out around the barbecue area as well. On the whole, a friendly bunch of animals they were!

As for the Bison, their sanctuary looked very forbidding, something akin to entering Jurassic Park. The first time around I couldn’t spot even a single Bison but the 2nd time when I visited the place with my fiance, the place was thronging with Bison. My fiance was so excited though!