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Friday 6 July 2007

Bewitched

5 July – Thursday

Previous evening was spent on a harbour cruise to watch the Independence Day fireworks and of course, it rained! We actually watched two different lots of fireworks, one down the harbour and then the major ones at Boston. It was incredible to sit in the middle of the harbour and watch all the fireworks in the distance, as every town has their own display. I would have to say the major ones we watched were the most spectacular I have seen. Of course, the colours of red, white and blue dominated and it is the first time I have actually seen shapes like smiley faces and five pointed stars made with fireworks.

Today was a bus tour to Salem, the town famous for the 17th Century witch trials. On the way we called into Marblehead, the birthplace of the American Navy and the current home of some fairly well-to-do citizens. All the housing in the area is of weatherboard and a similar style, even the new houses. It is the type of housing portrayed on so many television programmes.

Salem was the city where “Bewitched” was filmed and there is a statue of Elizabeth Montgomery, but not in the old part of town, as she is not considered a proper witch. The witch theme is a tad overdone, however, we did go through the main witch museum where we heard about the witch trials. We were also told about famous witches in history, literature and movies and whilst the witches from "The Wizard of Oz" were talked about, no mention was made of Harry Potter! Perhaps because he is English???


Schools are on holiday here and summer camps are very popular – with the parents most likely, so instead of school groups we encountered camp groups! Salem was also the busiest port in America for about 25 years after independence.

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