My birthday trip to Salem
In the past few years, I have adopted the tradition of celebrating my birthday by spending a day in Salem. This year, Alexx and I kidnapped LJ user TinyBuffalo, so it was probably the most fun Salem day yet (Note: no tinybuffalos were injured or mistreated in the filming of this kidnapping, which was entirely consentual).
TB had mentioned that she wanted to give money to buskers, so I gave her the bag of small change which had been sitting on a shelf for forever, because I kept meaning to give it to Salvation Army Santas, but I never see Santas anymore, or maybe it's just that those bells they ring were outlawed, so I don't hear the stealth-Santas.
This turned out to be a brilliant move on my part, because whenever we heard a musician that I liked, I turned to TB and said, "Go throw money at that man!" and she would dash off and toss handfuls of coins into his instrument case. This mostly turned out to be the same guy with a sax, because we walked past him at least three times. Okay, it was just small change, but I felt like some Renaissance patron of the arts, so now I'm going to save up my change for next year.
1. Gulu-Gulu Cafe 247 Essex St
This is a great place for breakfast/lunch/brunch, suitable for both begetarians and meat-eaters; ithas a very friendly casual atmosphere, and is obviously a favorite of locals, as well.
2. Darby Square Bookstore 215 Essex Street
This is one of those non-Euclidean used bookstores where part of the fun is wondering if you will be able to get that book in the very middle of the six-foot-tall stack without having all the books cascade over your head. You may think that doesn't sound very fun but, for a bookworm, it's an extreme sport, kind of like Tetris, but with books. I advice bringing a buddy along, so one of you can lean against the stack of books while the other one carefully wiggles it out of the stack.
3. Turtle Alley Chocolates
in the Museum Place Mall
Amazing handmade chocolates, caramels, barks, and turtles. I always get some pomegranate jelly fruit slices here. They now have some chocolate concoctions which include bacon.
4. Polonus European Deli 176 Essex St # 2
I usually get purple ice cream here--their homemade ice cream is really good--but this year I was still full from lunch, but TB got a donut filled with some sort of fruit, and I got a jar of currant jelly (this place has an extensive assortment of jams, jellies, and fruit and nut spreads, many with interesting labels in foreign languages).
5. Caffe Graziani
133 Washington Street
This is an amazing Italian restaurant, and the staff are extremely friendly. When we walked in, it was early for dinner, so the place was basically empty, and the chef made me handmade gnocchi (Italian potato dumplings), which wasn't on the menu but he is just nice like that.
Okay, we really did things other than eating, but most of the other things were more impromptu, because Salem is a great place to just walk around and check out window displays and chat with strangers--and throw money at street performers.
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TB had mentioned that she wanted to give money to buskers, so I gave her the bag of small change which had been sitting on a shelf for forever, because I kept meaning to give it to Salvation Army Santas, but I never see Santas anymore, or maybe it's just that those bells they ring were outlawed, so I don't hear the stealth-Santas.
This turned out to be a brilliant move on my part, because whenever we heard a musician that I liked, I turned to TB and said, "Go throw money at that man!" and she would dash off and toss handfuls of coins into his instrument case. This mostly turned out to be the same guy with a sax, because we walked past him at least three times. Okay, it was just small change, but I felt like some Renaissance patron of the arts, so now I'm going to save up my change for next year.
1. Gulu-Gulu Cafe 247 Essex St
This is a great place for breakfast/lunch/brunch, suitable for both begetarians and meat-eaters; ithas a very friendly casual atmosphere, and is obviously a favorite of locals, as well.
2. Darby Square Bookstore 215 Essex Street
This is one of those non-Euclidean used bookstores where part of the fun is wondering if you will be able to get that book in the very middle of the six-foot-tall stack without having all the books cascade over your head. You may think that doesn't sound very fun but, for a bookworm, it's an extreme sport, kind of like Tetris, but with books. I advice bringing a buddy along, so one of you can lean against the stack of books while the other one carefully wiggles it out of the stack.
3. Turtle Alley Chocolates
in the Museum Place Mall
Amazing handmade chocolates, caramels, barks, and turtles. I always get some pomegranate jelly fruit slices here. They now have some chocolate concoctions which include bacon.
4. Polonus European Deli 176 Essex St # 2
I usually get purple ice cream here--their homemade ice cream is really good--but this year I was still full from lunch, but TB got a donut filled with some sort of fruit, and I got a jar of currant jelly (this place has an extensive assortment of jams, jellies, and fruit and nut spreads, many with interesting labels in foreign languages).
5. Caffe Graziani
133 Washington Street
This is an amazing Italian restaurant, and the staff are extremely friendly. When we walked in, it was early for dinner, so the place was basically empty, and the chef made me handmade gnocchi (Italian potato dumplings), which wasn't on the menu but he is just nice like that.
Okay, we really did things other than eating, but most of the other things were more impromptu, because Salem is a great place to just walk around and check out window displays and chat with strangers--and throw money at street performers.
This entry was originally posted at http://kestrell.dreamwidth.org/245992.html. Please comment there using OpenID.