# 9 Boston - Muy Caliente! - August 2, 2006
Do you feel like frying an egg on the hood of your car?? Come to Boston! No problem! It is freakin' hot here!!! Muy caliente! The temperature topped out at 105 Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius) this afternoon at 4PM and it was more than advisable to not go outside. It is currently 101 degrees and I am just glad that my little house, for some strange reason, is actually pretty agreeable. A fan is humming along and blowing air in my face, and the ice coffee I am drinking helps for sure. I hear that Washington, DC has it worse, they maxed at 112 - I don't even want to imagine what that is like. Summer hell.
Marathon training had to be adjusted of course and moved to 6 AM in the mornings, when it is only 82 degrees and that is not too bad, considering. I have to do only 4 miles tomorrow, and by the time I have to do my long run for the week (16 miles), I will be up in Franconia, New Hampshire, on a shaded bike path with proposed temps in the mid- to upper 70s. Relief is on the horizon!!
Aside from having to go to bed at a decent time to accommodate the early running schedule, and a fairly mushy brain as a result of the heat, things are going well here in Bostonia. The past weekend was fun-filled as usual, starting out on Saturday with some weeding in front of my house (hehe....). Really, it is very therapeutic and now my street looks all pretty (aaahhh). It was hot, and there was traffic everywhere, so I hopped on a train in order to reach the very alluring town of Salem, Massachusetts (there is also a Salem in New Hampshire) - http://www.salemweb.com/. Known mostly for its history surrounding the witch trials in the 17th century, it has lots to offer, including my friends Stephanie and Dan, who just moved there - it was time to check it out some more. The main attraction is the Salem Witch Museum, which tells us all about the mysterious events in 1692, where young women started to exhibit erratic behavior such as screaming fits and seizures (it is now believed that this was due to some type of encephalitis) and were henceforth declared witches who were in cahoots with the devil. The first two affected were Betty, daughter of the Salem Village minister Sam Parris, and her cousin Abigail. Total hysteria ensued, and all in all 24 people died, most of which were hanged. (http://www.salemweb.com/memorial/). Of course the city proudly displays its heritage, and you can see witch logos everywhere (even on police cars). The Salem High School football team's name is, yes, you guessed right "The Witches", and a sports field called Gallows Hill is where they used to hang people. There are palm readers, six million witch museums, stores with witchy accessories and you should see this place on Halloween, apparently it is a zoo!
Salem is also the birthplace of 19th-century American Novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne - "The Scarlet Letter" and "The House of Seven Gables" were among his literary achievements, and Salem is chockfull of Hawthorne references. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Hawthorne) You can visit the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, which is the actual House of Seven Gables, the Nathaniel Hawthorne House and of course, don't forget the "Hollywood House of Wax" , a Must-See.
There is the Peabody Essex Museum, which is just fantastic and which I have yet to visit (http://hawthorneinsalem.org/Introduction.html). Its exhibits are renowned - and I learned that you can visit the Yi Tu Tang, a complete Chinese merchant house from the late Qing Dynasty. (http://www.pem.org/yinyutang/). Next time, definitely.
After visiting a street fair at the Salem Common (where we just had to buy some jewelry), Steph and I met Dan for lunch at the Salem Beer Works for some delectable grub (http://beerworks.net/html/locations_salem.html) and some local brews, such as the Witch City Red, which so nicely tickled the palate and delighted me to no end. This was followed by ice cream of course at Captain Dusty's and a visit to the extremely charming harbor - it does feature the cutest little light house ever, and usually "The Friendship", a reconstructed 171-foot three-masted Salem East Indiaman built in 1797. The "Friendship was out that day, hanging out at the Cape in Provincetown, so we'll have to wait for the next visit to admire her.
And this was just the afternoon! I hopped back on the train and straight to the TD Banknorth Garden for a concert - my friend Ellen had scored some tickets to the Dixie Chicks (http://www.dixiechicks.com/), courtesy of our volunteer organization Boston Cares (Thanks BC!). Not only were the tickets free, but just when we had settled comfortably in the nosebleed section, some staffer came by and gave us a free upgrade, so we ended up sitting right next to the stage. So cool!! The concert was a blast, the acoustics sucked, which they always do in sports arenas - the crowd was jazzed, in particular when the "Chicks" arrived on stage to the tune of "Hail to the Chief".
Sunday - oh yeah, 15 miles running for marathon training along the Charles River Esplanade - it was hot, but doable, and I had ample time for R&R the rest of the day, so all was well and the weekend ended on a very nice note.
Well, that is all the news for the day - a weekend in Franconia is coming up with some running, hiking and swimming, and time to smell the roses. Which is always a good thing.
Stay cool amigos!!
Petra
Marathon training had to be adjusted of course and moved to 6 AM in the mornings, when it is only 82 degrees and that is not too bad, considering. I have to do only 4 miles tomorrow, and by the time I have to do my long run for the week (16 miles), I will be up in Franconia, New Hampshire, on a shaded bike path with proposed temps in the mid- to upper 70s. Relief is on the horizon!!
Aside from having to go to bed at a decent time to accommodate the early running schedule, and a fairly mushy brain as a result of the heat, things are going well here in Bostonia. The past weekend was fun-filled as usual, starting out on Saturday with some weeding in front of my house (hehe....). Really, it is very therapeutic and now my street looks all pretty (aaahhh). It was hot, and there was traffic everywhere, so I hopped on a train in order to reach the very alluring town of Salem, Massachusetts (there is also a Salem in New Hampshire) - http://www.salemweb.com/. Known mostly for its history surrounding the witch trials in the 17th century, it has lots to offer, including my friends Stephanie and Dan, who just moved there - it was time to check it out some more. The main attraction is the Salem Witch Museum, which tells us all about the mysterious events in 1692, where young women started to exhibit erratic behavior such as screaming fits and seizures (it is now believed that this was due to some type of encephalitis) and were henceforth declared witches who were in cahoots with the devil. The first two affected were Betty, daughter of the Salem Village minister Sam Parris, and her cousin Abigail. Total hysteria ensued, and all in all 24 people died, most of which were hanged. (http://www.salemweb.com/memorial/). Of course the city proudly displays its heritage, and you can see witch logos everywhere (even on police cars). The Salem High School football team's name is, yes, you guessed right "The Witches", and a sports field called Gallows Hill is where they used to hang people. There are palm readers, six million witch museums, stores with witchy accessories and you should see this place on Halloween, apparently it is a zoo!
Salem is also the birthplace of 19th-century American Novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne - "The Scarlet Letter" and "The House of Seven Gables" were among his literary achievements, and Salem is chockfull of Hawthorne references. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Hawthorne) You can visit the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, which is the actual House of Seven Gables, the Nathaniel Hawthorne House and of course, don't forget the "Hollywood House of Wax" , a Must-See.
There is the Peabody Essex Museum, which is just fantastic and which I have yet to visit (http://hawthorneinsalem.org/Introduction.html). Its exhibits are renowned - and I learned that you can visit the Yi Tu Tang, a complete Chinese merchant house from the late Qing Dynasty. (http://www.pem.org/yinyutang/). Next time, definitely.
After visiting a street fair at the Salem Common (where we just had to buy some jewelry), Steph and I met Dan for lunch at the Salem Beer Works for some delectable grub (http://beerworks.net/html/locations_salem.html) and some local brews, such as the Witch City Red, which so nicely tickled the palate and delighted me to no end. This was followed by ice cream of course at Captain Dusty's and a visit to the extremely charming harbor - it does feature the cutest little light house ever, and usually "The Friendship", a reconstructed 171-foot three-masted Salem East Indiaman built in 1797. The "Friendship was out that day, hanging out at the Cape in Provincetown, so we'll have to wait for the next visit to admire her.
And this was just the afternoon! I hopped back on the train and straight to the TD Banknorth Garden for a concert - my friend Ellen had scored some tickets to the Dixie Chicks (http://www.dixiechicks.com/), courtesy of our volunteer organization Boston Cares (Thanks BC!). Not only were the tickets free, but just when we had settled comfortably in the nosebleed section, some staffer came by and gave us a free upgrade, so we ended up sitting right next to the stage. So cool!! The concert was a blast, the acoustics sucked, which they always do in sports arenas - the crowd was jazzed, in particular when the "Chicks" arrived on stage to the tune of "Hail to the Chief".
Sunday - oh yeah, 15 miles running for marathon training along the Charles River Esplanade - it was hot, but doable, and I had ample time for R&R the rest of the day, so all was well and the weekend ended on a very nice note.
Well, that is all the news for the day - a weekend in Franconia is coming up with some running, hiking and swimming, and time to smell the roses. Which is always a good thing.
Stay cool amigos!!
Petra
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