New England (as if having one wasn't bad enough)

Well here we are at the Bates motel, on Church Street in EVERETT, NOT Boston, as we were led to believe when we made the reservation.. ...Tapping of foot.. ... So it turns out our lil' hostel is outside Boston and bares a frightening resemblance to the lodgings of one Norman Bates. Having said that, the inside has a certain element of shabby chic and our room is comfy. We were put in a room that was clearly already inhabited by two people who had nabbed the top punks. After careful investigation of the scene i deduced that our room mates where German. (Evidence included one brown single-strap Birkenstock, some clinical lookinh pharmacy cosmetics, and a music stand, possibly for a small flute or oboe.) Anyway, the room kinda smelled like someone had died there around the same time the Pioneers landed in New England and there was about 10cm between the bottom and top bed, so Marge pretended to be claustrophobic and we got a new room. Were in a room on our own and its nice and comfy (bearing in mind the context in which we are in: youth hostels in general) So were on a two day stint in Boston and then heading to Up State NY on Friday. We drove up to Salem today in search of a quaint little puritan village, shrouded in mystery and witchcraft intrigue. We found a fairly nasty spread-out industrial town with 4 (no joke) 'witch museums' but that where all complete cack because theyre basically 'attractions' not 'museum'. The nuance makes quite a difference, i assure you. So we payed 6 dollars for a 15minute tour 'about withcraft, NOT the Hysteria of 1681 in which 20 people where burned', walking through the papier mache model-filled dark corridors (all 3 of them), whilst being patronised by a nerdy guy with red hair (who obviously got beaten up in highschool and so embraced the alternative-wicca-weirdo-goth path as a way of coping), as he told us patently obvious general knowledge facts about witchcraft whilst putting on an annoying voice and sipping on his water. The Crucible, this was not. Anyway, the historic part of the town is pretty much gone but we did find a small cluster of houses dating back to the 1600s which was quite cool, and a spooky-looking graveyard that was very Sleepy Hollow-esque. So tomorow we hit Baw-stun for some hardcore historical touring, including the Patriots Trail. Its so amusing what a distorted perspective of history people have over here because the country is so young. I forget that but then i hear people describing something as really old and historic, referring to something from the 1800s, which is basically pretty bloody modern by European standards. Anyway, i mock not. I just hope they all look like Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger!