Three things I did last weekend that I'd not done before:

1. Visited the Salem Witch Museum. It's billed as Salem's most visited museum, which is kind of sad given the quality of the collection at the Peabody Essex Museum. The main exhibit at the Witch Museum is a number of life-sized wax figured depicting the stages of the trial, from Tituba's stories inflaming bored local girls to the final hangings. The displays are along three walls of the main room, which is a problem as most of the seating is similarly situated. It is unlikely that you'll see the entire thing without having to get up and move around, potentially obscuring someone else's view.

The narration is overly-dramatic and sounds like it was recorded in 1982, less from the quality of the audio than the cheese factor.

The Witch Museum also has a section on the changing interpretation of witches, from the old crone to the green-skinned broom flyer to modern Wiccans. I imagine it's informative if you don't know anything about witches. The trolley tour we took was about as informative, and we could get on and off that all day.

2. Ate at Prince Pizza. I've been driving past this place all my life, but have never gone in, even with the enticement of the small-scale Leaning Tower of Pisa out front.

I can't say I was missing much. The pizza is similar to Greek pizza, thought the crust is a bit crispier and overall it's less greasy. That being said, it was on the expensive side, and their bruschetta is disappointing. I don't know if I'd bother going here again.

3. Saw the animals at the Franklin Park Zoo. I have vague memories of a kindergarten field trip to a zoo, but I think it was the Stone Zoo. I can't imagine our town would want to send its five year olds into the 'hood.

Franklin Park is not a big zoo. It's also not a very good zoo, as much of the fencing looks temporary and the habitats are either too small or (for the indoor ones) smelling of dank and feces. The indoor exhibits are also very dated. There's a push on to renovate the zoo, which is needed.

That being said, it was a good time. We got to see what we think was Bactrian camel foreplay, as well as a wildabeest that was three days old. There are also lions, tigers, giraffes, zebras and a popular gorilla exhibit. Not only do some of their gorillas paint, one, Little Joe, has talent as an escape artist. Thankfully, the new gorilla habitat seems more secure.

I'd go back, though with better directions. Getting there wasn't a problem, but leaving I wound up going down the wrong street and we had an impromptu visit to a part of Boston not normally on the tourist itinerary. It worked out fine, but I was pretty irritated at being lost.

All of this was courtesy of a visit from the wife's pre-teen niece, which seemed to go pretty well. At least she was never visibly bored or annoyed with us, which I'll take.