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<\/a>Marble House interior<\/p><\/div>\n
Newport, RI<\/strong> \u2013 Our first port of call is Newport, and I have to say, I really didn\u2019t know what to expect; I knew about Newport Beach, but not much about Newport, Rhode Island.\u00a0 To fully understand the part of Newport we will be visiting, it helps to have an understanding of \u2018The Gilded Age\u2019 <\/strong>(roughly 1870s-1890s) when it was fashionable for high society of New York to get out of the hot city and show off their wealth by building an ostentatious \u00a0\u2018second home\u2019 in Newport, these second homes were called \u2018cottages\u2019<\/strong> because their homes in New York took up a full city block!!\u00a0 So, we opted for the \u2018Newport Mansions Tour\u2019<\/strong> \u2013 it was fantastic!!!\u00a0 We first visited the \u2018Marble House\u2019<\/strong>, built by William and Alva Vanderbilt<\/strong>\u00a0in 1892.\u00a0 It was called the Marble House because it contained 500,000 cubic feet of marble<\/strong>.\u00a0 It had 50 rooms in the 125,000 square feet of the home and cost $11 million to build \u2013 that\u2019s about $350 million in today\u2019s dollars!\u00a0 Its four acres sit right on the Newport coast and was used only about four to six weeks during the entire year!\u00a0 Our tour took us through the entire house and grounds \u2013 we thought we had seen spectacular homes on the ‘left coast’ Newport, by comparison, those ARE cottages!\u00a0 But, after visiting the Marble House, apparently I hadn\u2019t seen anything yet!<\/p>\n The Breakers<\/p><\/div>\n Our next stop was \u2018The Breakers\u2019<\/strong>, so called because it sat right on the coast where the waves were constantly breaking.\u00a0 It was just a short drive up the coast from the Marble House<\/strong>.\u00a0 This home was built by William\u2019s brother, Cornelius Vanderbilt<\/strong>, partly in an effort to \u2018out do\u2019 his brother\u2019s place, which it does!\u00a0 The Breakers has 136,000 gross square feet, where the five-story, 70-room house sits on 14 acres right on the cliffs overlooking Easton Bay.\u00a0 The dining room alone is 2,400 square feet!\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0It was the largest, most opulent house in the Newport area upon its completion in 1895.\u00a0 Truely mind-boggling to tour!<\/p>\n On the way back to the ship, our bus took us through the quaint little downtown of Newport and our guide relateed lots of interesting stories about life amongst the rich and . . .richer.\u00a0 This was, and still is, an incredible place.<\/p>\n Margaritaville in Fanieul Hall closed!!! RIP Jimmy!<\/p><\/div>\n Boston \u2013<\/strong> Our next port was the fabulous city of Boston<\/strong>, where we got off the ship and onto a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus, where our bus driver could have just come off the set of Saturday Night Live<\/strong> \u2013 she was hilarious!\u00a0 Our plan was to hit a few spots on the bus route, get off and walk part of the Freedom Trail<\/strong>, hop back on and see what else interested us.\u00a0 We stayed on the bus longer than usual so we could hear more of the bus driver\u2019s routine.\u00a0 Apparently, everyone else had the same idea, after we made 8-10 stops and nobody got off the bus, the bus driver comes on the P.A. system and says, \u201cMaybe you guys don\u2019t understand the concept here, this is a hop on hop off<\/strong> bus, but nobody is hopping off!!!\u201d<\/em>.\u00a0 Aside from the bus driver\u2019s routine, the highlights along the way included, the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides), Cheers,<\/strong> the famous TV show\u2019s bar, Chinatown <\/strong>and lots of other attractions humorously described by our bus driver.\u00a0 We got off at Boston Common<\/strong> and walked a bit of the Freedom Trail<\/strong>, discovered the Bean Town Pub<\/strong>, where we had to try the clam chowder (DELICIOUS!) and a Sam Adams beer (also pretty good!), then continued down to Faneuil Hall<\/strong> \u2013 a great indoor-outdoor marketplace.\u00a0 We got back on the next bus and found that our new bus driver had a better sense of humor than our first one.\u00a0 Where do they get these guys?!!\u00a0 A very fun and funny journey through Bean Town.\u00a0 Once back on the ship we talked to various shipmates about what they did in the city and realized we missed two interesting sites: 1) Fenway Park<\/strong>, home to baseball\u2019s Boston Red Sox<\/strong>; it is the oldest ballpark in all of major league baseball, built in 1912.\u00a0 Tours of this venerable ballpark take you into the old locker rooms, rooftop seating and up-close views of the \u2018Green Monster\u2019 <\/strong>(the left field wall).\u00a0 2) The other tour we missed, but should have done, was a reenactment of the Boston Tea party<\/strong> where visitors got to witness a fully-dressed reenactment of the tea party and even got to throw a box of tea overboard.\u00a0 At dinner back on the boat we shared a table with two couples from England who had attended the Tea Party reinactment and said they enjoyed it, but of course, were looking at it from an entirely different perspective than we Americans do.\u00a0 Interesting!!<\/span><\/p>\n Next post, Monday: The Emerald Princess & Bar Harbor, Maine <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow Newport, RI \u2013 Our first port of call is Newport, and I have to say, I really didn\u2019t know what to expect; I knew about Newport Beach, but not much about Newport, Rhode Island.\u00a0 To fully understand … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/breakers-exterior-1-300x243.jpg\")
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<\/a>Lobster Update: <\/strong>Too busy to have lobster for lunch, and our dinner is back on the boat, but we\u2019ve still got three more \u2018Lobster Stops\u2019 ahead of us. \u00a0Besides, isn’t Maine the state really known for Maine lobster?<\/p>\n