Newport, Rhode Island

Friday

Newport, RI 

8:45a woke up; missed free breakfast downstairs; packed and ready to leave by ~9:45a 

10a drive back to borough of Stonington where we had dinner last night; shops were beginning to open; we were going go back to Noah’s, but found a bakery, had coffee, shared plain coffee cake, NICE; shopped a little, didn’t buy; looked at real estate ads; most houses clapboard siding and shutters, so cute, exposed electric wires in street like SF; crowded with houses and narrow streets, a bit claustrophobic for us; went to designer boutique Barraza and chatted with woman running the store (not Barraza tho) about clothes/fabric; STS came in and it was politics/current events; nice to talk w/her 

11a Stonington Lighthouse; walked outside; beautiful day; good weather; took pics; went inside, $8 to visit inside and upstairs, plus entry to Palmer House (which I wanted to visit, but didn’t open til 1p), didn’t go; drove around town slowly 

12p Lunch in Jamestown (island) at Tricia’s Tropi-Grille; began to rain so we moved inside; STS had crab quiche; I had pesto chicken sandwich but asked no mozzarella; brought w/mozz so took back to kitchen; my cole slaw was so good, w/bell peppers; some shops, bead shop for matte finish yellow beads $3.50 

~1p Stopped at Newport visitor’s center; got map of town and suggested route to see houses; town busy with boat show visitors

Tix to visit 1 house $19; no time for more; The Breakers, a Vanderbilt home, excellent recorded tour on headphones; 138,000+ sq ft, opulent French-ish décor; ground floor w/ grand staircase (splitting) and fountain underneath, for entertaining; built in two years; many entire rooms preassembled in France, then rebuilt in place, carving, painting, gold leaf, furniture, built-in furniture too; gold leaf like crazy on walls; ornate ceilings; one room with platinum leaf, doesn’t tarnish like silver would; fav was music room; second floor, all bedrooms, had softer colors, different interior designer from downstairs, understated, still had high ceilings, all rooms connected; third floor had some guest rooms, but not available for viewing; top floor bedrooms for household servants

Walked to water’s edge; rocks only; walked 4.5 miles along rocky shore; some difficulty; had to be careful; two short tunnels (one had 2 turns, so no light); at least 3 kinds of wild roses along path; magenta flowers; mostly already went to rose hips; few other kinds of wild flowers; comfortable air temps and some humidity, PLUS my stupid hot flashes, PLUS having to keep up with STS who walks fast and I stop to take photos all the time (more fun by myself, but not on this part, haha); long hair in my face drove me nuts; smart homeowners here have two levels of fence to keep lookie-loos like me from peering into property, public walkway along rocky shore set below homeowner’s second fence, so clever; walked and walked and walked, until we got to Doris Duke’s Rough Point mansion which I really really wanted to see but no time; saw a woman exercising her dogs on her back lawn; small dog humping the big dog, euw; unbelievable properties; Atlantic ocean right at their back doors; most had wide expanse of lawn; no foliage obstructing views of ocean; on street side, many properties had small forests for privacy; large old trees, beautiful; SUCH a long walk back but at least it was on pavement, rather than scrambling rocks; legs hurt 

After 5:00p Begin drive towards Cape Cod; weird to have sun setting NOT over the ocean 

7:30p Arrive at Centerville, Cape Cod, MA vacation rental; tiny one bedroom cottage in back of wooded property near Long Pond; rickety, can hear crickets through closed doors/windows; I’m cold 

8p Drive to Hyannis for dinner at pub; LCS chicken Toscana soup YUM and thin crust Meatza Pizza; STS white clam chowder and fish/”chips” truffle fries, haha, SO good! 

9:30 Wishing I was home, shower is about 1/8 size of our shower -- boy am I spoiled; I’m cold; wished I had my Polartec vest and another jacket; heater doesn’t work or don’t know how to turn on; maybe hot water would be nice; towels are air dried, so not soft; no hair dryer; gotta get bar soap; only watered down liquid soap in miniscule shower; don’t want to complain to STS or he’ll feel bad or be annoyed, yikes; little too much junky stuff in cottage; cottage is cute cuz tiny, but I’m cold, bathroom tiny; hope bed is not soggy like Holiday Inn Express 

Want to read Snow Flower book; hot water is helping a lot