Wowsers! On our one and only day in Newport, RI, we took the city shuttle to see The Breakers, the most highly recommended of the Gilded Age Mansions. The mansion was built between 1893 and 1895 as a summer home for the Vanderbilt family.There just aren't any words to describe it. But thankfully, we were allowed to take photos inside so of course I (ahem...) took a LOT! It's hard to imagine that people actually lived like that! The mansion surely makes Downton Abbey look like a mud hut! (I've never been inside Downton Abbey - I'm just trying to describe how incredibly opulent it is.)
It's late tonight and we have to be up and off the ship by 7:30 a.m. so I won't take the time to post photos of the house now, but once I'm home and get unpacked, I will definitely post a lot.
In the meantime, you can read about it online https://www.newportmansions.org/mansions-and-gardens/the-breakers/ but I will post many more photos than you'll find online. It really is something to see but of course, the photos can never do it justice.
I'll just post a few pics taken from the tender that carried us to the dock. I will add that it was a day with a lot of waiting. Not having an excursion, we had to wait a long time on a tender. Once ashore, we waited a long time for the city trolley. After visiting the mansion, we had to wait....and wait for another trolley which never actually came. We then decided to call an uber. But with Newport being a popular tourist destination, this being a holiday weekend, and also a Saturday, the traffic was terrible. The uber driver spoke no English, got stuck in traffic, my phone battery died and various other things happened but finally we and another couple from Ireland made it back to the ship. It was recommended to spend 2 hours at the mansion, but all the waiting ended up making it a whole day affair.
PS There was a traveling elephant exhibition of 26 life size elephant sculptures behind the mansion and of course I took photos there as well. I'll save the mansion photos for one last post.
https://www.newportmansions.org/events/the-great-elephant-migration/
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tender ride to shore
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hundreds docked in harbor
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literally 100's of sail boats and every type of water vessel you can think of
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| many houses line the shore |
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each one has a name and story
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26 in all including babies
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amazing artistry
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| lots of photo ops | | |
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