The Breakers

Saturday, June 23

Decided to go to Newport instead of Boston today. A beautiful day. We arrived in Newport at around 12:00. I was really surprised at how big an area old Newport is. Most of the homes (not the mansions) were built in the early 1700s. Toured The Breakers and The Marble House. The Marble House was built in 1892. The mistres.s of the house, Alva Vanderbilt, was a big activist—into the Suffragist movement. The Breakers was built in 1895. Both of these were summer homes. Incredible. Had dinner at Vincent’s on the Wharf and watched all the yachts go by. Back home by 8:00. Think we’re going to bike the Cape Cod Canal tomorrow.

Friday, June 22

Started out to be a beautiful day… but cool. Mike slept in. Neither of us seemed to really want to go anywhere. But we finally decided to go into Boston and see the Constitution. Left late—around 11:30 or so. We only saw one sign for the Constitution. And we ended up way north of where we should have been. So we stayed off the highway and on surface streets and went through some really cute neighborhoods in the north Boston area. Made our way back to where we should be on the Charles River, but on the wrong side of the river. But in the process we drove all through the old, historic north Boston area—old North Church, Paul Revere home, etc. The Constitution is on the other side of the river, however. We finally got there. And what a ship! It is huge! And they still sail her twice a year—in August. So, we toured the ship and then Mike went back and took a guided tour while I headed for the snack bar to get something to eat—closed. Mike joined me at about 4:00 and we headed for the battleship that’s moored there also—just as a rain storm started. As it turned out, the battleship was closed for the day so we headed for the Constitution museum because it was pouring by now and we were looking for shelter. Had dinner at the Marriott next to where we parked the truck. We waited until about 6:00 before getting back on the highway, thinking the rush hour traffic would be thinned by then. Wrong! I93 was bumper to bumper—all through the huge tunnel and all the way south to where Route 3 splits off. Took us an hour to go about 10 miles. We should have taken the train in. We’re supposed to go back tomorrow on the train and take a tour. Newport sounds better to me at this point.