We did not get an early start today. We had a nice leisurely breakfast provided by our hotel, ( it's a Howard Johnson's -- nothin' fancy🙂) and took our time getting ready and just relaxing in our room. I'm thinking about packing. Just thinking at this point.
Our tickets for the Newport trolley tour and Mansion tour weren't until 1:00 p.m. so Mike got time to catch up on some football games, and I got time to just kind of chill and relax. We wanted to leave the hotel early enough to give us plenty of time to get there, enjoy a visitor's center, and of course, get lost. Because sometimes we do that!
I didn't have a good experience with the Viator tour that I tried doing through an app guiding us through the Lexington and Concord areas, so I am glad I opted for the physical tour on a trolley to see the many Mansions in the Newport area from the outside, driving by, and one main tour of a big mansion, "The Breakers."
And boy was it a big mansion! It's a Vanderbilt piece of art. It's huge, ornate, over the top. Typical of Vanderbilt and so many of the other people in that area at that time. It is known as the gilded age for a reason!
There is really no way to describe it other than what I said above. They also had an audio tour available on an app that you could listen to on your phone while walking through the building, but then it wouldn't have been a together kind of experience. So Mike and I just looked and gawked And gawked. And gawked some more. I took a few pictures so they are below.
A grand Entry. Very grand, including fountains, chandeliers, art on the ceiling, etc etc.
The first floor was the main entertainment areas with dining and entry areas and atrium. The floor is above that were for a living spaces. We got to see the family living areas and guest areas, but not the hired help. Those are on the third floor and closed to the public. We traveled to the basement and saw the humongous kitchen. There were also lots of gift shops that were our path out of there. Lots of pretties in there! But I had to ask one of the cashiers just what those spaces had been. They were the laundry area, the staff dining area, and the staff lounge area. And then we were outside and the tour ended!
Had it been a lovely day, we would have wandered the grounds, perhaps. But we didn't. It was raining and blowing like crazy. So we just rushed to our trolly and left! It was a really fun tour, however. I thought it was worth the money. Our driver was pretty entertaining.
So, enjoy the photos. Just know that everything that I took a picture of was huge. There is nothing to put it in perspective. I forgot to take pictures of us. But here is pictures of stuff. :-)
Huge fire places
This is above the fireplace. That first nain floor had hugely tall ceilings. Alabaster pillars, crystal chandeliers.
A dining table that could stretch out to seat 32, and they are big chairs! The table looks a lot like ours😊.
A sitting area.
I thought this clock looked like the clock in "Beauty and the Beast", which makes sense because most of the furniture was made in France in the style of some sort of French decor. It was very ornate. Everywhere.
Back in the grand Entry hall.
The lamps in the bottom center of above photo are what is below in close-up views.
See this cherubim-looking little character? He's pretty much life-sized, about the size of a buff three to five year old. This picture was taken at eye level. He's looking a little stressed, don't you think? But look what he's holding up over his head?!?!?!!!
A large, heavy lamp.
Thrones for chairs. I'd hate to dust this house.
Another big fireplace. I probably could have almost stood inside this one. Almost.
Gold and glitz. And fresh flowers. Truly lovely arrangements throughout and I broke the rules and touched them to assure myself that they were real. They were. And the lower floor off the kitchen had a room JUST for making the arrangements!!
A poster advertising that this property is used in the HBO show, "The Gilded Age."
Mr. Vanderbilts bathroom. That's a carved marble bathtub. Cold, hot, sea water or fresh.
The kitchen for prepping food for the large parties hosted here. The work table is covered in zinc.
Now THAT'S a butcher's block!
There was a lot of really pretty copper cookware here, but it was just replaced with stuff from that time period, as one of the homeowners donated lots of metal to the war effort.
The stove was huge, all of it so impressively big.
Stoves were heated with coal and wood.
A copper sink with drainboard. There were two or three in here, plus one around the corner in the flower room.
Remember, this was just their summer home!
I bought a magnet in the gift shop and enjoyed looking at all the little (and big!) pretties that they had for sale in their gift shop. Or perhaps I should say shops. There were several rooms, and since they were in the basement, and obviously a part of the mansion, I asked the lady what was in those areas when the house was used. And she told me it was the laundry, the servants dining area, and the servants lounge area. There was a lot of stuff down there. Lots of things to buy, but I'm not a shopper, and our suitcases are full. And our wallets are a little bit emptier after spending two weeks in the northeast.
We did support the historical preservation efforts by buying a couple of drinks and a container of grapes and cheese cubes while we waited for our Trolley to pick us up. And that was lunch.
Now we just have to survive this Nor'easter that is blowing through and get ourselves home on sunday. Without delays.
Mike drove us safely through this serious weather all the way from Newport Rhode Island back into Massachusetts to our hotel in quincy. About 1 1/2 hour drive. The wind and the rain was quite fierce. The car that we rented is a pretty boxy Jeep and it took some effort to keep it straight on the road, and effort to keep it from hydroplaning in all the water. Especially when surrounded by crazy drivers speeding super fast down soggy wet highways! We felt lucky that we made it without seeing any felled trees or branches on the roads, considering how many trees are everywhere. The wind is fierce, the rain is really hard, torrential in some areas. But we made it to our hotel. Next step - the airport tomorrow morning.
Some rainy views of the drive back to Quincy, Massachusetts and our hotel.
Passing over the bridge, the wind was FIERCE
High clearance vehicles were prohibited.
Looking out over the bay. Rough, rough rain, wind, water.
Sometimes, the windshield wipers couldn't keep up with the water! This wasn't one of those times.
