Tuesday, October 06, 2009
(Written Dec 26, 2009 - Blogging is hard to do lately)
Woke up to the bright light of morning and headed off to see the Mansions of Newport. There is a volley of mansions brought from whats called the gilded age, a time where businesses opportunities were vast and exploitation of labor was great. Newport has a historical society which maintains a dozen or so of these shacks. We've heard many stories of visiting a bunch of them before going to the granddaddy of them all, the Breakers.
We were pondering how many to etc, and went for going just for the one, and that was a wise and good decision.
The breakers is a Vanderbilt summer home. It's the second one at it's location, with the first being wood and burned down by a kitchen fire. The second one was a masterpiece of it's time with the technological advancements of it's time. Stone, with steel frames and marble throughout the 138,000 sq. ft. house. It was equipped with gas lit candles as well as electricity. My favorite was the 50 ft ceilings of it's main entry room, with statues, fountains, gold paint, superlarge stair case and decorations left n right.One room was painted with platinum paint, and there are many hidden passages where servants came n went.
The outside was even more impressive, with a field that you could play regulation football on, it was a place that fluffielady wouldn't mind living. The sad part was that old man Vanderbilt died either after one year of being there or right when construction was completed.
We got out around 11 and wanted to eat at a place called 'chicken on fire' which was to open at 11, but looking in the windows it was all closed up with nobody in sight. So we headed to this bakery which had some sandwiches, and they weren't that good.
Off we went to Falmouth, MA 69mi - 1hr 21min. We arrive and our plans were to take the ferry to martha's vineyard for some dinner and then back to the mainland to sleep. Unfortunately the ferry had it's own idea and schedule that weren't online so those plans were scrapped. We hung out and roamed a bit, it was a fun small town. We ate at the quarterdeck restaurant for dindins, supposedly built from wood off a boat, it looked like one. I had my oyster roll and was merry.
Another good place that we stayed at was the holly tree resort. It looks like a college dormatory, but it's a hotel with basketball / raquetball courts, an indoor as well as an outdoor swimming pool. The rooms are small but have the beds in the wall. The walls were nice but the door is thin, you could hear stuff from the hallways. I did my laundry there. 60 cents a load, 1.25 to dry.
Woke up to the bright light of morning and headed off to see the Mansions of Newport. There is a volley of mansions brought from whats called the gilded age, a time where businesses opportunities were vast and exploitation of labor was great. Newport has a historical society which maintains a dozen or so of these shacks. We've heard many stories of visiting a bunch of them before going to the granddaddy of them all, the Breakers.
We were pondering how many to etc, and went for going just for the one, and that was a wise and good decision.
The breakers is a Vanderbilt summer home. It's the second one at it's location, with the first being wood and burned down by a kitchen fire. The second one was a masterpiece of it's time with the technological advancements of it's time. Stone, with steel frames and marble throughout the 138,000 sq. ft. house. It was equipped with gas lit candles as well as electricity. My favorite was the 50 ft ceilings of it's main entry room, with statues, fountains, gold paint, superlarge stair case and decorations left n right.One room was painted with platinum paint, and there are many hidden passages where servants came n went.
The outside was even more impressive, with a field that you could play regulation football on, it was a place that fluffielady wouldn't mind living. The sad part was that old man Vanderbilt died either after one year of being there or right when construction was completed.
We got out around 11 and wanted to eat at a place called 'chicken on fire' which was to open at 11, but looking in the windows it was all closed up with nobody in sight. So we headed to this bakery which had some sandwiches, and they weren't that good.
Off we went to Falmouth, MA 69mi - 1hr 21min. We arrive and our plans were to take the ferry to martha's vineyard for some dinner and then back to the mainland to sleep. Unfortunately the ferry had it's own idea and schedule that weren't online so those plans were scrapped. We hung out and roamed a bit, it was a fun small town. We ate at the quarterdeck restaurant for dindins, supposedly built from wood off a boat, it looked like one. I had my oyster roll and was merry.
Another good place that we stayed at was the holly tree resort. It looks like a college dormatory, but it's a hotel with basketball / raquetball courts, an indoor as well as an outdoor swimming pool. The rooms are small but have the beds in the wall. The walls were nice but the door is thin, you could hear stuff from the hallways. I did my laundry there. 60 cents a load, 1.25 to dry.
Labels: vacation
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