Newport Visited

The tour of Newport was everything Princess said it would be and more.

First of all we had room service deliver our breakfast and we enjoyed the arrival from our balcony. We were surprised to see Rose Island right off of our balcony and there was the lighthouse looking bright in the morning light. It was cool and we ate inside but we certainly enjoyed the view.

This was a tender port so we were so pleased to see how beautifully calm the water was. We went to the Princess theatre and we got our tour ticket and went with the group to board the tender. On the way over we visited with a very nice couple. He said he was from Turkey. I think he is the first person from Turkey that I have ever met. Anyway as soon as we disembarked the tender we were directed to a waiting small boat, well not really small , but small by comparison. There were 29 of us on this tour and we were regaled by stories of the history of the area. 

We sailed past beautiful  yachts, one of which we were told was the Vango which is owned by Oprah. Our guide told us that these vessels cost 250,000.00 per 20 feet of length so these gems were millions of dollars.

He also pointed out the summer ‘cottages” of the rich and famous. These were more like castles or palaces than homes. One lady complained that her house was too small so she had a new dining room added. Her dining room table would seat 123 after the addition. He told of a dinner party where the center of the table and running the length was a sand box. The party favour was a silver sand pail and shovel. After dinner guests were invited to dig in the sand and they could keep whatever they found. The sand box contained diamonds and emeralds and other jewels and gemstones. This unbelievable wealth was often build on the slave trade because Newport was one leg of the triangle involving slaves and rum and sugar.

After our tour we were landed on the beach at Rose Island. Two guides awaited our arrival and they gave us a tour of the island and the light. I wondered if I would be able to do the tour with my bad ankle and I am happy to report that I managed quite well. I did not climb the tower but I saw everything else. I even got a stamp to put into my lighthouse passport. This is light number 311, I think. I did manage to get some sea glass and much to our delight Ken found one small piece of red and 3 pieces of blue.

Our boat returned in about an hour and we were given more of a tour and were returned to the dock. This was around one o’clock so we decided to explore a little since the last tender wasn’t until 3:30.

I got some salt water toffee for Kerri and Ken got batteries for his camera. Then we came upon a restaurant named The Barking Crab

. With a name like that we had to go in. Ken had a bowl of seafood chowder and I ordered Fish and Chips that we shared. These were my September Fries and boy oh boy they were good. The fries were done to perfection and they were so worth waiting for. The order was LARGE so there was a lot to share with Ken.

Then we headed for the ship. The line up was LONG and I do mean long. But we did get back to the ship on a glassy sea. This time we had 2 ladies to visit with. 

This was formal night so I gave my very tired ankle a rest before getting dressed for dinner. People with the Black Card get treats before dinner on formal night and we got 6 chocolate covered strawberries and Kim had send us a gift of 8 chocolate covered strawberries so we received two trays. We ate one and put the other one in our fridge to enjoy later

We had the same family for dinner and the other couple still has not put in an appearance. We are finding that we have a lot in common with our new table mates. They are Canadian and they are members of the United Church, they are retired but a little younger than we are and she is busy with fund raising in her church and he was a scout leader. It is a small world.

Did you know??

Rhode Island is the smallest of the United States. Texas is 185 times larger.

But it has the longest names…State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

JFK and Jacquie were married here in Newport at St. Mary’s church.

The oldest operating tavern in the United States is here

Newport contains the highest percentage of preserved colonial buildings in the US.

The oldest synagogue in North America is located here.

Here water fountains are called “bubblers”.

Pelham Street in Newport was the first street in North America to use gas illuminated by gas street lights.