Newport Revisited

When Renee and I went to Newport in April, we decided to come back in the summer, to use unused tickets, and to see all the flowers in bloom. We found out that Beth and my mom also wanted to go, having never seen the palatial mansions that rule the beautiful coastal town.

So we started our trip with lunch of course. We were driving in the downtown, more shopping/touristy area and we passed a nice looking tavern thing, that was labeled as the oldest tavern in Newport. So we stopped in and had a wonderful lunch. I believe it was called The White Pony, The White Horse?...The Prancing Pony? I forget...It was a neat building though. It stayed in the family for a while, there was even a ex-Pirate owner.

Oh, and we learned about a new hot sauce...it was Thai...Sriracha. The waiter recommended a cold soup that had some in it. So we kept asking him the name, and we even got to tell another table about it. The soup was very good, the hot sauce has a slight after-kick. Mmmm.

After a long lunch we made our way over to The Breakers, which is the main mansion. I thought we had to get tickets for other mansions there, but in the summer you buy 'em at each individual mansion. But we got to walk the grounds, which were pretty.

I like this one of my mom, looking out, surveying the land, dreaming of mansions and oceans...rainbows...

But Renee and I had already toured The Breakers, so we headed over to Rosecliff. Rosecliff was much smaller, but very beautiful structurally. It was a big H shape, so large wings on each side. It also had a beautiful Sweetheart staircase. You can't take pictures inside unfortunately. The stinky thing about Rosecliff is that none of the furniture was original to the house like at The Breakers. The family that built the house eventually sold it, but auctioned off everything inside. So all the regal 1920s stuff was gone, but replaced by nice 1930s-40s stuff. They also had a temporary dress exhibit. They had all kinds of dresses and showed how they were each individually tailor made to fit the wearer...that was neat to see. But I was still disappointed by the house itself. The Breakers and all it's splendor and original, crazily ornate furniture makes everything else pale in comparison.

Oh! But lots of films were shot at Rosecliff! True Lies, 27 Dresses, The Great Gatsby (one part at the fountain)...hmm...what else? Those are the main ones I remember. And you can rent out a room and have your own private function, be it wedding, or Thanksgiving...that would be a memorable event.

A view from out front

Out back, facing the ocean

The Gatsby fountain, and a very excited Mom. I think when I took this I was joking about her getting in or something. She normally doesn't get this excited about fountains.

 Me and the view. I look slightly uncomfortable for some reason...

I borrowed this cane/seat from my Grampy, and I told him I'd be The Thinker in it.

This is me cheesing it up by the fountain out front. The landscaping was really pretty.

You can see the lawn was decorated with big, ornate planters. 

And then I got a little crazy/artistic with this one.

Unfortunately, we didn't plan the day too well and were only able to see one mansion. So Renee and I still have one more ticket each from the set of 3 we got in April. But overall it was a really nice day trip. Maybe I'll go back and see yet another opulent homestead. Beth pointed out that they are kinda like America's castles.