The Elms

The Elms, oh how I love thee. The ultimate summer cottage, with a conservatory that opens to the expansive lawn. The connecting rooms that all open to one grand house full of air and light. I can only imagine what a party must have been like back in the day. I'm sad that we had to visit on a gray spring day instead of seeing your grandeur in the midst of summer. But we'll take what we can get ;)


The back of the Elms, leading to the lawn the stretched for miles, or so it seemed. According to the tour guide, local children used to play on the lawn, and the butler would bring them cookies and milk or lemonade. Score!


One of the sphinxes flanking the front door. Hard to see, but there's a cherub on its back.



A gnarly old tree. They were everywhere.



One of many pithy decorative urns along the wall in front of The Elms. I'm trying to imagine them filled with flowers.

Day 2--mansion tours

Newport is famous in part for its amazing mansions built by the rich and famous of the late 1800s and early 1900s in America. Think the Vanderbilts, who were responsible for more than one of these homes. We toured 4 of them while we were in Newport, and this is a snippet of Day 1.

Sadly, no one is allowed to photograph inside the mansions. Which is a shame, since I would have likely used up all my memory cards and a couple of camera batteries in the process of trying to capture the opulence. Instead I'll send you to the homes' websites and you can check them out for yourself. I can only give you exteriors *sigh*

We started the day walking to the Cliff Walk. It's a path several miles long that runs literally along a cliff above the Atlantic Ocean. On the other side of the path are several of the mansions that were built back in the day. We were taking it slowly, since we had walked ALL DAY the day before, and we're both out of shape, to put it mildly. Plus I learned that spending the entire day walking in a pair of Converse sneakers isn't the best idea if you don't like pain.

But I digress...

A view of the ocean from the Cliff Walk, and my rugged husband enjoying the view

The Chateau-Sur-Mer. Built in the 1850, added on in the 1890s by a couple who were on a 10-year honeymoon. Must be nice to have that kind of time...

The Breakers. Tied for first as my favorite mansion (so far). The stone and mosaic tiled patios were unbelievable. Can you believe this was only used as a "summer cottage"???

More Newport

On our first day in Newport, we decided to just walk around and get a feel for the place. J went to Newport years ago, but it was time to see what was new since his last trip.

If you've never been (or even if you have), there were basically 2 main drags we spent time on: Thames Street, which runs along the waterfront, and Bellevue Ave., which is close to our apartment and leads to all the old mansions that make Newport famous. Here are some pictures of our day:


At the beinning of our walk. I think I see the ocean!


The Newport Museum of Art


The original Naval Academy


The Isaac Bell House, one of the mansions that's open for the summer to tour. Not quite open yet, but we got to learn about it during our visit.



Spring is coming to Newport!