Thursday, July 24, 2008

Newport, Rhode Island

I know you don't want to be bored by a bunch of vacation pictures, but I will post a few. I will limit this post to the harbor and shoreline of Newport, Rhode Island.

Newport is a sailing/fishing/resort city a few miles south of Providence. They are big on sailing and old money. Their many yacht clubs have had numerous America's Cup winners. Some of these famous vessels still use Newport as their home port.

Another aspect of Newport besides the fun wharves and great seafood eating and colorful sailing vessels and spectacular yachts tied up there, are the old mansions overlooking the harbor. These were built as "summer homes" by the robber barons of the "Gilded Age", and are still kept up for the tourist trade. They are huge and were hugely expensive. They probably could not be built today.

Today, I will limit my pictures to the harbor and some sailing boats and yachts. Obviously, for some of the pics, I was on a boat, so the quality is not always the greatest as I stood on the upper deck of a pitching boat. But they will give you an idea of what Newport harbor looks like.

Several of the Americas Cup winners were anchored in the harbor, and I tried to get pictures of a few of these famous boats. Most notably, the "Courageous" was there, and I got a few pics of it close up, way out in the middle of the harbor. "Courageous" won the America's Cup twice: in 1974 and 1977 (the third yacht to win the Cup twice), with the Famous media mogul Ted Turner Captaining.

Below: A view standing on the dock.
Some of them are pretty large:
Lobster fisherman bring their boats right up to this building and sell their catch there. Inside, there are large holding bins with hundreds of lobsters crawling around. Sales are both retail and wholesale: you can go there and purchase your own lobsters to cook, and, of course, the local restaurants buy there. There are restaurants right behind me that serve the freshest lobster you have ever eaten. Highly recommend (by me) to eat right on the wharf like that. Goooood!
Below: a view of the harbor from a boat.
The "Courageous".

Below: another view of the harbor, taken from out in the harbor.
Below: a good-sized boat catches the wind and sails  by us.
Children learning to sail. They were very young and, frankly, not paying much attention to their instructor who was towing them.

12 comments:

  1. I do want to see them, because I am going there! woot.

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  2. I know you are, Claire. And you will have a super time. It should be a little cooler for you as well. It is very warm there now. I also have pictures of Salem, Boston, and Cape Cod, which I will show you over the next few days. You should be excited: you are going to have a fantastic adventure. :)

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  3. I will look forward to the pictures :)

    Hope you had a great time?

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  4. Hi darling. Love the pics. Hope you had a wonderful time. By the way, my new name is Mike, and in no way relates to your new barkeep. :)

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  5. Claire, thanks. Yes, had a good time.

    Mike???? May I say that it makes me somewhat uncomfortable being called darling by someone named Mike? :)

    Glad you liked the pictures. Thanks!

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  6. welcome back max. while you were gone did you get a chance to park your car in harvard yard?

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  7. Hi Grumpus. Actually I parked in a parking garage under Boston Common. But I went to Cambridge. Does that count?

    How are you doing?

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  8. Well Max, they are some lovely pictures, it looks like you had a really nice time.

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  9. One of the last times in Boston I parked at the wahf. I mean the wharf.

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  10. Hi welcome back, missed your chats and comments so good to have you back again. Your photo's make me long for the ocean! It is winter here now so I am very envious of the "warm" vacation you just had.

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  11. Caroline, thank you for the compliment. It was a nice time. I think I tried to do too much in that time, though. I saw the Cheers bar (exterior opening credits location). I don't now why I thought you would find that interesting. :)

    Redbeard. Th'waf? Naw. Giddout. :)

    Hi Frostygirl. I could have surely used some of your brisk winter weather last week! I hope you are doing ok. Thanks for stopping by. :)

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  12. I don't know why you thought I would find that interesting either, but strangely enough - I do...

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