Where Are We Sleeping Tonight: Days Inn, Salem, Massachusetts As it was raining last night when we got to Mystic, we didn't get to see anything apart from inside the famous pizza store so when we woke to discover a bright sunny day, we had to go for a walk and explore the town. First of all, we discovered the cause of last nought's peak hour traffic congestion - the main street of the town goes over a drawbridge! And witnessing how many sea vessels take advantage of the drawbridge, I am not surprised how long we had to wait last night! Walking around the town, we were delighted to stumble across John's Mystic River Tavern :)
Starting off on another busy day, we drove to Newport, Rhode Island - home of the Newport Mansions. For various reasons, numerous mansions were sold off by the rich and famous, and they were acquired by the Preservation Society with the aim to protect the classic homes which represent a critical period in American history and design. Arriving in Newport, we first visited the Waterfront area which reminded me of Amity Island from Jaws. Not surprising really considering Jaws was filmed at Martha's Vineyard which is just across the bay.
Continuing on to the mansions, we chose to visit The Breakers - previously owned by the famous Vanderbilt Family. Walking around the rooms of their one time summer house (of which you are not allowed to take photos of), it is easy to see that they obviously were one of the wealthiest families in history.
Driving past the International Tennis Hall of Fame, we continued on our way, crossing our second border for the day, driving into Massachusetts.
Continuing on through the town of Taunton (and I thought they smelt bad on the outside), we arrived at the Boston Common (in Boston) at our scheduled time. Normally we weren't too concerned about arrival times but we had arranged months ago to catch up with a friend of ours, and her mother. Back when we got married, we wanted particular gift boxes for our bonbonerie which were only available in the USA. With no way of getting them sent here directly from the manufacturer, Nichole said we could get them sent to her and she would post them on to us. She helped us out and we had never physically met her. That changed today when we not only got to meet her (and her Australian born mother), but we had the pleasure of holding a photoshoot with her for her mother's birthday.
It was great to not only meet Nichole and her mother, we got to spend some time with them, learning about Boston in some detail. This included walking across to U-Burger to enjoy a great local burger. It would have been great to spend more time with them but with a busy itinery, we had to say our goodbyes and continue on our way. Because we were in the area, we couldn't miss visiting Harvard University. Unlike our unofficial tour of Yale, the sun had set by the time we arrived so we only got to see the outside of some of the buildings. We did however get to walk through their type of student village -there were secondhand book stalls, students drinking coffee and an overall happy cool vibe in the atmosphere - I think we would rather study here over Yale... just saying... as such, we had to visit the Havard Book Store so we could buy up on university branded clothing :)
Back on the road, we headed off as our itinery demands that we must stop in Salem tonight so we can have as much time as possible to take in all the witch trial fun that I am sure Salem has to offer :)
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