Here’s this week’s contribution to Sundara’s Eye Candy Friday. The Atrium at The Breakers Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island.

For those of you who don’t know, Newport was incredibly popular with the rich and famous during the Gilded Age a century ago, and of all the amazing mansions, The Breakers is considered the best. The grandest. And by far, the most elaborate. (They didn’t call this the “gilded age” for nothing!) This 70-room “summer cottage” was commissioned by the Commodor Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1893 and designed by Richard Morris Hunt.

It’s huge. It’s beautiful. And oh, is it ever elaborate.

I went there with my niece three years ago–I brought her for the weekend as a combo-birthday-8th-grade-graduation present, and we had a wonderful time. We toured all the mansions (or, all the ones we really wanted to see–The Elms, Marble House, Rosecliff), and had a great time together.

I took this picture from outside on the patio. They’re very strict about “No Pictures” inside the mansion–which makes perfect sense–but this actually IS outside. I couldn’t take the picture while on the actual tour, but could easily snap this shot afterwards from the grounds . . . so I did. Because really, that tile work is amazing.

We had such a great time on this trip, too. Which is good, because I’d never really seen Newport before.

Well, once. Here’s the story.

One one very memorable trip to Martha’s Vineyard with Mom oh, I don’t know, ten years ago? The entire trip was an adventure. We got caught in traffic trying to get over the Tappan Zee bridge for hours on Friday night, and didn’t make it to our “halfway” hotel in Mystic CT until about 11:30, and yet we giggled all the way–opting to be silly rather than cranky. We rented bicycles–which was the first time Mom had been on a bike in years and years . . . and her first experience with hand-brakes. She got on her bike outside the rental shop and promptly tottered across the street, collided with a stone wall, and had to head back to the room for bandages. But still, we made it all the way from Edgartown to Oak Bluffs and back–about 12 miles in all–and had a lot of laughs. The whole trip was like that–just a little “off” but in a fun way.

Anyway, we had planned on stopping in Newport for a night on our way home–it’s not really that far out of the way–but when we pulled up in front of the B&B? Well . . . Mom says she expected Lurch from the Addams Family to answer the door. We went in and she was immediately creeped out and said she couldn’t possibly stay there. We ended up using the bathroom and then leaving (losing, I might add, the fee for the room for the night). We stopped in the center of town for lunch, and had a wonderful one. Outside, right on the water, at the Mooring, which has some of the best clam chowder I’ve ever had. Great lunch. The best part of the whole visit to Newport. Then we called home and left Dad a message that we were coming home early, and got back in the car. We called again when we reached New Jersey, to let him know we were getting close . . . and he hadn’t listened to the message at all. Even though Jilly (our dog at the time) kept running over to the machine, trying to get his attention. We still think he ran around like crazy to pick things up, make the bed, before we got home about 45 minutes later. (The dishwasher, incidentally, was still warm.)

Prior to the visit in 2003, that had been my sole exposure to Newport, but Mom always told me that I’d like it if I tried again, and with the right person. I guess she was right!

  I have always wondered, though . . . WHY is there a snitch on this old, stone arch?

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Tags: Eye-Candy Friday, Martha's Vineyard // 4 Comments »