Time for a Trolley Ride

Friday Trolley Time to the Mansions of Newport!

We have tickets to the Trolley Tour of the Major Mansions along Bellevue Avenue here in Newport. Unfortunately it is still rainy weather so a walk along the shoreline and CliffWalk are out of the question. Too slippery on the cliffs and walkways. But we shall do what we can from the roadway.

We visited the Mansions, wandered about the Breakers (one of the largest)… built by Cornelius Vanderbilt in the late 1800’s. It really is a show place… but I wouldn’t want to dust the furniture.

The tour guide let us know they had over 40 servants to maintain the house and property. Ostentatious—yes! but they did employ a lot of people on the estate… and today, all these years later, it still brings a lot of tourists and their money to Newport, and so, it continue to benefit the community.

A curious ambivalence… fascination and envy at the same time as feeling most uncomfortable at the expense.

Today, Sunday, the 13th…. We only visited the one mansion while in Newport. One was enough. And the weather ? it continued to rain until the next day and stopped just as we drove away and headed home. Oh well… it was a good chance to just relax and catch up on the news.