The Harborside Inn breakfast dining area is really fantastic with wonderful views of the marina and waters beyond. The first pictures you will see below are of the dining area and the amazing sunrise views over the marina off the porch of the breakfast area.

We begin our day with a stroll down the coastline passing all the great wharfs and marinas and arrive at the entrance to Goat Island where early Newport colonists used the island as a goat pasture. The view of the Claiborne Pell Bridge that we used to cross into Newport was amazing. 

We went into the Newport Shipyard where they were cleaning and repairing huge private sailing vessels and where we learned that the Queen Mary 2 arrived that morning and prepared to unload thousands of tourists whose primary goal would be to visit the Gilded Age summer cottages that we also planned to visit. We quickly went into the Visitor's Center near Goat Island where we confirmed our plans for the day with a very helpful lady and purchased a "Breakers Plus" ticket which would allow us to visit the famous Breakers plus one other "summer cottage". We hurried back to the hotel, jumped in our car and drove the short distance to the Breakers in order to beat the crowds.

       
Beginning in the "Gilded Age" of the mid-nineteenth century, wealthy southern planters seeking to escape the heat began to build summer cottages. By the turn of the 20th century, many of the nation's wealthiest families were summering in Newport, including the Vanderbilts who constructed the largest "cottages", such as the Breakers in 1895. This 70-room mansion has approximately 65,000 sq ft of living space. The home was constructed at a cost of more than $12 million (approximately $331 million in today's dollars adjusted for inflation). The entrance is marked by sculpted iron gates and the 30-foot high walkway gates are part of a 12-foot-high limestone and iron fence that borders the property on all but the ocean side. Part of a 13-acre estate on the cliffs of Newport, it faces east overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

      A "Must Do" when in Newport is the Cliff Walk. The Cliff Walk runs along the eastern shore near the summer "cottages" such as The Breakers. Since we were at The Breakers, we decided to check out the Cliff walk. It is world famous as a public access walk that combines the natural beauty of the Newport shoreline with the architectural history of Newport's gilded age. Hurricane Sandy had impacted a key section of the Cliff Walk resulting in a closure in the middle section - the most challenging section to walk. The pictures presented below are in the approximate order of the walk if you began at the traditional starting point which is First Beach. Please check out the video of the water crashing on the rocks.

As our second "cottage", we chose Rosecliff. We were informed that this was a much more "approachable" structure - one that the average person could see themselves living in. Rosecliff, was completed in 1902 at a reported cost of $2.5 million. The home immediately s hosted fabulous entertainments including a fairy tale dinner and a party featuring famed magician Harry Houdini. You may recognize it from some of the movies that have filmed scenes here, most notably - The Great Gatsby and True Lies. Some of the notable features of this property are the limestone "sweetheart's staircase" and 40x80 foot ballroom, where Arnold Schwarzenegger tangoed with Tia Carrere in True Lies.   

The next "Must Do" when in Newport is called the "10 Mile Drive". This drive along the ocean combines that history of a wealthy summer community with a fabulous Newport recreational treasure of public parks and miles of public access shoreline to rank as one of the most popular "drives" in the country.  

Back on the subject of food... We had heard that the best place for lunch was a boutique sandwich shop called Rosemary & Thyme Artisan Bakery & Cafe. This small venue was too cramped and too hot to consume our food inside. However, the menu fascinated us and we ordered the Bahn Mi sandwich which we had read about on Trip Advisor. We were not disappointed. This was an amazing sandwich! As we sat outside the restaurant on their bench chowing down, I looked down the street and noted that confusing "One Way" signs. Please look carefully at the picture entitled "One Way".  

For dinner, we continued our quest for Chowder and Oysters beginning with "Heavy Appetizers" at "Benjamin's Raw Bar" (Home of the Mothershucker). We sat downstairs at the bar watching the bartender and master shucker prepare our cocktails and shellfish. Naturally, we tried a variety of local fare. We began with a well-known Oyster to us - the Wellfleet from Wellfleet, MA. These oysters possess a pleasingly salty liquor that complimented the sweet, crisp meat. Our shucker also recommended the East Beach Blonde Oysters from Rhode Island. It was a delicious bombshell - perfectly salty with a surprising peachy fruitiness. They also had a larger oyster which at first concerned Casey. But the name made us try it. The Moonstone is a very nice, larger oysters with full-bodied flavor and unusually deep cups. Grown in Point Judith Pond, RI. The brine is strong, but not quite so bold as a Wellfleet, What jumps out at you is that full body; the taste fills your mouth with minerals and brothyness.  

What we also learned was that all clams are really Quahogs. The smallest legally harvestable clams are called countnecks, the next size up are littlenecks, then topnecks. Above that are the cherrystones, and the largest are called quahogs or chowder clams. 

This is VERY DIFFERENT from what is called a "Steamer". A "Steamer" is a soft shell clam that is also called a Long Neck Clam. We first accidentally ordered "Steamers" on August 30, 1997 on our first trip to Nantucket. We thought that "Steamers" was just a quaint way for New Englanders to say "Steamed Clams". Nothing could be further from the truth. Steamers are a sand-filled, bi-valve with a unpleasant looking protruding neck. We vowed in 1997 NEVER to order "Steamers" again. We accidentally broke that vow about a year ago when we were accidentally fooled thinking we were ordering steamed clams and were presented with Steamers.

We discussed this difference at length with the shucker and he presented us with a sampling of some wonderful littleneck clams on the half shell which were the perfect size, texture and taste. They were wonderfully delicious. The clam chowder? I can't even recall it. Probably was too watery with large hunks of chewy clams and not much to taste. Isn't all clam chowder like that?

We wondered the wharfs observing the fact that this was the Newport International Boat Show week and the place was packed with folks paying perfectly good money to go into tents and look at boats. We ogled a few that were left on the public docks to view and decided we would dine on a mexican-based seafood treat we love - the fish taco.  

We had been enticed the previous day by Diego's which was on the waterfront and decided to give them a try. We were not extremely hungry, so we complimented our Margaritas with the "Made to Order" guacamole - which was good. We then decided to share an order of the  "Famous Loaded Fish Tacos". What a disappointment! We are still trying to figure out if there was any fish in them at all. If so, the fish was chopped up into such small bits as to be invisible.  

We would want to get on the road early tomorrow for our Ferry to Nantucket. So we called it the end of very adventurous and exhausting day.