A day in Newport - 18th Oct 2015

The International Student & scholar Services (ISSS) of UCONN arranged for a trip to Newport. I have been after my husband and our friends for a visit to Newport from a long time. So, when my husband told me about the trip... We went.

Newport is known for the mansions and the cliff walk. Sadly, we didn't plan our trip well to be able to go to the mansions but here is what we did.

The bus left UCONN at 830 pm and we crossed the Newport/Pell Bridge to Newport. We saw the Light house but were so fascinated with the bridge that didn't really click any pics.

Our first stop was at Fort Adams. We tried to get a shot of the bridge in the background.

It was cold!!!I was prepared for snow! The chilly air didn't let us stay out in the open for long. This is a pic of Fort Adams from the bus. :) What I found interesting is that there is grass growing on top of the building. War Aircrafts will find it hard to locate. Smart job!

We quickly left this to continue on the Ocean drive. We crossed the Eisenhower summer home and the summer white house to see the belted cows. Each mansion is simply wow. We kept looking at each passing mansion. I have to mention that even if someone told me that they would give me a mansion for free (my wishful thinking) I would not be able to choose. They are sooooo wow!

The lawns are so nicely cut. Mansions are a sight to see. We crossed the Brenton State Park but didn't see any kites. It was toooo windy. We did see a few birds though :)

We stopped for lunch and then went to the Sea food festival at Bowen's wharf. Non Vegetarians in the group enjoyed it best. We spent some time and then went out exploring. We also saw the ship making yard.

I think it is best to know about a town from its museum. We visited the Brick Market: Museum & Shop on Thames Street. It isn't a very big museum but did give us a small peek into the first people who came to Newport and the kind of furniture, wagons, printing press of that time. Since this was a sunday the NMAI was closed. So we made the most of this open museum.

This tile work is right outside the museum. Pretty interesting!

After the Museum, we walked on Thames Street. Although it was unseasonably cold, we saw all the nice big shops and their merchandise.

We took rest at the visitor's centre before going to the cliff walk.

The cliff walk is one of the 50 things to do in life. The view is stunning, sadly my photography isn't.

 

On the left is the beach with unimaginably white sand. Then there is the majestic Atlantic ocean and on our right were the beautiful mansions. 

But honestly, we walked till the 40 Steps and nothing changed. We got bored ;) and I was tired. We decided to head back for some coffee.

Love is the same everywhere. Like in India, we saw many locks tied on the safety rail on the way. Symbols of LOVE!

Cliff walk was our last event of the day, We walked back to the visitor's centre. We had already seen the Thames St and parts of the Bellevue Avenue, we took the Spring St. There are many many pretty houses on the way. I love a house covered with green, just like this.

The small houses had some really neat architecture. We ended our trip with some time on the Bowen's wharf. The seafood festivities were almost over. We took in the sunset.

We didn't wait there too long. As soon as we finished our coffee, we headed back to the bus. It was almost time to head back home.

A nice trip. Next time, we take our car and the pass to see the 5 mansions. We have to see the breakers and the Elms.

Niagara on the labor day weekend.

The best trip of my time spent in USA so far... Niagara Falls!!!

We decided to start at 5 am on Saturday, 5th Sept. As IST always works, we started our day at 830 am. Anyway, fresh and eager, we started and headed towards NIAGARA.

We luxuriously made a very very comfortable trip with many stopovers. We made it to the falls in the evening. We checked in at Holiday Inn and after freshening up, headed to our dream destination.

In the car, after crossing the bridge, we saw a white cloud in the distant. Within a few seconds, we guessed that it could be the falls. The men told us that they are the falls. WOW!

And as they say, the mist is the first thing you notice about the falls. We are glad that we did.

Parking is a pain! really! Lesson learned. Start early.

We saw the Niagara movie. We took the Discovery pass and Niagara Adventure Theater was our first stop. It was mostly TP. the funny part was the case of the widow who goes in the barrel with a black cat and comes back with a white one.
My husband says that it was a technical error, I personally feel that the cat got scared. :P

After this, we spent some time at the falls. the illuminated lights were soooo pretty. I like looking at the lights in the night and this was awesome. As we looked at the Niagara falls, we made our plans and hopes for the next day.

We also got to see some part of beautiful and pretty Canada.

 

We ate a very very big pizza. I love Pizza and this big pizza took care of the tiredness for the day.

We did our regular meditation for sunday and started our day. One of the benefits of traveling with like minded people. This was such a comfortable trip specially because of Ramky and Jaya. We couldn't have gone without them.

We decided to start our day with the Maid of the Mist. This is the famous Rainbow bridge that connects USA and Canada.

This is all of us. So happy and pleased to see the beautiful rainbow and ... just blessed to have the opportunity to be able to visit. I have a smile on my face as I am writing all this. It was a wonderful experience.

With my dear hubby and the rainbow. My hair is as independent as it always is.

and here we are with the rainbow bridge. Next stop - Maid of the mist.

All geared up and ready for the ride!

An interesting this about the maid of the mist is that the American side and the Canadian side work in harmony. It was fun to be on the American boat and wave at the Canadian boat and have them wave back at us. Such silly and innocent pleasures!

 

Here, all of us, enjoying the mist. You can see the Falls right behind us. What joy! We hadn't experienced the Cave of the winds yet so this was awesome!

I spent a lot of time holding my hubby's hand and absorbing the experience of it all.

After everyone got out, we finally got a chance to be at the side of the boat and get a decent pic. :)

I love the spunk their daughter Pranita has. She made the trip enjoyable for all of us.

We went to the observation deck and got a chance to click a pic of the American and the Canadian Horse shoe falls. Same place where we had gone the previous night.

We got tired :( and spent some time on the rocking chair. Lunch was delicious Indian food. It is amazing to know the diversity in the options of food this place has to offer.

Our next stop was the Aquarium of Niagara. My best friend from India moved to NYC few days after we moved to CT. I have met her at our meditation gatherings in NJ but meeting her and her whole family at the Falls was a delight. We didn't get much chance to talk but it was an awesome feeling to find the needle in the haystack.

The aquarium was another delight. Especially the Sea Lions! We had so much fun watching them. We spent a lot of time watching them with each other. They are so playful and fun.

Goofing around at the Aquarium.

We went to the Niagara Gorge Discovery Center. It was interesting to read about the different kinds of rocks and all. But honestly, we got bored.:( We then went to the cave of the winds. The last thing on the cards. Sadly, we had to wait for almost 2 hours in the line. We made the boys wait in the line and we girls sat chatting away while eating fries. What would life be without men ;)

Maybe it was the 2 hour wait or the fact that this was our last activity, this was the best part of the falls. If we would have known better, we would have gone here in the morning and then the maid of the mist.

The place that we are standing is where we could see the water coming right to us. There were few people there and as they moved, I went there. It was such a weird feeling. My brain was telling me that there is a railing and I will not fall off but seeing the water just gushing towards me was scary. It was such a weird feeling. We threw the water at each other and also tasted it. Pure joy! This place is the best part of the falls for me. I will never forget this experience in my life.

Our final wave to the Falls. We ended our day and our trip.

We got up luxuriously late the next day. Had some continental breakfast and left for home. Mid way, we stopped at the Corning Museum of Glass.

We were so tired and the museum has soooo much to offer. We couldn't do justice to everything. We attended all the workshops and saw many types of glass making. It was a good practical entertaining experience. Pranita enjoyed the most.

This was the trip. Exhausting but super fun! Worth going there once in life. I hope we can go to the Canadian side next time :D