Boston to Mystic
ALICE'S ADVENTURES
ANDREW AND CELIA SHARPE
Sat 6 Aug 2011 15:22
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We spent a few more days in Boston. One very full
day of shopping, then we had a call from Sue and Alan on Sulana to say they had
arrived in the city. They were at Constitution Marina, a short dinghy ride
away and we went to join them for gin and tonics and a catch up on news since
Bermuda. The next evening they joined us on Alice. We met up with
Melanie (Trust Me) and her son Chris who also joined us. Chris then went
out with his friends and Melanie came back to join us for supper. We had
planned to leave on Friday but the forecast was for gusty winds on the nose
(again) and rain so we stayed another day in Boston. Went over to Harvard
and went on a student led tour of Harvard Yard. We thought the
fees at home were extortionate but not compared to here - $57,000 per year
including board and lodging. All the courses are 4 years. 70% of
students get financial aid varying from 10% to 100% of the fees. The
statue in the Yard of John Harvard is the statue of 3 lies. It simply says
"John Harvard 1638 Founder". Turns out he was not the founder
but gave a lot of money and books. The date was wrong and when the
university wanted to make a statue of him there were no photographs as all
records of him were destroyed in a fire. They had wanted to honour the
current president whose surname was Hoare but couldn't name a house after him
for obvious reasons so they used his nephew as a model. So all 3 things
are a lie.
On Saturday we left Boston at first light 05.00 and
headed south again. Got through the Cape Cod Canal and then round to
Marion. Melanie and Jeff kindly lent us their mooring there. There
was a huge oppie meeting being held - hundreds of them racing.
Sunday morning we went down to Newport. It was
incredibly busy getting into the harbour as there was a folk festival at Fort
Adams and a lot of boats were anchored in the channel on the way in. We
anchored near the bridge close to Suzie Too. The town was very busy and
touristy but very pretty. Suzanne and David joined us for
drinks.
Monday morning we set off to look at the mansions.
A lot of wealthy New Yorkers built huge mansions here in the late 1800s.
11 of these have been preserved by the Newport Preservation Society. We
went round Breakers which was built by the Vanderbilt family. It was the
most ostentatious house I have ever seen but fascinating. We also walked
along the Cliff Walk which has wonderful views and looked at the outside of some
of the other homes. Visited Miles and Lisa the OCC port officers on
the way back and spent a lovely afternoon with them. Drinks on Suzie
Too and thunderstorm watch but luckily the storms circled us and we stayed
dry.
We then went across to Block Island. Briefly
met George and Lin on a Moody 46. Had a walk over to the
town and Old Harbour. Suzanne and David arrived in the afternoon and
we went to the Oar for dinner. David came across in the morning and gave
Andrew another Reiki treatment for his back. We said Goodbye to them as
they are heading south again.
We then went back to Noank and stayed on
a mooring by Sidney and Sandy's home. Joined them for drinks in the
evening and caught up on all our travels over the last few weeks.
In the morning we went to Carsons Store for a delicious
cooked breakfast and then set off to Gwenmor Marina in Mystic where Alice has
been lifted out of the water. Maintenance works will be carried out here
and repainting the bottom. Lizzie had brought out the film "Mystic Pizza"
which we had watched and then went to try the real thing. The
pizzas in Lizzie's words were scrummy, yummy, yummy so after a day spent working
on the boat we went back the following night.
Lizzie has had her shopping, sunbathing, sailing and
sleeping holiday and now we are all heading back home.
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