Visit to Saugus, MA

The shopaholic has returned home to Ireland with her purchases, but Her Ladyship and I have flown on to Boston. Back to the Atlantic coast. Wonderful! It is so good to be by the ‘real’ sea again. We are staying with friends in a lovely leafy town of Saugus,  just north of the city. On top of everything, our friends are a four parrot (and two human) household and we have been welcomed into the flock with open wings. In fact, we have been treated like royalty since we arrived. His Lordship is going to have his work cut out for him when we get back if he wants to keep us in the manner to which we are rapidly becoming accustomed!

First stop, an all American diner for all American breakfast. You can’t get more American than this! It turns out that our young, pretty waitress, Rashida, is a champion boxer and tells us that she is about to set off to Colorado to train with the USA Olympic boxing team. Now this is when you make sure that you adhere strictly to the American tipping system. I’ve heard that waiting staff in the US are known to show their displeasure if you don’t tip enough. It might be a good idea to err on the generous side in this particular case!

New England is just beautiful and the coastline is gorgeous. There are plenty of English names, but the ever-present American flags and clapboard houses are constant reminders of which side of the Atlantic we are on. I certainly felt like breaking into song on Singing Beach in Manchester, the fine, golden sands reminding me of home.

This monument in the seaside town of Gloucester on Cape Ann, famous for its Bluefin tuna fishing, is a reminder of the dangers of the sea. A nearby plaque lists the names of some of the 5,000 who were lost at sea, including the six Gloucester fishermen who died in 1991 in the ‘Perfect Storm’, made famous by the best-selling book by Sebastian Junger and the movie of the same name, starring George Clooney.

Much as she hates boats, I suspect that Her Ladyship wouldn’t mind getting lost at sea with George Clooney!

 

 Rockport is another beautiful seaside town with the cutest shops and restaurants. I tried to steer Her Ladyship and friends towards this lobster shop. But no luck. They decided to check out what must be one of the tiniest ice cream shops in the world instead. The portions of ice cream sure make up for the size of the shop and the views of the harbour make up for the lack of lobster. Almost. Now, if only they had lobster flavoured ice cream it would be just perfect!

We had a wonderful trip to Newport in Rhode Island, where we visited the Breakers, one of the famous seaside ‘cottages’ of the rich and famous during the ‘Gilded Age’.

This particular Renaissance style palazzo, built between 1893 and 1895, belonged to the Vanderbilt family who made their fortune in steamships and the railroads. We were blown away by the sheer opulence of this mansion and couldn’t believe that it was built in only two years. The secret was revealed during the excellent audio-guided tour. While the structure of the house was being built, entire rooms were built by craftsmen in Europe, the rooms then disassembled, shipped across the Atlantic, then reassembled in situ. Incredible!

This certainly is a million dollar view.

His Lordship would love the kitchen, but I don’t think Herself would be too keen on polishing all that copper!

Carved out of a single block of marble, this is just the perfect bird bath for me!

Yet another US state to add to our collection! We went one evening to the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut to go to a Commodores concert. Wow, what a place! The scale of it is mind-boggling and there is so much more in it than just the slots and tables – restaurants, shops, theatres, even indoor waterfalls! So many lights, so much to see … my head was spinning as fast as the roulette wheels. Luckily, Her Ladyship was content just to watch. Himself will be glad to hear that she didn’t blow the Oldies’ family fortune at the tables!

    

I was quite proud of her restraint. Until she totally let loose. At the Commodores concert, she embarrassed the hell out of me by singing along, loudly and badly, to all the old hits. It wasn’t her dreadful singing that embarrassed me. Sadly, I’m well used to that. Her actually knowing all those songs… for goodness sake, could she not have at least pretended not to know the oldies?

I do it every day, why can’t she?