The Breakers, A Not-So-Quaint Summer Cottage

Our plan was to spend this last year in Boston seeing all the important sites that we've always wanted to see, but have put off until now.  Sadly, our procrastination as proved unfortunate, because this summer, Black Magic, our faithful Honda Civic finally kicked the bucket.  She was a good ole girl, but she just couldn't keep up and decided to take an early retirement.  And because we are students and because we are cheap/living off student loans, we have decided to live without a car for what feels like THE REST OF OUR LIVES.  AHH!!!  I hate not having a car.   As you can guess, not having a car also seriously thwarts our plans to get in all of our "to do's" before we move to NYC.

But, as always, fortune smiled down on us earlier this fall when our good friends the Bates let us use their car while they were traveling for two weeks.  We didn't drive it much, but we did take advantage of our opportunity to drive to Newport, RI to see "The Breakers" something that has been on our "to do" list for a long time.  

What is "The Breakers?"  Well, in the late 1800's, a time period that historians refer to as the "Gilded Age," America's economy and population began to boom.  This era was characterized by a kind of second industrial revolution and it spawned the super-rich families considered to be American royalty like the Rockefeller's, Mellon's, Carnegie's, Flagler's, Rogers', Morgan's, Astor's, and, of course, the Vanderbilt's. Among these mega-wealthy families, it was popular to build summer vacation homes, and the most wealthy built their summer retreats on Bellevue Avenue in downtown Newport, RI.  "The Breakers" is the name of Cornelius Vanderbilt II's (he built railroads) summer home.  It is the most ostentatious and celebrated of these ridiculously fabulous summer "cottages."  We took our friend's car and went to see it!

It's hard to believe that in America there were people who lived like kings and queens in fairy tales.  "The Breakers" has 70 rooms and more than 65,000 square feet of living space and nearly none of it is practical in any way.  Among some of the most fabulous features of the summer home are a platinum-leafed room, a gold-leafed room,  a room made of marble, a bathtub carved out of a big block of marble that had to be filled with hot water 10 times before it became warm enough to bath in, a mosaic tiled pool room, and more that I can't remember.  

We weren't allowed to take pictures, but...here are some....er...photos...that...I uh...have:

After seeing the crazy-ornate and overwhelming breakers, we decided to visit another historic summer "cottage" that isn't know for it's fabulousness, but rather something much more fun: Its Green Animal Topiary Garden.