Civil War today





The ride from Provincetown to Newport, RI was much busier and longer and slower than we had anticipated so I felt really relieved when we finally got there. We realised that our plan to visit both Newport and Providence was probably a bit far stretched so we visited Newport at ease. We picknicked at the harborside, strolled through the old center, ... and gazed at the castle-resembling mansions there. When we thought we were on our way back along the ocean drive, I noticed a sign "Civil War today" at the state park entrance.

The park was not mentioned in any of our guidebooks so we weren't exactly planning to stop there but the sign made my head turn around abruptly. "Stop stop, there is civil war in the park". With a big U-turn , we entered the park about the time that the civil war was going to end. How nice that the civil wars in the USA are nowdays nicely scheduled and planned ;-). Although not entirely because the clean-up had started up earlier because it might start to rain so they had chosen to pack up a bit earlier. Ach, those soldiers ;-)...woooosssieees.


Despite the disappointing lack of war going on, we joined the tour of the fort in Newport and we got a really excellent tour that lead us beyond the main square that you could visit on your own. We even got to do a little bit of the many tunnels there with flashlights. Coo-hool. It was a very impressive fort and I don't get it at all that it is not mentioned in any of our books. It should!

In the mean time it was late in the afternoon and we didn't feel like a rushed visit to Providence anymore, so we did drive straight by it. Next time we'll give it more honor for sure. Upon arrival in Woonsocket, we realised that having your B&B address in our hands doesn't always guarantee getting there easily without directions. Clearly we had memorised a map but none of the reality seemed to match our mindmap. At every so many blocks we seemed to recognise the park where we had to turn left :). Several people were so kind to point us... in totally the wrong direction. However that way we ended up at the doorstep of the local fire department who was so kind to us as to escort us all the way to the B&B (quite in the other direction than we were driving obviously) (no not with a firetruck... with an anonymous car). Thankx to the Woonsocket fire department we got at our destination of the evening. They rock!

I can recomment Pillsbury House B&B by the way to travellers ever needing a place to sleep in northern Rhode Island! You get spoiled at breakfast!

Comments

Jen said…
I've always wanted to visit Newport. I've heard it's very beautiful. And that's such a typical American experience - everyone is so friendly and so willing to give you directions and SO wrong, lol! Glad the fire dept. came through for you.

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