HOHOnobbing with the Upper Crust of Newport (…at the Lobster Shack by the Pier)

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We took our time getting out of bed, headed to the Lido as has been our norm. I grabbed a couple of those petite bowls of Swiss muesli and Sharon had some French Toast. It was past nine before we met up with Erin and Dennis in the atrium of the lower promenade that we shared with them; only, we were forward near the bow and they were aft looking backwards off the stern. This gave them a longer walk to the forward atrium. It took a bit of a wait catching an elevator down to the A-Deck to catch a tender. The line was a confused jumble of people heading out the starboard side. Most people in line had their color coded tender tickets; which, they needed to have previously requested. Only after all of these people have been taken ashore will they allow open tendering; but, there is a nice perk in HAL’s 4-star and 5-star perks, and that is that these mariners may tender, not only when they want to, but as we discovered, even get preferential boarding. I spoke to Sharon and Erin later, and asked them if they could feel the daggers of people’s eyes as we were led by them to the front of the line to board the tender. Erin was using her crutches today, preferring not to hassle with the scooter on the tender, so it might be possible people just figure that we were being given preferred boarding so that she wouldn’t need to wait in line for forty-five minutes; still, I’m guessing that after standing in line for forty-five minutes they might not be so understanding. Sharon and Erin said that they hadn’t noticed those looks; but, I surely did.

The tender ride went smoothly enough; but, it seemed that the skipper kept jamming the transmission into and out of gear with the horrible associated grinding and lurching noises. Ashore, the pier staff was completely ready to help us in the information kiosk, giving us maps and directions, noting where great and reasonably priced lobster rolls can be had (okay, now she had my attention). We had to walk a block or two to catch the bus, and technically Sharon told me later that despite looking like all of the HOHO busses that we’ve been riding, the bus that we boarded was not one of them; although, HOHO does have service in Newport as well. I just liked the sound of “HOHOnobbing” and you will see why once you hear what we saw.

Our tour was the ninety-minute tour aboard “The Viking” bus which offered a narrated tour around Newport for twenty bucks. Some of the other tours offer a more in depth visit of some of the Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Rockefeller and Astor mansions, and such; who conceived properties with names such as “The Breakers”. These mansions came to life in the “Gilded Age” of excess wealth. The tour drove by many impressive “sea side cottages” which in their heyday were used but four to eight weeks in the summer. Obviously, even back in the day to acquire property in this scenic alcove, one needed money; but, they made a serious distinction between “old money” and “new money”. So, it seems, that some people’s money isn’t quite as green as other people’s money! And they made you know it. For a single summer season a woman wouldn’t dare come to town with less than 70 different gowns to attend the many balls and events. Wearing the same gown more than once could get you off the “By Invitation Only” list. “New Money” could buy into this community; but, it couldn’t get you even a single invitation to the social scene. One coal mining mogul bought a prominent “summer cottage” on the one shore side street near the center of town. His solution to being snubbed was to top the stone walls that lined his property with flower pot urns with his face appearing on either side of the urn so that Newport’s elite would be forced to look at his image both coming and going. “Old Money” of course, is inherited, and the people who have it don’t work (whether they need to or not). Many fortunes, such as the Vanderbilt’s, lasted just four generations. In that case, the first two generations worked to create the wealth, and the last two spent or squandered it. There were more than one Vanderbilt properties that were simply abandoned, because they no longer had the resources to maintain them. On the tour, we passed by a farm, and saw in the field “The Oreo Cow”. The head and front legs were solid black, and the rump and rear legs were black, and the center belly portion was a wide area of solid white, just like a double thick Oreo cookie. Sharon posted this picture on her Facebook page and one reader knew the name of the actual breed. They are the Belted Galloways, a Scottish breed, sometimes called the Panda Cow or Beltie.

It was about thirty minutes before noon when we were dropped off where we’d gotten on. Sharon and I went to check out the lobster rolls, wharf-side in the Fisherman’s Market area. One shack was selling fresh whole lobsters “At Fishermen’s Prices”. The adjacent trailer near the entrance was preparing a variety of lobster delicacies. I ordered the large (six ounces of lobster) roll for $20, and for good measure I got a cup of the lobster bisque as well. Sharon got some French Fries and a soda. This lobster roll was very much the same as the one that I’d had in Boston. Both came on a custom baked lobster roll (something more than a generic hot dog bun); but, the Boston one came well buttered while this one didn’t have any butter. The lobster was definitely fresh, and the lobster bisque was not to be missed. The price was in the ballpark of the $22 Boston Lobster roll; but, in Boston we sat at a comfortable window-side table overlooking the park and here we sat at an aluminum picnic table-bench outside unsheltered from a sometimes brutal wind. Erin and Dennis had resorted to shopping. We sat on a bench to wait for them, and Sharon did later spot them crossing the street. A tender was approaching from the Rotterdam, and were among the first to board. Sharon, Erin and Dennis headed to the Lido; while, I went back to the cabin to jot down some notes for the blog. Then I remembered that this might be last chance to try the “chocolate mascarpone” delicacy in the NY Pizza on the stern. She asked me “How many do you want?” This seemed like an odd question to me at the time. I replied “One,” (of course). It wasn’t what I expected, to be sure, it was pre-made. It was a sort of donut-hole, I imagine filled with mascarpone, and when they gave it to me they drizzled some chocolate syrup over the top of my little treat.

For the final trivia, the four of us were again going up against that behemoth trivia bunch of retired schoolteacher spoilers. When they started with a “Lord of the Rings” questions, I knew that we were in trouble; although, I might have been able to come up with the answer from a previous question in my spreadsheet, I just didn’t recognize that it really was the same question. “In the “Fellowship of the Rings” which member of Frodo’s group didn’t make it back out of the mines?” Now you must realize that I’m struggling to come up with any character in Lord of the Rings. Bilbo Baggins is all that we can manage. I think that’s what I managed to come up with last time. It wasn’t right then, and it wasn’t right again! The answer it turns out is Gandalf. I’m guessing that Sharon’s brother Kevin would have gotten this one, and I’m pretty sure that Ron (best man at our wedding) would have been able to help as well. Too bad there is no “Phone a Friend”. “What space station fell out of the sky in 2001?” We went with Skylab. MIR would have been a better choice. We got the question, “What two cities were fighting each other during the Peloponnesian Wars?” Dennis knew that Athens was one. I pointed out that Sparta was the other. Many teams missed this; but, not the teachers. And we didn’t know the unit of measure that is based on the length of 3 grains of barley placed end to end. It is one inch. And we didn’t know what country that we’d be in if we landed in the airport in Vilnius. I really need to learn the world capitals. It is the capital of Lithuania. And, once again, we didn’t know the member of the shark family that is often called “Rock Eel”, “Rock Salmon” or “Huss”. The dogfish. We did well with the remaining questions, and Sharon instantly recognized what the next letter in the sequence A-S-D-F-G-H-J-K should be. And Erin and I were both able to answer the Harry Potter question: “What was the first name of Harry’s godfather?” Seriously, that was the question. Did you get the hint? Serious Black. If you’re having trouble with that letter sequence, you need to take a closer look at a keyboard (and not the piano type).

For the final dinner, we again sat at a table for four. I enjoy HAL’s pasta dished and think they make a very tasty marinara sauce, so I very much liked the ricotta stuffed shells. Sharon went with the coq au vin, and I’m impressed how few times she resorted to the everyday grilled chicken choice; although, she was substituting in a baked potato whenever she remembered to ask for one. Sharon had the lemon pudding; but, I went for the Snicker’s Cake, which was surprising good.



The show featured a comedian/ukulele player, and he played some very impressive medleys starting with a 4-string rendition of three 5-string banjo pieces starting with the “Dueling Banjos” featured in Deliverance. We enjoyed the final show, except, realizing of course that we needed to pack, put our suitcases out in the hall and prepare for disembarking in New York. Sharon decided to spend a little bit of time, “to properly close out her account”. Slot machine winning are maintained on your room key, which you insert into the slot machines to play; but, on the last night, you need to “Cash Out” your room key since they won’t transfer the balance to your shipboard account (from the separate casino account). It seemed to take Sharon an awful long time to “Just Cash Out My Card”. She comes back to the cabin, beaming. That “Lobstermania” machine decided to say goodbye to her by giving her four small jackpot wins of about $25 each in under ten minutes. I am thinking, “Oh wonderful, we’re returning home to Las Vegas.” And I’m wondering, “I wonder if she’s hooked yet?” but she was happy with the almost $500 in her pocket.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Nice
Makes travel worth it