The Nautilus,Mystic, and Newport...so near and yet so far

Ed went to The Submarine Museum in Groton, CT, the home of the American submarine. This museum celebrates the history of the American submarine. The two circles represent a full size cross sections of an earlier sub and present day nuclear subs.
I went aboard the first nuclear sub in the world - the Nautilus.

It was commissioned 11/30/1954 and decommissioned 3/3/1980 after an illustrious career including being the first sub to submerge under the North Pole. It was build right in Groton.

Here's another view of the ourside of the ship. Even though it's a nuclear submarine and you expect it to be larger, it still retained a lot of the characteristics of the older submarines. Notice how narrow it is:

The Groton shipyard complex has a beautiful and touching memorial to the many American subs lost in WWII. The superstructure of an actual WWII submarine is the centerpiece of the memorial.

We found the most amazing thing when we checked into the rv park - another couple traveling in a Trek. Turned out there was a rally of the New England Safari Club. Well - we own a Safari, so they invited us to join them. We shared two lovely evenings with them and connected with some people we're sure we'll hear from again.

The weather turned cold and misty, but that didn't stop us from spending an entire day in Mystic Seaport. It's a typical 19th century New England fishing and ship building village and a living museum. It's huge. This is part of the model that filled an entire building.

It sits beside the town of Mystic on the Thames River. It couldn't possibly be more charming.

Each building is a mini museum and the place is all about wooden boats...any size...any kind. There isn't a rigging they can't produce. Ed was struck by the size of this one.

The sails are displayed in a huge room complete with sewing machines, hardware, lots of space, and samples in progress.

The rope building is long long long wooden shed. Upstairs they prepare the material and downstairs they made the rope. There are demonstrations.

There's a street of shops. We stopped in and talked with the blacksmith. He was making hooks.

Then there was the navigation equipment shop. Ed got to try out a sextant and the conversation got really technical. We were there for a looong time. We learned a whole lot about how coordinates are plotted and how simple Columbus' navigational tools were.

We got lessons in printing techniques in the mid 19th century in the print shop and the chance to try reading upside down and backwards.

But - this one was my favorite. The cooper took a long time explaining the steps it takes to make a barrel by hand. They were used to hold whale oil so water tight was key. It's a long process and a skilled cooper could make a barrel a day. When we looked at the old ones on display, many were made of quarter sawn oak. They are beautiful especially when they have copper hoops.

I went to a short talk on the Gerda III. This little boat saved more than 1000 Jews in Amsterdam during WWII. She belongs to the Jewish Museum in New York but is living at Mystic Seaport where she is cared for and appreciated for her history.

There were three tall ships in Mystic Seaport this day. The Armistad:

The L.A. Dunton on which I got a lesson in scrimshaw:

And in the working shipyard:

The Charles W. Morgan, built in 1841, and in dry dock for refurbishing.

We climbed a long stairway to the main deck of the Morgan and crawled inside. This is the main deck in it's current phase of construction. The tour of the ship went all the way down to the hold, through the quarters, and provided a lesson in whaling. It was amazing to us that people could live on these ships for voygages lasting from two to three years.

Mystic Seaport was a terrific learning experience!!

The next day we headed out to Newport, RI to visit the mansions of the Gilded Age. Ed learned that the name, Gilded Age, was coined by Mark Twain. It's stuck. And it certainly was gilded!

Newport is tourist tourist tourist. We drove the route to see all the mansions...well, they called them cottages. There were so many people at The Breakers that we opted to tour Marble House. It only has 50 rooms to the Breakers 70. Both were built by the Vanderbilts - different generations.

The front doors are considered the finest metalwork of its time.

And who doesn't need an authentic Chinese teahouse in the back yard???

This is the view of the neighbors from the Marble House back yard.

Those Vanderbilts really knew how to build a house!!! Enough said... We'll visit another of their "cottages" in Hyde Park.