Outside New York, New York Day 11 - Yale, Newport and Cape Cod

On Day 11 of our New York trip, Tim and I took a Gray Line tour to Rhode Island, Cape Cod and Boston.

We had a bright and early 7.30am start, piling into a mini bus with our fellow travellers and our guide, Stefano.

Our first stop was at New Haven, Connecticut for a wander through the grounds of Yale.  As you can see, the grounds are very picturesque, as is befitting an Ivy League college:

Hillary met Bill at Yale Law School:

We then left the sunny climes of New Haven for the rather more moody appeal of Newport, Rhode Island:

Newport was our lunch destination for the day.  Given that we were in the heart of seafood country, Tim and I opted to eat at The Black Pearl, which is noted in particular for its clam chowder:

As you can see, it is a cosy and popular venue kitted out to reflect the insides of a ship:

Tim opted for the famed clam chowder ($9.50) as a starter:

He says it was good.

I couldn't fit in a starter, so I went straight to the mains, and opted for the Lobster Salad ($20):

It wasn't what I was expecting, but it tasted good.

Here is Tim at The Black Pearl with two of his favourite things - a map and a glass of beer:

From Bannister's Wharf, we moved on to The Breakers, an exotic mansion  once owned by the Vanderbilt family:

We did a self-guided audio tour through The Breakers, and I was certainly inspired by the beautiful but lavish interiors.  I am glad that the powers that be were persuaded to preserve the home as a museum/tourist attraction, as they certainly do not build homes like this anymore.

 After the tour of The Breakers, we loaded back into the mini bus for the journey to our last destination of the day, Cape Cod.  I was interested in visiting Cape Cod to see where the Kennedy clan play.

At Cape Cod, we visited The John F Kennedy Hyannis Museum:

The museum is quite small and comprises posters and photographs of John F Kennedy and his family and friends, together with a couple of short videos focussing on Kennedy's visits to Cape Cod:

We then went to the beach at Hyannis, which was beautiful, but the water was a little cool for swimming: 

At Hyannis beach, there is a memorial established in honour of JFK:

Hyannis is not a big place, so there were not that many dinner options.  Tim opted for Mexican at The Beech Tree Cantina:

As with all Mexican restaurants that we have encountered in the US, we were presented with a complimentary serve of corn chips and salsa on arrival:

When in Rome ... I had a Mexican beer, Sol, to go with my dinner:

The food at the Beech Tree was good; my trouble was that there was way too much of it for me to handle it.  For starter, I ordered  the Chilli Soup with ground beef, onions, peppers and Mexican spices, topped with jalapeno jack cheese ($7.50):

It was really good but very filling.  And then my real troubles began, as I had also ordered a main in the form of a Chicken Burrito (grilled chicken, refried beans, lettuce, guacamole, pico de gallo, confetti rice & pepper jack cheese) ($13):

I could only scratch the surface of this and had to leave most of it behind - I was just too full.

There being little else to do in Cape Cod in the evening, we then retired to our hotel to prepare for the next day's journey by road to Boston.

The Black Pearl Restaurant

Bannister's Wharf

Newport, Rhode Island 02840

United States

Ph: +1 401-846-5264

Beech Tree Cantina

599 Main St

Hyannis, MA 02601

United States

Ph: +1 508-534-9876