Today we arrived in Newport and we had to use the ship's tender to get ashore. This was slightly chaotic and very tiresome waiting to be allowed to board the tenders. Fortunately we were in the first tender however as we were just about to leave, a problem had arisen and we had to all transfer to another one. Not the best start and apparently we were lucky as some people didn't leave till well after 1.45...we only had till 6 p.m. so some very unhappy people. Anyway enough of that... Newport is really stunning, lots of fancy boats and yachts as we reached the pier. Today as the Ozone layer was affected by pollution all buses were FREE...mmm c'mon Aussie, wake up. So we began by taking the Purple bus out to Walmart. We drove past lovely timber and colourful houses, just like you see in many American movies etc. Porches out the front with rocking chairs just added the finishing touch. As it was not long past July 4th, flags and other USA paraphernalia seemed to be on most streets. The bus driver was helpful and another great idea is that the bus takes you right into the shopping centre and to the front door basically. The Walmart wasn't the biggest we will see but it certainly was cheap for many things. We spent a bit of time there before jumping back onto another bus for a shop called Best Buys, another 30 min ride. Eventually we ended back at the Bus Station and found lovely restaurants and shops. We had a delicious lunch of lobster rolls with salad. George had his first Budweiser and the young waiter had to watch him drink it as he could not believe he had not tried one before. I had a powerful cocktail.
As we were just walking along looking at the shops suddenly the heavens opened up and it poured. Then came the lightning and thunder. People were running and screaming. it seemed like the world was coming to an end!! Everybody was drenched right through. Fortunately we had some raincoats in our backpacks.
It was a fantastic day and we enjoyed it a lot. It is exhausting though and tomorrow is NEW YORK ... we will be up at 4 a.m. as we sail into NY past the Stature of Liberty. This is one place we have always wanted to see.
