Jeff and I celebrated our Twenty-fourth wedding anniversary this year. Twenty-four is an odd number. Well, technically it’s even but, it’s NOT twenty-five. It’s kind of like turning twenty years old. Sure it’s a milestone, but there’s still no booze at the party! So next year will be the big to-do. We’ll either go to Tokyo Disney Sea (in my dreams), Disneyland Paris (attainable, but not likely) or back to Disneyland California (yup that’s probably gonna happen). This year we decided to head down to Newport, Rhode Island. Those of you that follow every jot and tittle of this blog might recall that we visited there just last summer. However, we just breezed through after a day trip to the Roger Williams Zoo. It looked like such a cool place that we decided it had “romantic weekend getaway” written all over it.
Being musicians, we work every Friday and Saturday night so we headed down on a Sunday. Not as much nightlife, but better hotel rates that’s for sure. We stayed at the Hotel Viking. This hotel came into our purview through a friend who worked there. However, it was the perfect place for us to stay regardless of any connections. I could not have been happier with the place. We hope to play some music down there next season.
Now I’ll give you a painfully thorough photo tour:
Stately facade
Adirondack chairs for your rocking pleasure
Gorgeous Plantings everwhere!
Patio dining area
Water feature
It was only around noon, but we were able to check in right away. Always a good thing. I had mentioned oh, a few times that we were celebrating our anniversary when I made the reservation and asked for the best room in our price range. You learn to make your “celebration” known to everyone and anyone when you’re a Disney geek. You never know what freebies or upgrades you might get! They did wish us a happy anniversary at check in, so I was hopeful.
Cute display of antique room keys.
Artwork in the Lobby
There were lots of lovely conversational groupings.
We got a newly refurbished room on the fourth floor. Score! It had a nice balance of quaint, eclectic furnishings and decor, along with all the amenities you would expect at a high(er)-end hotel.
King sized bed with lovely duvet that would not fit in my overnight bag.
Desk Area
Versailles looking cabinet which houses the mini fridge. Six dollar water at the ready!
Keurig coffee. Meh.
Interesting photo grouping.
This one made me smile.
This hotel is centrally located in the downtown area, but also (if you have an upper level room) provides views to the ocean. You just have to be looking the right way.
Eyes forward view. Not too shabby.
Eyes down view. Pretty dang shabby.
Plus there was this hideous Mike Brady era building in the way!
This hotel was built in 1926 and received acclaim for it’s grandeur. The whole area is dotted with quaint turn of the century architecture, but I’m sure ’round about 1971 a piece of architecture like this one smack dab behind the Viking was considered progress of the most modern kind. Perhaps they thought the whole city would go glass and steel? What results is a big ole’ sore thumb on an otherwise daintily gloved hand. End of complaining. The place was awesome.
The Hotel Viking is also known for their rooftop lounge “Top of Newport” which features stogies and whisky nights during the summer. Yeehaw! Even this view suffers from Brady Building Blocker.
Top of Newport Lounge view sitting down…
…and standing up. Guess I wasn’t done complaining!
Once we settled in at our digs we headed down to the Wharf area to snag some lunch. After wandering about for a bit we landed at the Wharf Pub. Truth be told, I was intending for us to eat at Fluke Wine Bar which I had read good things about. I saw the signage and headed in but it turns out the Fluke is on the upper level and only serves dinner. I only realized this when the menus came. That being said this place did NOT disappoint. It had the vibe of a true Gastro Pub. Small menu, full of house-made fare.
Nice views of Bowen’s Wharf
People Watching
Lunch Menu
Don’t remember what this was. Not Long Trail though.
Homemade Tater Tots were featured heavily on the menu. I decided to go the naked route and get the classic. The stand out winner here was the Rosemary Ketchup. Brilliant!
House-made tater tots.
Next we shared some lobster sliders. They were light and tasty with fresh raw corn and an orange truffle aioli. Delish.
Two people, three sliders = war.
The stand out for me was the Charcuterie platter. Not to sound all fancy pants, but we’ve sampled cheese and charcuterie from some pretty classy joints and this, by far, out shown them. Let me walk you around this one: Big blue cheese, a local sharp cheddar, house pickled veggies, duck paté, sopressata, duck sausage, homemade broiche toast points, local honeycomb, apple butter and spicy mustard.
Perfection!
Slumming around our posh digs and eating cheeses were not the only things we did in Newport. We actually scheduled some activities for the weekend. After lunch we walked around a bit until it was time to hit the high seas!
Coming up: Hang on Sloopy! No really, hang on!