Awoke to find the weather unchanged at around 11 degrees and still very windy. We checked out of the Newport Bay Club & Hotel around 10am but not before Kerry did some research looking for a diner for breakfast / brunch on the route to Boston. She settled on the Pandolphis Mattapoisett Diner and we arrived at 11am.
Its one of the older classic diners with the shiny silver tram style design with the double entry door system so the cold winds stay outside. Kerry had some french toast with caramelised apple with pumpkin spice mousse on top and I had 2 eggs over easy with rye bread and home fries (aka small potatoes) and coffee of course.
Next stop was about 40 minutes away at Plymouth Rock on the coast on Cape Cod. When we arrived the wind was the strongest we had seen and the wind was blowing around 25 mph with bigger from the North East (aka North Pole across the Atlantic) and it was freezing cold. We had a bit of trouble finding a parking spot here so we had to walk a few hundred metres to see Plymouth Rock so we had
as many of our layers on as possible. The rock is believed to be where the Pilgrims landed in 1620 and the site of the first European settlement in America and the rock is preserved under a portico structure and fenced off to preserve it. Apparently they tried to move the original rock in 1774 to the town square and it broke so what you see now is about half the rock and I think the other half is in the adjoining museum on the nearby pier.
They have a full scale replica of the Mayflower ship which landed here on Boxing Day 1620. This replica was built in 1957 and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 57 days. It is hard to imagine them doing that trip to a new land back in 1620 when it took them 66 days to cross the ocean. They had around 130 people on board but a lot died in the first winter as they must have been unprepared for the harsh winter conditions shortly after they arrived.
There were some souvenir shops here so we went inside one to get out of the cold and they had a Cape Cod
licence plate and Massachusetts State is now ticked off. You beauty ! We look at all 3 shops here and picked up a couple of bargain scarves for $1.00 each, a coffee mug which was on special as it was made for the 400 year anniversary in 2020, and a all for really cheap prices.
I took a couple of photos of the Mayflower II and we jumped back in the car and headed up the road to Boston about an hour away and we arrived at the Holiday Inn Express at South Boston where we are staying for 3 nights and will have 2 full days to explore Boston. It was nice to arrive here and be granted free parking as an IHG Member (it was normally $20- per night to pay for parking). We had a lot of trouble finding in Boston which is really expensive but this place is reasonably close to public transport and only 5km south of the city centre.
We went to the neighbouring South Bay Shopping precinct for dinner and chose the Olive Garden Restaurant which is Italian. Kerry had the Chicken & Shrimp Carbonara with a side salad
and I had Steak Alfredo which had a 6oz steak with pasta and the steak was so juicy and my meal also came with with unlimited soups. There were three to choose from so I had the Chicken & Gnocchi before my main meal, and snuck in a another Minestrone soup to catch up some vegetables after the main meal as well so it was a pretty big meal to thaw us out from the cold.
The weather tomorrow is supposed too be pretty dreary and cold so we have mapped out an agenda that is flexible enough to keep us busy.
