Day 335 – Hand Bells, The Irish and The Elms

Like I’ve mentioned before….this town offers so much to do that sometimes I have a hard time narrowing it down to one thing for my intention. Today I chose three things…A Holiday Hand Bell Choir performance, a trip to the Irish Museum and a tour of another mansion, The Elms.

First of all, the Seamen’s Church Institute (that beautiful building I recently fell in love with) was offering free behind the scenes tours and a Hand Bell Choir performance today. Vinny and I walked down about 11:30 and commented on how absolutely lovely the weather was (it was like 60 degrees today, sunny and spectacular). We slipped in just a bit late but not too late to enjoy holiday music via hand bells. I have never seen this live and it was pretty neat.

Afterwards, we walked about a mile down the main road to the Museum of Newport Irish History Interpretive Center. I read that they were having a free exhibit and I thought….why not??? On the way down, we stumbled on the most lovely, French inspired café and had an amazing mid-afternoon Cappuccino. Continuing on…upon arriving, the curator greeted us with a warm greeting and introduction of the space. We toured and learned a lot about the Irish influence and history of Newport and it was interesting for sure. They offered refreshments and Celtic Holiday music was a buzz. It was a great stop.

On the way out, we decided that we would just walk on up to The Elms, another local mansion for a tour. This is where we went on Day 223 for the day of Stage Coaching but we never went inside. Today we toured with the headphone, self-guided tour and it was actually my favorite mansion so far. I just love the history and insight the tours offer- the stories behind these mansions are better than any movie or book for sure lol. Anyhow, as we toured I just thought to myself how the opulence was just so completely staggering. I felt that this was by far the most stylish and well laid mansion (although it was not the largest). Then after the inside tour, we wandered the outdoor grounds where there were grand gardens, stables, statues and more.

This day was only half done after all of that. After lunch, I had the afternoon with Micah as Elijah and his friends went ice skating as the sun went down. This was a beautiful and interesting day and these intentions were enlightening as well as entertaining. #Cheers #HGAL