Sampling of Americas Gilded Age

Its been almost three years since I have written here.  It had the potential to die a slow death but somehow the universe had different plans.  Two recent requests for Peru entries took me down the black hole of expired domains.......and just when you lose something, it renders itself invaluable, I decided the blog needs to be revived.  The domain was lost and rather than pay a premium to revive it, I have now renamed it with none other than my name.It is going to take me many many entires to catch up, three trips to different parts of India, Nepal, Tibet, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Berlin, African Safari, Vienna, Salzburg, Hong Kong, LA, San Diego, Chicago, Kansas City, Acadia National Park......  I do intend to catch up but in the mean time, heres todays capture.I was often told, you must visit the mansions in Newport kalpana, you will love them.  Finding ourselves in Cambridge trying to settle a second household, we took a short break today and drove down to RI.  The Preservation Society of Newport has absolutely stunning images on their website.  I cannot do justice to these places with my non flash low light captures but I do want to share two mansions though my eyes.The first is Breakers, the largest of them all, summer home to none other than the Vanderbilts.    We bought a five home ticket but only managed to get two in before we were gilded out.  The lavish style of this mansion rivals the grand palaces of Europe.  Here is a sampling of the beautiful fountain under the stairs, the stained glass ceiling, the platinum (yes, you heard it right) inlay, the view from the loggia, the four tapped bathtub, beautiful arboretum.