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Today has been the wettest day we have had on this trip. We got a map from the concierge this morning but were still a bit unsure of what was around & where to go. When we walked out of the hotel, we went the opposite direction to where we had gone last night and found a trolley there with a tour leaving at 11am. We bought tickets and walked across to the Providence Place shopping mall to kill some time before the tour. It was a massive mall but we only went to Macy's before going back to the trolley. The drizzle had got heavier so it was good to get on board.
The tour went for about an hour and we were able to get a much better idea of the city. It is very historical and there are lots of beautiful old buildings.
The colony of Providence was started by Roger Williams in 1636. He was an English theologian and started the first Baptist church in America. He had some very controversial views about the Church of England and was ordered to be banished. Because he was ill and it was winter, his banishment was delayed & he eventually stayed.
John Brown was another prominent figure in Providence's history. He ran a successful shipping, merchant and slave trade business with his brothers. He eventually moved into politics and was one of the benefactors of Brown University which was founded in 1764.
The John Brown House was the first mansion built in Providence. It was built by John Brown in 1786 and has hosted George Washington.
We drove along Benefit St which is also known as the 'mile of history'. The street is full of beautiful Victorian and colonial houses and other buildings. The footpaths are cobblestones. It would have been good to walk along this street to get a good look at the buildings but it was too wet.
We saw the State House which has the fourth largest self-supporting marble dome in the world.
The trolley driver was full of cheesy puns but he did introduce us to Providence's big blue bug. It is actually the mascot for a pest control business but has become an icon of the city, even appearing in the movie Dumb & Dumber. The bug is 2.7m tall and 17m long.
The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) has a big presence in Providence. It is considered to be one of the top art & design schools in America and receives more applications each year than all the others put together. They only take 2000 students each year.
When we got off the trolley, it was raining quite hard. Luckily we had our ponchos which helped keep us partly dry. We walked up to the RISD museum to look at the exhibitions. There were some 'travelling' collections by students as well as the permanent ones. I definitely don't understand art. One of the pieces was a plank painted grey leaning up against the wall. It was called grey plank. Another was a painting of 2 brown squares called America. ?????? I much prefer sculpture. There was some cool stuff in the Egyptian and Asian exhibitions. Some of the pieces were so old but in perfect condition. There was a shop that sold only pieces from past or present students. I bought a funky, squiggly candlestick.
We walked back to the hotel to drop off the candlestick then walked down to the Johnson & Wales university campus which is well known for it's culinary arts program. There is a Culinary Arts Museum but when we got there, we found it was on their other campus. It was too far to walk there so we went and got the car. The Museum was a 10-15min drive away. It was really interesting inside. There were a couple of old American diners set up, signs from past and present restaurants and displays of old cooking utensils. There was a display showing very early cooking methods - before stoves, through to early stoves and how they cook on boats, trains and planes. We also watched a documentary about the World Baking Championship. There were enormous, elaborate weddings cakes and amazing sugar and chocolate works made by previous students that had been in various competitions. It was an interesting museum and I'm glad we went there.
We got back to the hotel about 5pm and stayed inside until the rain eased off. We decided to stay local for dinner and found a tavern a few blocks away.
Across the road from the hotel is City Hall. Every night, a food truck pulls up with a small attached diner and sells burgers and fries. It is the oldest food truck in America and used to be pulled by a horse. It is called the Haven Brothers Diner and was started in 1888.
Tomorrow we go to Nantucket.
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