This is from yesterday:

October 2nd

Yesterday, me and a couple other of the musicians biked through Boston, which was great fun. The weather was mostly warm and overcast. When it did start to rain later on, it was too warm to really matter.

Boston, I maintain, is a fantastic city, and is superb for biking. It is perhaps slightly on the dangerous side what with all of the stops and starts, weirdly curving streets, pedestrian and car traffic, and lack of bike lanes, but there is so much to see and explore in Boston and biking takes you through it at the perfect pace with the greatest amount of flexibility.

We started by biking from the cruise terminal to downtown Boston. We had some coffee, then biked through to Cambridge, which is just to the west. We hung out in the mall there for awhile, before going back downtown, heading to a clothing store for a bit, stopping by Quincy Market, and then finally biking back to the ship. Having biked Boston once, my goal for next week (my last time there) will be to bike to Harvard Square and also to Berkley School of Music.  Having done those two things I will be able to leave Boston without any regrets.

Last night was "busy", which for us only added up to two and a half hours of playing, spread over two short variety show sets, the Frank Sinatra tribute set, and supporting the ship's comedian with some jazz standards during his late night comedy set. After that we were offered some free drinks at the bar by the cruise director in compensation. I tell you that some people on ships (white people..) seem to very quickly lose perspective of what amounts to a lot of work, and anything and everything I've done here so far does not come even close to it.

As if yesterday was too much of a burden, it turned out that we had the entire day off today, which while was not really needed was still kind of liberating. I got offered an opportunity to go on a shore excursion into Newport to visit mansions from the late 1800s. It was mind-blowing.

I have never before seen so much wealth. These mansions were built by the wealthiest people of the gilded age, with French and Italian influenced architecture. The first one we visited was called Marble House, which was a French-style mansion made, as one would assume, principally out of marble. The second, The Breakers, was of an Italian style, with a Roman look to it, with massive pillars and arches everywhere, and a powerful fortress look to it. The interior of both mansions was magnificent, filled with beautiful statues, stone carvings, gold plating, lavish paintings that filled the ceilings, chandeliers and more. The sheer size and ornamentation of the rooms was almost absurd, and to my eyes could have passed for castles.   I don't have the architectural or artistic vocabulary to describe what I saw, and unfortunately no picture taking was allowed inside for the unbelievably obtuse reason that it would somehow INTERFERE with preserving the site, which is so ludicrously dense that I will have to leave it at that. I did take many picture of the outside, however, which as usual will be posted on my facebook account. The Breakers was so named because it (like the Marble House) is situated right on the water, and the waves crash quite violently upon the shore below. It is a magnificent view. There is a path whose name escapes me that travels right along the water, separated from the mansions by a metal gate, and walking the path is apparently on the list for things you should do before you die. I hope I will get a chance to walk it next week in Newport.

I am happy to say that this excursion absolutely changed my impression of Newport for the better. Seeing the history, the cool old buildings that you start to see only as you get a little further in from the dock, and also just getting a second chance to look at the marina itself has made me feel much better about it, and I can now say that I would recommend it to most people. If you do go to visit Newport however you'd better make sure you check out the inside of the mansions, or at least walk  along the path along the water next to them.

We have just arrived back from the excursion and I have just eaten dinner and am debating how to finish off my evening. I will probably sit in on Ariel's lounge piano set, and then maybe watch a movie before trying to get to bed in relatively decent time - tomorrow we are in New York again, and this time I am going to bike it with some friends, and hopefully cover a lot more ground.

One more point of note is that I have been asked if I would like to stay on for one more month, up until February 11th, rather than January 14th. The bass player whom they have lined up for after me cannot make it until February, and it would be difficult for them to get someone in for just one month. I think I will most likely do it, but I want to confirm first that I don't have any other obligations scheduled for that time period, and as far as I can recall I do not. Also I need to give thought to the fact that by then, lots of people I know now will be gone, lots of new people will be here, I will be on a different itinerary, and I may feel very different about the cruise ship experience by then. I would like to give an answer in the next day or so though, and I think I will likely take it. I will mention it again when whatever I end up deciding is confirmed.