Review: St.Patrick's Day in Newport, Rhode Island. (29 of 30)

Well it happened...my recent trip to New England lasted until a day after one of the regions most vaunted events... St.Patrick's Day, the day when everyone becomes Irish and the day after when everyone uses the day to re-charge the batteries for another year.

Having arrived in New England a week earlier and had spent much time in Connecticut we thought for days "where can we enjoy St.Patrick's Day?". Well the choices were basically New Haven for their parade a week before St.Patrick's Day, Boston and New York on St. Patty's Day or any Irish pub in the area. Our homebase was in New London, Connecticut and having only one Irish bar downtown ( a decent one though) we opted against spending yet another evening in New London (not that we did not enjoy it) but wanted to partake in festivities of a larger scale. Thus we decided lets head to Newport where I can at least show my friend from Norway the sites and sounds of Newport in the late winter.

After having survived an ice and snow storm the day before lingering flurries and freezing rain drops pelted our car ride. Stopping in Pawcatuck, Conn. for a coffee and a donut (yes another) we headed toward Newport. We arrived in Newport just moments after the parade ended, parking was scarce and people were everywhere in Green and well... Green. We wandered the town against a freezing wind and icy streets that were by no way a deterent to those throngs of folks who paritied with t-shirts on and well... beer on as well.

Appearing to be a great frat party, and we not having yet enjoyed our 1st cocktail or even real breakfast wandered past stuffed bar after stuffed bar, college kids and families mixing together to celebrate this great day of partying. Some had already passed out, the police on others and some on the rooftops talking to friends in Boston, half naked.

Having been shocked by the display... well I once was a part of we headed toward a few pubs for some grubb and grogg. Having to wait in line and then pay 30-50 bucks a head to get in we opted to find a few spots I knew of that would not charge anything so we could get that grubb and grogg before indulging in a party of epic proportions.

Walking past the old church and toward the Starbucks we opted to take a side street and this is where our journey and day would change forever. We were approached by 3 older persons, all in their 50s, green hair, whigs or what have you and having a merry time. We were invited in and told that they did not bite... we did after some internal discussion as my Norwegian friend a bit skeptical would have rather moved toward our original goal.

We were shown up by the "door man" or the welcome commitee and introduced to a group of perhaps 60 people all from 35-80, enjoying St.Patty's Day from one old house in the center of it all, owned by a man named Peter who shared his bday that same day. Warm heartedly welcomed we enjoyed corned beef sandwiches, excellent company and lots of drink. Bottle after bottle of Whiskey, face after face of friendly person and so on. What a great group... After a few hours and a few too many Jamesons we headed to the roof top where we were engaged by some of the friendliest Bostonians on the planet. All retired or near to it we hit it off.

Upon arriving downstairs we were told to follow the masses for a giant pub crawl. We did... going from 1 place to another ignoring all cover charges. These guys owned the places...! amazingly enough we wandered through and on finding one fun place after another. Easily being the oldest crowd going we had as much or more of blast than anyone else did. Arriving at a seafood restaurant where a live band was cranking out The Cure, Pearl Jam and others. We spent hours there and finally after the band left we left heading to another spot near the Wharf where as many college kids were as anywhere. Several beers and entertainment later our day came to an end.

What a day... in the end 9 hours of hardcore, fun, partying and nice people of all walks of life. For a day we were kings and Newport again showed it's head as a great great place to enjoy yourself even with a cold wind and dark winter clouds on the horizon. 

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