How bright the morning was! "The leaves were newly washed, every
flower refreshed, their colors. flashing with brighter tints
like new dyes just put on." How pure the air was made! There was
no contamination by smoke or dust and the very breeze came like
a tonic, and we breathed deeply and thanked the Creator for each
potent draught. There was an exuberance of joy in the dance of
the waves as they came rolling in to shore, and the swaying
branches of the trees were only wordless rhythmical songs that
the birds were singing among their branches.
On some bland morning like this when you view the breezy,
sparkling sea, whereon the haze lies like the soft bloom on
grapes, everything will appear dreamy and beautiful, while
recollections of Nice, Monaco and Monte Carlo with their
majestic shore lines rising from a sea of sapphire, are
recalled. Those dazzling white buildings rising as they seem to
do from the sea, steeped in that effulgent golden haze, seem
almost unearthly in their splendor. One wonders if he has not
gotten to heaven before his time, for here are terraced garden
walls where fall cascades of exquisite blossoms, vast sheets of
delicate pink geraniums, purple of clematis, lustrous yellow of
mimosas, scarlet anemones and variegated tulips that hang poised
before you like glorious curtains of richly wrought mosaic.
The broad fronds of the palms catch the gold of the morning
sunbeams. The air is laden with the fragrance of myriads of
flowers and has the softness of sea-born breezes. Rose wreathed
villas with their pure white or cream tinted walls; shutters of
turquoise blue and red tile roofs only add to the glory of the
tropical luxuriance and charming views of mountain and sea.
And such a sea! How futile are words to describe. Its blue has
been characterized as a "vast expanse of sapphire sparkling with
diamonds." It does not owe its marvelous effects to reflections
from the sky, for no sky ever had such an intense blue, filled
with lambent light. Then its greens, blues, and purples, seen
from the lovely mountain roads, especially from the road leading
from Monte Carlo, seem more like leaping prismatic flame than a
vast expanse of water. Then the old gold, red, and orange
colored sails of the boats, gliding like magic through the
water, add their picturesque touches to the scene. The sound of
boatmen calling to one another with their soft musical voices is
like the trilling of the nightingale from some leafy bower.
Having felt the charm of those magical scenes you will enjoy the
ocean at Newport none the less.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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