We decided that this morning we would fully explore Provincetown, primarily the shops on commercial street, and then take in the regatta scheduled for 15:00 in the afternoon. We agree to skip climbing the pilgrim monument. Although we have been exercising more recently, this seems like just a bit too many stairs to be actually enjoyed.
First we walk around Portuguese square and the town hall. Provincetown has a sizable Portuguese community that was attracted by the fishing on the Cape. Someone at the Inn told another guest (who told us) that the summer population in Provincetown is 75,000, and that this shrinks to 1,500 in the winter. I think this is an exaggeration, and after some internet research I conclude it is actually from about 60,000 to 6,000. Still this means it swells to ten times it's size in summer.
The town hall building is undergoing a major renovation, but it is far enough along that you can see it will look nice when it is done. The clock strikes five minutes after the hour, but I am still convinced that was not what I heard the evening before. That bell just kept going and going. This mystery is never solved.
Across the street from the town hall is a small park with a bronze mural depicting the signing of the Mayflower Compact. This is considered part of the pilgrim monument. We linger for a while, the light is just right for the photographer.
We move on to the main tourist shopping strip. Commercial street is a rather narrow street, that runs along the water and there are shops, houses and restaurants on both sides. On the water's side there are sometimes short little side streets.
Cars carefully negotiate the narrow road which is full of pedestrians, but no one honks. At one point a person waits patiently to turn into a driveway next to a house while an oblivious mother attends to her child in a stroller. No honking, not even the cars behind him, everyone just waits until another pedestrian draws the mother's attention to the fact that she is blocking the road. Amazing!
Every once in a while a classic or unusual car makes it's way by us. There are many art galleries and stores selling nick-knacks new and used. If you like rummaging in antique stores and the like, this is the place for you. There are two stores devoted to Portuguese pottery and china. (Gorgeous!) They sell the exact same things including the same cookbooks. There was an octagonal store called the glass gazebo, full of Frank Lloyd Wright style stained glass panels. And there was a gallery with beautiful photographs of the seashore.
We spend some time in the most amazing junk store that sells everything from sea shells, old plastic doll's heads (why?), brown glass bottles from an old Czechoslovakian apothecary, coca cola signs from the 50's, Chinese embroidered handbags, rude t-shirts, army surplus gear and marine accessories to airline first class dishes.We sort of walk through this place wondering what we will see next.
Eventually the photographer finds a book at a nice bookstore, and I find a tie-die t-shirt in a very 1979 themed store. We are tempted by many other things, but then, we always are. By now it is time for a coffee and a small snack on the patio at Joe's coffee shop. The apricot square turns out to be filling enough that we never have a need to have lunch, and continue to explore. We notice there are at least 8 real estate offices on this street.
In the afternoon from 15:00 to 17:00 there is supposed to be a regatta, so at about 2:45 we make our way to what we think is going to be the best place to watch this: the pier where the fast ferry for Boston also leaves.
To our surprise we get front row "seats" right at the end of the pier on the concrete edge. We strike up a conversation with the people next to us, and pretty quickly we find out why. It seems that due to hurricane Earl, many of the ships that were supposed to participate could not sail to Provincetown. The showpiece, the Alabama did make it, but they are giving tours of the ship to the public, and don't seem to be in any hurry to raise their sails.
Eventually there is some activity. First the Bay Lady II sails by. One of the people next to us quips that this is not a parade of sail, but more a monorade. We continue to watch as a small number of ships circle the breakwater in front of the pier. One black hulled ship scares the bejeezus out of us by setting of a charge of powder right in front of us.
At about 16:45 I get up to go ask if the Alabama will still sail. When I get to the place where she is moored, they are just raising the first sail. There is not much wind at this point, and we watch her slowly pivot in the harbour while still being tied at the back. It takes an eternity for her to just exit the harbour at a snails pace, but we wait hoping to get that good shot. Finally she passes the breakwater, and we expect her to turn to circle it. But she continues directly out to sea, and does not cirle the breakwater at all. Luckily, we manage to get some decent shots anyways.
After this somewhat anti-climactic regatta, we stroll slowly back along the pier, and get a nice view of the shore while the light is changing to evening.
By now it is about 18:00, and we are hungry. We choose the Black and White Cafe for dinner, but when they seat us in the back of the building near the windows, the place smells like wet moldy basement, and the menu they give me is dirty, so we decide to leave and go back to Bay side Betsy's for their mega martinis, steak for him and seared tuna over ratatouille for me. Yum! After dinner I pop into an antique store across the street that I somehow did not notice during the day, and I find a cute blown glass vase.
The movie this evening is Walk the line, and it lives up to the hype.
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