You've heard it. Imagine my surprise when I looked at Provincetown from the harbor and saw... the Torre del Mangia of Siena, Italy. Had our overnight from Boothbay taken us that far? Had our compass broken, was there a glitch in the navigation software or, worse, in Captain David's unparalleled sense of direction? Nah, no need to press the panic button quite yet. We were actually looking at the Pilgrim Monument, built to commemorate the first landing of the Mayflower Pilgrims in the New World in 1620 and the signing of the Mayflower Compact, which established the rule of law for the new land. As the chosen form for the monument was a campanile - a bell tower - the design was modeled after the above mentioned Torre, possibly the most famous example of such design. To atone for my null knowledge about both the Mayflower Compact and the monument, we decided to visit all 252 feet and 7.5 inches of it, including climbing 116 steps and 60 ramps up to the top, piece of cake.

During the ascent, you can see stones embedded in the walls, each engraved with the name of a town and its date of incorporation: Fairhaven, 1652, Mansfield, 1775, Rehoboth, 1641, Melrose, 1850... These stones were donated to be part of the monument by the Societies of Mayflowers Descendants and other groups, as well as the towns originally part of the Plymouth colony. They make for a unique historical timeline, even if they are not installed in strict chronological order!

Once at the top you can enjoy a 360 degrees view over the town and harbor. The top is heavily "windowed" for safety reasons, and the glass a little hazy, making the view not as crystal clear as it could be, but it's still quite breathtaking.

The permanent exhibit at the monument's museum showcases Provincetown's history, from its beginnings as a prosperous whaling center to its transformation into a thriving art community and summer resort (and big, all-inclusive party town!). Also, printed on a display board, we saw la pièce de résistance, the opening page of the Mayflower Compact and we paused for a good grok at it. The principles the document is founded on still convey their force even when read from... let's just call it our particular juncture in time.

On to more frivolous topics! Food: lobster roll, coffee and ice-cream for lunch (memo to self: only ask for kiddie scoops, they are already big anyway), a walk along the main drag with obligatory visits to art galleries, clothing stores with funny names, and more!

In the evening, dinner at Mews. At this otherwise excellent restaurant we made the cut for the "Patrons Waiters have forgotten" tv series. Our wait for a kind soul to come take our order was partially soothed by the view, outside the window, of a patch of beautifully lit long grasses moving slowly and gracefully in the wind - was this designed on purpose to distract waiting patrons, I wonder -. A very apologetic waiter came eventually and a lovely meal ensued.

Walking back to Bounds we saw one of the local and very colorful Funk Buses, full of youngsters partying like it's 1999 and dancing like nobody's watching, letting out two passengers who looked like they were heading to... where more of the above was available, I guess 😂😂.

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