it was glorious...

It was just as glorious as I had planned, expected, hoped and looked forward to. The tulips were beauty-full. We walked through the gardens after touring the house and having lunch in the 'stable' (nothing on the property was less than perfectly groomed, so it was not a matter of pushing the livestock out of the way to get to the trough: a tasty lunch in a remarkably 're-purposed' space, though you could easily envision a different era from all the historic photos placed throughout to help picture the past.)

I think it had been about fifteen years since we went to the Biltmore one year at Thanksgiving when the place was ostentatiously decorated for Christmas. The opulence of the era was very much on display through out the house. I think I remember hearing there are 250 rooms? Most not open to the prying eyes of the paying public, but those we saw were set as if the occupants might have just walked out...and would be back after the lawn tennis event to change into outfits for the next activity, or formal wear for dinner.

The tour of the house was pretty crowded, as it had stormed overnight, and I think we/all the tourists all had the same idea of not stomping out in the wet early in the day. But it cleared up, to a perfectly cloudless bright blue sky and was a gorgeous day, though a bit blowy for the underdressed group from GA.

There were optional additional tours (for a price) we chose to take: a wine tasting with chocolates, that was kinda let down, since I am not much for pucker-y red wines, and would have been perfectly content with the chocolate truffle part. Then a tour of the workings/'how-to' process of making wine, behind the scenes walk-through from bringing in the grapes fresh picked from the vines to the labeling of the filled bottles. There was not actual production going on when we were there, as the 'season' for grapes from Biltmore vineyards is late summer, and then they start getting in west coast grapes in the early fall. A little tidbit: they heat the corks in the microwave to make them pilable enough to squeeze in the narrow neck of the glass bottles! It was interesting and educational.

The best part was spending the day with daughters. Thanks!