Wow - it is taking me forever to blog this trip. Summer vacation is keeping me busy, so it's hard to find time to blog. Ok, here is Day 3 of our trip.
We started our day with a trip to the Corner Cafe for breakfast. We heard great things about it. We were there on a Saturday morning, so it was a bit busy when we arrived and we had to wait (but it wasn't a bad wait at all)...
We sat on a bench and looked at this beautiful church across the street while we waited...
It was such a cute place...
Oh. My. Gosh - the food was amazing. I ordered this beautiful southwestern style eggs and potatoes dish and it was huge! All the portions were quite large. I couldn't come close to finishing it...
After breakfast, we headed toward our second mansion, "The Breakers"...
The Breakers Mansion was much bigger than The Marble House the day before but just as beautiful...
Again, I had another "gasp" moment upon entering...
Fountain under the stairs. Doesn't every mansion have this?
This is Cornelius Vanderbilt II, brother to William Kassam Vanderbilt and George Vanderbilt. When he purchased the Breakers property in 1885, it had a different mansion sitting on it. The mansion burned down in 1892 and he had it rebuilt with as much magnificence, detail and fireproofing as possible...
Magnificence isn't really a strong enough word. Look at this dining room...
Richard Morris Hunt was the architect that designed all of the Vanderbilt homes we visited...
A downstairs open area that leads to the balcony overlooking the ocean...
Upstairs balcony...
I think the music room was my favorite room in the Breakers...
Entrance to the library...
The library/study...
Love the red carpeted staircase...
The Mr. and Mrs. bedrooms...
(The fan was obviously not part of the original decor - heh)...
Surprisingly, most of the bedrooms and baths were quite plain...
Daughter Gladys's room...
Beautiful tapestry...
Another huge kitchen...
Two story pantry...
The grounds were gorgeous...
Countess Sylvia Szapary (daughter of Gladys/granddaughter of Cornelius), sold the Breakers to the Preservation Society in 1972. The Preservation Society made an agreement with her and continued to let her and her family live on the third floor of the property (not open to the public). Her family continues to live there today...
Can you imagine living here?
I could totally live here...
Look how beautiful...
Me and my best guy...
After a few hours visiting the mansion, Doug and I drove along Ocean Drive for a bit. More on that next...
1 Kind Words:
Wow!
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