Asheville, NC - Day 2; Part 1

Day 2 of our Asheville adventure took us to The Biltmore Estate. The Biltmore Estate is a Châteauesque-style mansion built by George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895, and it is the largest privately owned house in the United States.

Doug, Bri and I grabbed some breakfast at the hotel restaurant before heading out ~ Briana thoroughly enjoyed her hot chocolate...

We had to purchased our tickets at the ticket office on property and then a shuttle took us to the main house.

The exterior was grand and beautiful...

We visited Biltmore on President's Day, so it was pretty crowded. But, it wasn't too terrible. Things moved along pretty good.

There was an unusual plant, sculpture thing greeting us when we came into the entrance hall...

We opted to do the audio tour. We walked around the estate with what looked like remote controls. Visitors punch in the number of the room they are standing in, put the device next to their ear (like a cell phone) and get interesting facts about that room. Bri got a kid version of the tour and really enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend it.

You can see the audio tour devices around our necks (our family photo :) )...

The first room we arrived at was the winter garden. So beautiful...

There was an exhibit throughout the house on the day we visited (it will stay for several months). The Designed for Drama exhibit showcases more than 40 award-winning movie costumes from films based on George Vanderbilt's favorite books in his collection. There were mannequins in every room wearing the costumes from these movies. I loved seeing the costumes, and I thought the mannequins really brought "life" to the rooms. I wish they had the exhibit there all the time...

The banquet hall was enormous and just breathtaking...

 It amazes me how much George Vanderbilt loved to read...

The breakfast room...

The salon...

The rhino picture on the bottom right (see below) has a neat story behind it...

Dürer's Rhinoceros 

The print was created in 1515...

Then we moved on to the music room...

The music room has a very interesting history. It is where paintings from the National Gallery were hidden/stored during WWlI...

Next up, the library. There are just no words to explain how amazing this room is...

George Vanderbilt had over 22,000 books in his collection...

A Chinese porcelain bowl from the Ming dynasty I believe...

The tapestry gallery...

The tapestries were so detailed and beautiful...

I think this is a good place to stop for this post. There were SO many rooms we went through - I'm going to be at this a while! The rooms I've blogged about so far are all on the first floor. So next up, the second floor - it is where all of the bedrooms are located. More to come...

Asheville, NC - Day 1

Day 1 of our Asheville trip was a travel day. It takes several hours to drive there from where we live, and we planned our arrival to be sometime in the late afternoon.

 Driving there allowed us to stop at one of our favorite bbq joints in Ellijay, GA - Poole's BBQ. They are famous for their "pig hill." Back in 2014, we paid $5 to get Bri's name put on the hill. We hadn't been back since. I had a friend tell me a few months ago that she spotted Bri's name on the hill, so I knew it was there. We looked for it and it was really easy to find. Bri managed to get some prime real estate. ;) 

Her pig is toward the bottom - it's yellow and red...

The restaurant...

My scrumptious pork sandwich...

Lots of pigs...

We had reservations at the Grand Bohemian in Biltmore Village, Asheville. 

 

It was so beautiful...

The lobby was beautiful! I could have sat there all day! Look - purple lights...

There was a lovely art gallery...

Warm and inviting...

Art (that was for sale) lined the walls of the whole hotel...

Cool bar...

Our room wasn't quite ready when we arrived, so I decided to keep busy until it was...

Bri loved the free hot chocolate each day...

We finally got to our room and it did not disappoint...

 Curtains to separate the bedroom from the living area (where Bri was sleeping)...

Bri got comfortable quickly...

Pull out couch...

There are lots of restaurants and shops in Asheville that you can walk to from the hotel (Biltmore Village), so we walked to the Corner Kitchen at dinner time...

We didn't have a reservation, so we sat at the bar...

The soup was yummy...

Doug's dinner was delish (Asian crab cake)...

As pretty as my dish looked (see below), it ended up being very, very bland. It was supposedly a Spanish-type pork dish - which I thought would be super flavorful. Bland food is not the best case scenario for someone who has experienced anxiety issues coming from a taste and smell deficiency in the not so distant past. Luckily, Doug and I had planned to do the "plate swap" thing anyway (because both dishes sounded great), so I did get some flavor during my meal... 

Briana loved the chocolate creme brulee...

After eating, we walked back to the hotel and turned in for the night. The next day, we had a full day planned - visiting The Biltmore Estate.