Monday, May 19, 2014

Winterthur Gardens, Galleries, and Vintage Cars

This weekend we drove to Wilmington Delaware to visit the costumes of Downton Abbey that are on exhibit at Winterthur, the home of the Dupont family. The previous blog has photos of all the finery. But there is also a lot more to be seen here starting with the beautiful informal as well as formal gardens. Right after we got our tickets for the exhibit at the visitor center, we boarded a tram that took us on a thirty minute narrated tour through the gorgeous gardens surrounding the house. The azaleas were in bloom and the natural displays were delightful. Because we had timed tickets for the exhibit, we spent a few minutes in the gallery where furniture, silver, and textiles were on display. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to actually see the DuPont home... which is an eight story structure, with three underground. The formal gardens had the perfect set up for a wedding. On the way back we decided to walk and ran in to another display - this one was vintage automobiles. Because of the Downton Abbey theme and time period, the exhibit included a few Rolls Royce's and Pierce's. I wouldn't know the difference, but the cars were very well preserved and /or updated.  The inside of the vehicles looked more like amusement park rides. It would have been fun to take a ride in one, just to get a taste of the time. One car had a rumble seat - something my mother was familiar with. Living in DC really affords us the opportunity to see a variety of places that are not too far away. The main attraction was Chicago when we lived in Milwaukee. It's a great city, but a real pain in the neck to drive through it to get anywhere else. 














No comments:

Post a Comment