Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Cali day 2..

Hello followers of our blogs,
I mentioned on the last blog that I did not want to bore you with a long blog, so here is another to tell you about the rest of our week in Ca.
Tuesday was a fun day for me also, I started the day with Dave & I having a nice hot breakfast, I was off to the Winchester Mystery House today. I waited until around 1pm ish, to go to the House. I learned a lot on this trip. I'm sure that all 4 of my brothers would appreciate this house. (or the history behind it)
This house started out as an unfinished 8 room home, when Mrs. Winchester bought it in 1884. The "story" goes that she moved to San Jose, because a Psychic told her that if she moved west (from CT) and continued to build a home there (never stopping), she might escape the "troubled" souls of the men that had been killed by her husbands Winchester rifles. Also that she might live a long life. ( She lived to be 82, when in those days people passed on in their 40's at best. )

The tour started out in a room that the carriage she rode in, would come into the home through beautiful large sliding doors. We walked up stairs that were only an inch in height, as Ms Sarah W. had developed arthritis in her knees and could only lift her legs one inch high. she had some of the regular stairs removed and replaced with ones she could walk up.
As for all of the floors in this home of 160 rooms, (106 of which I saw) there was one carpenter that for 33 years did nothing but floors, replacing them if needed, putting down new ones when it was required. (Beautiful in lay) They were made of Mahogany, rosewood, teak, maple, oak & white ash.
So to give you an idea of how large this is..
The sprawling mansion contained 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows (all From Tiffany's)
47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, 6 Kitchens, 1 grand ballroom, an aviary with exotic birds, 3 Mirrors, an absolutely gorgeous Organ (still there).
This was a magnificent place to visit. (161 acres of farmland also)

This was my 2nd day exploring a piece of CA. next blog in a few days to tell you of my other adventure.
til then. Enjoy!
~Nancie~

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