Ashville and Biltmore Estate

Between Christmas and New Years my wife and I toke a few days vacation and left the kids with my in laws. We drove almost five hours in the rain to Ashville to visit the Biltmore Estate. On the way we toke the scenic route and visited some of small towns on the way. The Steakhouse Cafe in Valhalla was a prime example of a nice home cooked meal... but there were no steaks on the menu. The town at Chimney Rock reminded me a bit of Helen. It was a tourist trap, but done in a nice rustic way. High rising cliffs on both sides and a river flowing through the gorge. It was too rainy to see anything from the rock itself so we did not go up.

Ashville itself is a small town on a hill in the center of a valley. During the civil war it was a gun battery that kept check on the whole valley. Since the war a number of billionaires, for some reason, decided to build huge mansions, hotels and shopping arcades in the town. We spent the following day just walking around the town. Beautiful and different from the usual affair. The tourist byro has mapped out a route to take when walking with small statues, horse shoes and architecture. The stuff worth seeing could be counted with the fingers in one hand, but still a very nice walk. The old Catholic church was probably the most interesting site for me personally.

Now to Biltmore! Wow, wow and wow! The Vanderbilt's had crazy money. At a time when most people did not have electrical lights, indoor plumbing or refrigerators, well the Vanderbilt's had lights in their swimming pool, 24 bathrooms for their maids and multiple refrigerated rooms. I can just imagine those people living like the Russian Tsars prior to their downfall. It is impossible to image how they could have lost such and immense wealth in such a relatively short time.

I wont go into explaining each room and all there was to see... you will just have to go and see it for yourself.