I spent last night in a suite that was nearly as big as my apartment at home.  So comfortable and relaxed was I upon waking that I wandered about in most of the morning, relaxing, writing and eating breakfast.  It was a real wrench to leave such a comfortable spot, but I had a big adventure in store for today, and so with reluctance, I repacked my bags and headed forth. 

The Biltmore House was my destination this morning, and I traveled through some lovely mountain scenery to get there.   Of course, my GPS refused to believe the house was my true destination.  it wanted me to go to the village, and it sulked all the way to the ticket center.  Really, it is like having a bossy, recalcitrant child in the car with me!  Fortunately, this particular child has a volume button!   

After driving through some smashing wooded grounds (Boy do I wish this place was closer!  i'd go hiking here every weekend!), I pulled into lot B3 and took the shuttle to the Biltmore House, since it pulled up right in front of me as I was getting out of my car. 

Well, they call it a house.  If we were in Europe, they'd call it a castle.  Heavens to Betsy, the mansion was huge!  A broad, dramatic sweep of lawn bordered on all four sides by a long driveway led to the front of the "house".  A few moments after the shuttle swept through the entry gate, I was standing in front of the 250-room French Renaissance mansion, staring up at the golden Indiana limestone sides with ornate windows, carvings of knights, dragons and gargoyles, and steeply pitched roof with a copper roofline with Vanderbilt's initials carved into it.  Pretty impressive.  (And how can you help but love a house that has 43 bathrooms!) 

I took the self-guided audio tour, wandering from room to room.  Perhaps my favorite places in the whole mansion were the Winter Garden, which was inset into the center of the impressive front entranceway, a marvel of green plants, comfortable seats and a beautiful fountain, under a glass roof.   And George Vanderbilt's library.  Oh that library.  Two stories of books with an iron-railed walkway around the upper story.  A massive fireplace.  Tables and chairs set at comfortable intervals for reading, relaxing or studying.  Movable staircases to help reach the top shelves.  And more than 10,000 volumes lining the bookshelves.  My dream library...  If I keep acquiring books the way I do, I will need all that space and more for my own collection! 

Also of note along the way:  The massive banquet hall with its organ loft, tripple fireplace and feel of a medieval castle; a chess set and table owned by Napoleon; the gorgeous oval bedroom of Mrs. Edith Vanderbilt; two amazing paintings -- one of George Vanderbilt and family on their way to the opera, and another of his grandson William A.V. Cecil and his family sitting underneath that same portrait many years later.  Guest bedrooms were numerous and each uniquely decorated.  Servant's quarters on the fourth floor were fairly spacious and well set-up.  And the basement...

Well, the basement deserves its own paragraph.  Leading into the family part of the basement was an impressive, vaulted stone hallway.  There was a bowling alley.  And a swimming pool.  And a weight room.  And changing rooms.  And a unique rectangular room called the "Halloween Room" where the Vanderbilts once led their guests, gave them paint, and had them do what they liked with the walls!   But what impressed me most about the basement were the working areas, where staff kept the house running. Refrigerators, walk-in pantries, three kitchens, servant bedrooms, two work rooms just for arranging flowers, and the laundry -- one room just for hand-washing!  I once read a book about the life of a servant working in the Undercroft of a great house, and it was dead on the mark with this place.  Amazing!  It was a whole world that the guests and owners would never see. 

By this time I was exhausted from some much walking and climbing, listening and observing.  I staggered out into the yard, and the local restaurant in the stable yard took pity upon my plight and got me seated right away.  It took half a loaf of corn bread, a chicken potpie and about 6 diet sodas to get me back on my feet again!  Then I was off to explore the gardens, camera in hand.  (No photos were allowed in the house itself.)

I climbed up to the terraces first and took photo after photo of the house and the Smoky mountains.  Then I wandered down to the Conservatory to look at the hothouse plants, before meandering my way through the English Walled Garden and finally to the top of the hill overlooking the house.   i paused at a gazebo with Diana the Huntress in the center to take the traditional shot of Biltmore, and then wandered through lots A1 to A6, and then over to B1 and B2 before remembering that I'd parked my car in B3.  Okay, I didn't remember.  It was the only lot left! 

By this time, I was worn out from all the sightseeing.  I set my GPS for Charlotte, and got on the road.  Down out of the mountains I came, listening to Howl's Moving Castle on audiobook as I made my way in the gloaming.  Darkness had settle around the highway as - per the instructions of my faithful GPS -- I began moving toward the right lane where my exit was fast approaching.  And then I came up over a rise in the road and there were two cars stopped dead right in front of me.  I hit the brake as hard as I have ever done, sure that I was too close to miss.  Thank God for antilock.   The car bucked and tried to swerve, antilock kicked in and stopped the skid, and I stopped a couple of feet from the back of the second car.  Around me, cars were swerving desperately around the three of us as the lead car limped over the side of the road.  I was sure I was going to be hit from behind, but by some miracle, every car made it out of the way.  A heart-stopping moment later, the car in front started forward and I followed, limp with relief, my heart pounding painfully against my ribs. 

I was so shocked and frightened by the incident that I checked in and spent an hour sitting in the chair staring blankly at the TV while I calmed down.  I think it was a miracle I survived that little incident.  I had to take a hot shower to work out all the soreness in my muscles, and then I went to bed to sleep it off.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be a relaxing, fun, drama-free day!  I need it!