On a Roll!
I happen to be on a roll of having really good days here lately!TODAY ... a friend from Curves - Susie - had invited me to go to a spot in D.C. that I had actually NEVER been to before! I found this to be quite amazing because really I am one of the more "touristy" life long residents of the D.C. area! I LIKE to enjoy my neighborhood! But Susie invited me to go with her to the Hillwood House. This is the mansion that belonged to Marjorie Merriweather Post - heiress to the Post cereal fortune. As a young woman she was introduced to Russian art and thus began a love story! She collected many many MANY beautiful pieces of Russian glass, ceramics - Faberge' eggs! -- as well as paintings, textiles, and religious artifacts. Because of her (2nd) marriage to Joseph E. Davies - who was Amabassador to the Soviet Union during the time of the Russian revolution, Marjorie was IN the Soviet Union at that time and was able to obtain many many MANY wonderful pieces for a fraction of their value! Really, because of her great LOVE for these beautiful things, they were rescued from sure destruction and she brought them home to America! Soooooo many other pieces like these were smashed and broken and burned and just destroyed! But she managed to save a good many! Others she bought at waaaaaaay high prices later! (of course, she could!)
Sadly, we were not allowed to take ANY pictures inside the museum. As a matter of fact they made us CHECK our cameras at the door! I cried FOUL - but they would not listen! They would not EVEN let me take a picture of the beautifully carpeted stairway leading from the main level to the upper level for this Saturday's Photo Hunt! FOUL, I say! FOUL! However, we were allowed to take pictures in the gardens! AND in the tea room where we had lunch! So... here are a few pictures that I WAS able to take!
We started with lunch before even going into the museum....
I started with a bowl of Russian borscht! For those that don't know this is a cold soup made of beets, with cucumber and sour creme... I had never had it before and felt I MUST try it! I was sO glad I did! It was yummmmmmmmmy! My entree was a spinach & tomato quiche with a garden salad -- also very good!
Then for dessert Susie and I each had the raspberry cheesecake! Toooooooo good! Trust me!
Tilly had lemon merangue cake... not pie!
Of course, who did not get ANY dessert? The husband! Bill! Where do men get their willpower from??? UGH! From left to right this is Tilly (Matilda) - Susie's friend from California (originally from Holland), ME (in the hat, hehehe...), Susie and Susie's hubby - Bill!So, after lunch we went into the museum where NO pictures were allowed - but ooohing and ahhhhhing was most welcome! We did plenty of that! (SO many things I wished I could show you! FOUL!)
Then we went out to the gardens! You can click to enlarge all of these pictures.... I just thought I should save some space by making them smaller!
This is the view from the portico as you walk out the front door of the mansion. The angel statue to the right is the same one that is standing in the middle of the front garden. I think the little house that you see across the yard is the Butler's cottage ... I could be wrong - but that's what I'm thinking. And to the right of that would be the carriage house - which is now the tea room (cafe').
I don't remember what the name of this garden was... but I do remember that Marjorie Merriweather Post's ashes are buried under the statue in the middle! This is the rose garden - though none of the roses are in bloom at this time -- I'd love to go back in just a few weeks and see them when they are! But for now the tulips were so gorgeous that I was just in awe! To the right is a close up of the most beautiful orange tulips I have ever seen! I don't even think this picture does them justice! They are just gorgeous!
Ms. Post must have had a great sense of whimsy about her -- I really think I would have LOVED this lady! Throughout her gardens she has many many wonderful pieces of statuary and some were absolutely beautiful - but expected. Others... like this one... caught me totally off guard and brought me GLEE! There were actually two of these - different but the same - so I'm only showing one! I just LOVED them! Both were a woman's bust on a lion's (lioness) body. I think they are fitting for this woman because I think she was very strong - and very smart! But she also liked to PLAY ... and definitely DEFINITELY knew how to throw a party! (Teas for 500!!! Can you imagine?) LOL!
Another fun statue -- I love the look on the lions face! Also, I meant to get a closer look - but I am pretty sure that that is a frog sitting on top of his head! Also, you can not see it in this picture - not even in the largest version, but when you are standing in this garden and looking between the two umberellas down in the back - you can see the Washington Monument! What a great view to come out to each and every day of your life! The picture on the right just shows one of the gorgeous tulip borders - and most of the bushes behind them are azaleas that are going to be in bloom probably next week! SOME of them will be in bloom by Saturday!
I actually have many many more pictures of these beautiful gardens ... but I think for now, I'm just going to leave you with this view of a small portion of her oriental garden. Of course there are goldfish in the ponds... maybe koi... but they are small... I think of koi as being the big ones... IS there a difference between koi and goldfish? I'm really not sure! I sure hope that one day YOU will get to Washington DC... and if you do - please make an effort to get to Hillwood House! You will NOT be disappointed!
posted by Melli at
10:27 PM
9 comment(s):
It seems that you had a great day there ! It looks wonderful ! I didn't know that cold Borscht exists I only know the hot one. We have several russian restaurants here in Brussels, but I have never been in one. I have eaten hot borscht in a friend's house. It's also very good especially for cold winter days. It's always the same in museums they don't allow you to take pictures because of the flash. But last time I had been in one for the precolumbian exposition, I put my camera in the pocket of my coat and each time I saw something special, I took a picture without flash, making an innocent face, and cross eying on the screen. It worked ! Nobody saw me ! Then I have Googles program "Picasa" where you can retouch the pictures very easily and put in light. So they looked perfect ! Try it once ! But first do some rehearsals for an innocent face !
By
Ingrid, at
4/20/2007 3:45 AM
What a fun place!! Maybe I will get to see it one day. Great pictures too!
By
Jane, at
4/20/2007 7:53 AM
what a great garden - the oriental garden is beautiful
By
Anonymous, at
4/20/2007 8:25 AM
Wow! That is so gorgeous ~ all of it! My friend is from Russia, and she talks of Borscht a lot, but I've never had it. She is very healthy. I wanna go! I'm not too far from D.C. about 8 hours. :-)
By
Anonymous, at
4/20/2007 9:27 AM
I just KNEW the gardens would be super!!! I think I've seen this area somewhere....either when I was a kid, or sometime.
Super.
PSSSTTT---your phone camera?
By
Hootin Anni, at
4/20/2007 10:00 AM
Very pretty! Ya know, I lived in the DC area for years (moved away 2 years ago) and never went there for a visit either. Now, I'm kicking myself!
By
Anonymous, at
4/20/2007 10:10 AM
Well, I have been to DC, but never to this! It sounds to me like I missed something wonderful...except the borscht! I HATE beets...in fact, I don't know if I could have watched anyone else eat it...the other food looks YUMMY though.
So glad you shared this with us.
Have a GREAT day.
:-) Susan
By
Susan, at
4/20/2007 5:29 PM
It looks lovely there Melli. I've never heard of Hillwood House. We were just talking about a trip to DC.
By
Unknown, at
4/20/2007 7:23 PM
simply wonderful and I feel like I've been there even if you couldn't show me the inside. The outside is wonderful enough.
Not to mention the food... Yum-yum...
By
Anonymous, at
4/21/2007 12:14 PM
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