the really rich

Yesterday, as part of our Christmas holiday visit, Raine and I went with Ron's family to the Biltmore Mansion in Asheville, NC. Oh My Goodness. The grounds surrounding the mansion are amazing, even before you get to the castle... uh, house. We walked through the restored rooms like the library, the dining room and the conservatory, up the grand staircase to some of the fimly and guest bedrooms (each with its own Christmas tree and fireplace) through the servant's rooms (pretty nice accomadations on their own, really) and down to the basement for the gym, bowling alley and swimming pool, then back up the the kitchens (and the kitchen servant's rooms) with about 5 pantries, and a walk in refridgerator. Then out front to the snowy front lawn area. The ground were beautiful. The views from the house were amazing. The conservatorship has been well done, and is admirable. The grounds must be lovely to walk/hike through although we took a pass on it yesterday through the snow. They had lost a number of trees to the weather, but clean-up had begun already. It was a good day. Interesting to see how some of the "other half" lived. It would be cool to have seen it in full operation, with staff and all, but not even the Vanderbilts can afford to keep the house up these days...