Today is our big day...the Rockefeller place ...and this time I signed us up for the GRAND TOUR...three hours of all the basics as well as a few behind the scene looks, gardens and coach house...We need to be there at 9ish for a 9:45 departure. I assured Floyd that the traffic would be light and the construction zone gone...right on both counts....which is a good thing cause my wagon is draggin'.

KYKUIT...home to generations of rich and powerful Rockefellers.....construction began in 1906 by John D, founder of Standard Oil...whose firm Baptist beliefs wouldn't let him build an ostentatious place..but he needed an escape from the rigors of NYC .Then John D., Jr, added his touch...adding on floors, Chinese art and luxuries...He and his wife used it as a spring and fall family retreat. ... after his death in 1960, Nelson and "Happy" lived there. Nelson and his wife were quite fascinated with modern art...and it is everywhere. Can't say that it adds much to the ambiance of the place, but that's just my opinion. Our three hours flew by...and we saw it all! Lavish sets of china, Chippendale furniture, Worhol portraits, Ming ceramics...and the gardens...OMG...low plants, high trees, grotto's and gazebo's...how do they do these things??? I have trouble picking out a bedspread???? It was a fabulous tour ...that ended with the coach house. Carriages and cars all shined up and lined up...the best we've seen.

Modern art in the gardens was just as out of place as the modern art in the house...shocking in contrast to the lush green...we didn't care for it...

and while they had more views of the Hudson...very few were as good as the one Washington Irving had in his humble home next door!!!

A quick lunch at a true NY style deli...Floyd stopped at the Ossining Community Center for a peek at their Sing Sing display...and then back to TUMBLEWEED...We told Jorge and Barbara, they were welcome to accompany us to the grocery store...but I was done in. I went to bed and  Floyd shopped without me...

Then the best thing ever!!!When I woke up from my four hour nap... Barbara brought me chicken soup!!!! I ate a hearty helping and went back to bed...probably best that way. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we head to Kingston...