Winchester Mystery House
After our first great day in Silicon Valley, I was deep in DreamLand when the alarm rudely went off at 6.40 am.
DH jumped out of bed and quickly turned it off so that he did not wake DS or me. Too late for me
.but DS stayed asleep. DH had another 8 am start; so he got ready and headed out.
Unfortunately, the sound of the door closing woke DS; and he wanted to see his dad. So, we got ready and headed out for breakfast. I had hoped to grab a shot of breakfast at some stage; but given that DH and his colleagues were still at the dining area, I again opted to eat breakfast rather than shoot it.
DH was happy to see us and we spent some together time enjoying each others company for a bit longer before he headed off for work.
Today, I did not have to face the perplexing conundrum of what to do.
DS and I had a discussion last night and we had agreed to do something that DS had not done before in this part of the world. I had decided to visit the Winchester Mystery House.
WMH is located more in San Jose, off the 280 and near Santana Row and the Valley Fair shopping centers. It took us about 40 minutes to drive there from our location and I was pleased to be heading down the 101 in the opposite direction to the peak hour traffic flow.
When we got there, DS took one look at the place and decided that he did not want to be there. He figured it was going to be spooky
.its such a mystery to me but I what gave it away?
.and was scared about going inside. Still, I dragged him in for the House Tour.
I did have a moments misgiving about the wisdom of this choice when I realized that the cost of this outing was going to be close on $60 for the two of us. (Was I the one complaining about paying $10 for parking yesterday?)
But we had come all this way and despite thinking about spending the morning shopping at Santana Row or at the Valley Fair, in the end I figured we should do something that we wouldnt be able to do anywhere else. So I paid up.
We had about 30 minutes to kill before our tour started; which meant that we completed walked round the gift shop about 20 times.
There were a number of quaint
vintage pieces that I wasnt sure why they were in the shop
.
I also walked into the Antiques Products Museum twice. It must have been incredibly memorable
.
because all I remember is being anxious about DS and hoping that he was going to last the 65 minute tour through the house. As you can clearly tell, he was totally thrilled about our excursion this morning.
Figuring that I was safer keeping him outside in the bright sunlight, we headed out to the courtyard area where we would be starting the tour.
Yup.Much.happier.little.boy.
The time slowly ticked over to our start time
.and eventually our tour number came up.
I eagerly got in line and then
..the sky fell!
Turns out I was going to be the one not happy on doing the tour. Photography was NOT allowed inside the house. Doh!
Sarah Winchester, the widow and heiress of the Winchester Gun fortune, kept construction going on the house for over 38 years, 24 hours, 7 days a week, in response to a psychics advise that the spirits of all the people killed by the Winchester Gun would haunt her and she would die. As Sarah had inherited over $20 Million dollars and earned $1000 per day from gun royalties in the 1800s, she certainly had more than enough money to bankroll the construction indefinitely.
We were told that there were over 160 rooms in the house and the number 13 featured everywhere in the house (13 bathrooms, 13 window panes, 13 steps in every flight of stairs etc). It is Victorian/Queen Anne architecture and despite being gutted out, you can tell how beautiful it would have been if construction had been completely finished. There were Tiffany leadlight glass everywhere and the lead light in the house is currently valued at over $250K! Yes, thats just for glass!
Sarah suffered from arthritis and as a consequence the rise on the steps are only a couple of inches off the ground. So, there are plenty of steps in groups of 13 that just zig and zag to get between floors. Given that the house belonged to someone who suffered so badly from arthritis; Im sure it must have tickled her sense of humour no end to make the house completely inaccessible for wheelchairs or strollers.
The Winchester Mystery House is the result of what happens when you dont have an architect, have too much money and believe in ghosts. It is intriguing beyond belief and I am not sure if Im so glad or so sorry that we spent the hour of walking through countless rooms, strange corridors, seeing staircases that go no where and a door that open out to a 20 foot drop. The main thing for me was that DS totally loved the experience and had a fantastic time.
We came out totally bemused by the whole experience. The rooms were all there and in parts completely finished; but there are huge amounts of the house stripped to the wooden wall frames. But then there are rooms completely furnished and exquisitely detailed!
We then took a turn around the garden and I had to satisfy myself with shots from the outside.
This is an outside door handle
and gives you an idea of the intricate details that you can potentially find inside
.in some of the rooms.
These only give a glimpse of the incredible leadlight to be found inside the house
.
.and the famous spider web design that Sarah was reputed to have had Tiffany specially designed for herself.
The Victorian architecture details were just lovely.
We walked round the property.
There were a number of additional buildings that provided support facilities for the main house.
The house at the back is the one that the foreman lived in.
This is the tank house, which held 10,000 gallons of water for the house.
We saw Sarahs Car in the garage
which was driven into the covered entry that Sarah used so she would never get wet.
We walked around the house admiring the turrets and finials everwhere.
We looked at the Door to Nowhere from the outside and the drop to the ground.
We walked to the front of the house. Check out the wide-angle view from the new lens
By this stage, DS had lost his deer in headlights look
and he was starting to feel hungry again. We stopped in at the café where I bought the most expensive Ice Slushie in history. It was $7 for a medium cup
.completely exorbitant!
So, between the entry price, the slushie and no pictures allowed inside, I will NOT be coming back here again. I certainly felt as ripped off at the WMH as I did about WMD! But Im glad that DS and I spent the morning here to learn that the WMH will NOT become a favourite come-back to spot for us.
I did however, get this shot from the gift shop for my photography hunt
presidential related.
(Continued in Next Post)
You made it over!! Welcome!
I've made it at least twice in the last 10 months...
; and now I've got 2 days in the salt mines coming up.
