Hudson Valley - Day 2 TourSep 11, 2009
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Bronze of FDR and Eleanor
The Library
The marblegrave is Eleanor and the one at the flag is FDR
Our first day of touring on the bus was a rainy day. But not too bad. We started out by going to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Museum, and Mansion. They were pretty rich. We did learn a lot about FDR and his polio and all that he did in his presidency. To me he seemed pretty close to Obama. It was interesting to see how humble his grave is. His wife Eleanor has this big marble grave while FDR is buried with no head stone, only an American flag. We were not allowed to take pictures inside his mansion. Everything inside was original and they are trying to keep everything from damage. So it is very dark inside, they don't let much light in the windows and they have really low wattage light bulbs. They said one flash is the equivalent of 20 hours of direct sun. Even if they said you could take pictures without flash, some people would. Many people don't even know how to turn off flash. Or they think they do, and bam, flash. I see that happen all the time. Anyway, the picture are worth looking at.
In the after noon we went to the Culinary Institute of the America. They have 2200 students in a 4 year program to be chefs. We got to each lunch in one of their nine restaurants. You have to have reservations about a year in advance to eat there. The food was fabulous. It was so good, I forgot to take pictures after the salad was served. I took a couple of pictures of the chefs cooking (through a window) and then one of the waiters invited me in the kitchen. As soon as the opened the door and the chef saw me he said, "no pictures, no pictures, no pictures". Anyways not only are the students cooking, they are also waiters and maitre d. It costs a pretty penny to go there. It is a 4 year program with a degree, or 2 years with just a certificate. After lunch we walked around. Students were coming and going everywhere. One student looked at us and we said hello. She came over to us with a bag and asked us if we would like to try her bread. She wants to be a pastry chef. Wow, we tasted her bread and it was like heaven.
After lunch we went to the Vanderbilt mansion. The Vanderbilt's had something like 57 mansions among them. This mansion was their smallest. It was a measly 56,000 square feet. They only came to it for some time in the spring and fall. Of course they owned all the land for miles around, right up to the Hudson River. I have never seen such wood as in this house. The mahogany all came Dominican Republic and is called Santo Domingan Mahogany. I assume it is what I call Cuban Mahogany. It has always been the finest of the mahogany's, and it now extinct. Well, theirs was the best of the best. Every square inch of it was beautiful. All the wood was like 3 inches thick. Normally this quality of wood is cut into veneers at 40 slices to the inch. One room was walnut. Again, I have never seen walnut this good. All the furniture looked like museum pieces. When you have that much money you can do anything. He was richer than Gates, and the next 3 guys on the wealth list. The family money was gone after 3 generations. The desire to acquire wealth was not passed down. I would have paid money to take pictures inside, but again, they were not allowed.
The first Vanderbilt to make all the money was Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt. This house was his grandson Fredrick Vanderbilt. He left the house to his wife who left it to her niece Louise Van Alen. In 1940 she donated the house to the federal government. by now the remaining Vanderbilt were not millionaires anymore.
