Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Heading to Poughkeepsie

We got an early start this morning to drive to Schenectady, NY to meet with John Denver fan and fellow traveler Gail.   She drove us on a brief tour of the town which was quite interesting, before we had lunch at Chez Nous, a favorite restaurant of hers.  We enjoyed our meal, catching up on past years, and talking about both her and our future travels.

After lunch we headed to the Vanderbilt mansion.  This is one of the few mansions built during the Gilded Age that remains.  It is 5,000 square feet with 54 rooms, all for 2 people (Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt), with 60 servants.   This was their spring and fall home, when the climate was best here. They had other homes in New York City (winter) and Bar Harbor Maine (summer).  The picture on the right shows some of the opulence of this house.

We are now in Poughkeepsie for 3 nights.  Tomorrow we are visiting the private home of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the morning and Val-Kill, a private house of Eleanor Roosevelt. 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice that you all could meet up! Your tour guide knows her stuff!
Kathy

Nancy Howard said...

Fun having Gail drive you around town to see the sites and the restaurant she selected sounds really nice. This is a awesome picture of the three of you. Wow 54 rooms. Nancy

Anonymous said...

So great to see you two today and catch up!
Glad you enjoyed the Vanderbilt mansion. You have a great itinerary planned - looking forward to hearing about your next stops. Gail

Pat said...

A great photo of the 3 of you , I'm glad you both got to see Gail . Enjoy the rest of your holiday , Pat