Touring the San Francisco Bay

It was next to impossible, but we did finally tear ourselves away from Filoli. Thursday was the time that Cora had written about in our big book these words, "Today is the day that I most wish that I could be with you." We figured that she must know of further delights as she had planned the trip for us so back we went into the beautiful city of San Francisco.

We found the street with all of the gorgeous Pier buildings full of cars from people out on cruises. We were looking for...

THIS one.

This was so that we could board this boat....

which we did as this picture is proof of.

Passengers on the upper most deck

We were standing by the rail with a nice family of 4 from Colorado. The wife told me that they were there to celebrate their 20th anniversary and I, of course, shared that we were celebrating 30 years of marriage. We wished each other a happy anniversary and pleasantly chatted the whole rest of the cruise.

I was very thankful that the children had bought us 2 City Passes for $62 each as this was only one of the tours that we were allowed to enter with our passes. The mother of the family told me that they had paid $70 for their family just to take this one cruise. Good job on purchasing the City Passes children. This picture shows the wake so you can see that we were moving along rather quickly.

The tour took us out to the Golden Gate Bridge where the boat was turned around. This is what the bridge looks like from the deck of the HARBOR EMPEROR.

This is the now-abandoned prison Alcatraz. There was one boat that took people out here for a tour but neither Robert, nor I, cared to spend any money to go and see it. Instead we looked at it as our boat slowly glided past it.

The wife from Colorado offered to take our picture, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, if we would return the favor and take a picture of their family. This happened quite often on our journey.

One of the delights on the Bay was seeing many sailboats out and enjoying the glory of the lovely weather. Only once had I ever seen a sailboat and this was when my Uncle David from Wisconsin had brought his out to sail on Lake Eureka. It turned out a great disappointment to him as he'd just gotten his sails up when he was at the other end. These folks had no such disappointment as there was plenty of Bay for everyone.

This boat was available for those more adventurous spirits. Robert said that the boys would have loved to have a ride on that one as it REALLY moved. I was happy that I wasn't on it as I would have a ride on a fast boat in a few days and one of those is enough for me. :)

Well everyone, Cora has found a new movie for us to watch, so I'll close for now. We're still not at the end of my picture review of Thursday on that unforgettable week in California, but the rest will have to wait for another time. We took over 1,700 pictures on our journey so you can look forward to many more to come.

I wish you all a glorious Sabbath rest--what's left of it. The guys just came in from trying out their new shotguns; Cora and I played ourselves out on duets at the piano; and dark will fall on us soon. Then the new work week will begin but for now, it is STILL THE MOST GLORIOUS DAY OF THE WEEK!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sabbath hugs to all of you out there whom I love,

Dawn

Haunted by the beauty of Filoli one week later

One week ago from today, which would have been October 14, 2010, Robert and I took the tour of Filoli and we will never be the same. I have never seen such beauty all in one place before and it is forever etched in my mind as a dream come true. This tour was truly my favorite event on our trip to the San Francisco area.


It did me such good to learn that there really were people on earth with huge fortunes who really did care about their fellow man. You will see that this is true as you ponder the meaning of the name, "Filoli".

Filoli was built as the family home of Mr. and Mrs. William Bowers Bourn II. Mr. Bourn made his wealth by mining the Empire Gold Mine, which he owned. This was the most productive gold mine in California. Although extremely wealthy, Mr. Bourn had a motto in life which was the springboard for the name Filoli. He lived by these principles which I gladly share with you to ponder.

TO FIGHT FOR A JUST CAUSE; TO LOVE YOUR FELLOW MAN; AND TO LIVE A GOOD LIFE.


Can you see how this motto would be good for all people to follow no matter what their income level is? Anyway, Filoli is taken from the first two letters of FIGHT, LOVE, and LIVE. FILOLI. Perhaps you will want to let this concept sink deep into your being, as I have done this past week, and Filoli will exist in your part of the world too! Perhaps if we all did so, the strength and beauty of Filoli will exist EVERYWHERE on this planet, as God had first intended.

These pictures are a poor representation of the spirit of Filoli but it's all that I have to try to show you how wonderful it truly is. The first is on the hour long drive out of San Francisco.


We arrived at Filoli an hour before the formal tours began for the day. This is Robert walking between the gorgeous flowers on the way to the visitor information center.
Flowers are everywhere at Filoli. This is one of the many arrangements that are spread throughout the house. All of the arrangements are made from flowers and things grown on the estate. Each room had one or two of these spread throughout to enrich the environment.

I have never seen so many different types of trees as I saw at Filoli. After the Bourns had passed away, the estate was sold to Mr. & Mrs. William P Roth who were in the shipping business. The Roth's made only one structural change to the house and that was adding the large pillared entrance to the house. They did, however, make massive improvements to the gardens.

Our guide told us that the gardeners would groan when Mrs. Roth would go out shopping at an annual greenhouse Spring sale. Once she came home with 3 TRUCKLOADS of new trees, bushes, and flowers and said, "Plant them wherever you think best." That's how Filoli came to have 16 ACRES of formal gardens plus many more acres outside the formal gardens which we did not see.

I cannot recall the name of this tree but isn't it awesome?

The grand entrance to Filoli. We were told that once the Roth family wanted to host a REALLY big garden party. Wanting to assure success of the party, no matter what the weather, they covered this entrance (about the size of a football field) with a piece of beautiful, blue, silk fabric. It was the talk of San Francisco for months.

You can see our guide, Robert M. off to the left, holding his straw hat. We were welcomed warmly by all of the staff (wherever we went out in CA) when we told them that we were on our second honeymoon celebrating 30 years of marriage.

We just loved Robert's gentle spirit which was suited perfectly to Filoli. His name kept leaping out at me, though, until suddenly I recalled that in the movie, EMMA, there was a Robert M. I told Robert Bornemann that that's where I had heard the name before and we both chuckled.

Robert M. ushered us into the men's chamber off to the left upon entrance into the mansion. The ladies' chamber was on the right side of the entrance. Our guide told us that every single person, who was ever fortunate enough to enter that main door, was ushered into either the male or the female "Freshening" room. They were told to take off their coats; wash up; and use the restroom if necessary. Only then were they considered fit to be seen by the owners of the house. Notice all of the lovely arches throughout the entire 36,000 square foot house.
Robert showed us that there were 2 layers of doors here. The first was the elegant door inviting guests. The second one is just barely visible and was solid. These were pulled closed at night for protection of the family. He said that tour guides used to always pull these doors out to show folks on tours. One day, though, one of them fell out during a tour and so now it is no longer permitted to pull them out. All efforts are being taken to preserve the house in it's original form.

Filoli has 43 rooms, not counting bathrooms and spare rooms. To quote from the printed information we received: "The interior has elegantly carved moldings, marble fireplaces, inlaid parquet floors, and magnificent architectural doorways, with a superb sense of space and proportion in the 17 foot high major rooms." To put it bluntly, IT WAS GORGEOUS!!!!!

This is a picture of the kitchen stove.

This, perhaps, was the most interesting thing in the whole mansion. In each room of the house, there were little black buttons on the walls (picture to follow). These were used to call one of the 12 servants when one of the family members was needing any type of assistance.

When pushed, the buttons would register on this switchboard which was on the kitchen wall. Our guide, Robert, told us that he was told that the staff prayed daily that this would never break down. He showed us the wiring involved in keeping it going and this was in the early days of electricity. You can read some of the room's names on the call board.
The windows in the home were mammoth. Four of the windows still have their original drapes and this is one of them. This is in the dining room.

A view of the dining room with the marble fireplace. The house has 16 fireplaces and each one of them was different and special in it's own way. I wish that I could have captured the painting above the fireplace but it was a little dark in this room with dark paneling. Robert M. told us that there are only 4 of these paintings in the world and they sold for over $4,000,000 each!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Filoli has, amongst it's vast treasures, one of these famous paintings.

After the meal, Robert told us, the men would stay in the dining room for their brandies and cigars while the ladies retired to the ladies drawing room Here was this gorgeous piano and every sort of delights to feminine eyes and ears.

Just one of many such delightful trunks scattered here and there around the house.

On the far end of the ladies' drawing room, this beautiful mirror was available to check for just "Perfect" reflections before rejoining the men. I reckon that if all one had to do all day was to sit around and be lovely, there wouldn't be much need of a mirror at all. How would you ever get be-smudged? :) Actually, it sounds rather boring to me after all!

I was constantly amazed at the beautiful mouldings above all of the doors and windows at Filoli! Notice also that each room has exquisite borders around the ceilings--each one is different from the next room's!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, I felt most at home in the library. Robert M. told us that most of the books were not originals, but he did show us one that was. This room was about 40 foot by 30 foot in size and had the carpet which Queen Victoria once had in her home.

One of the many call buttons with which to fetch a servant.

The second owner's wife, Mrs. Lurline Roth (who willed Filoli to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1975), was not only an avid gardener but she also loved race horses. She used this room to house her many trophies from the races that her horses had won.

After her death, the Trust saved only a few of her many trophies which were on display in this former Trophy Room. They then donated this room to the use of displaying botanical art. Here were 2 books about 3 feet long and 2 feet wide which were given to Filoli by the estate of Prince Charles of Wales. The books teach how to create this art form from plants and classes are taught here for just that purpose.

These are some of the results. There were many such creations on the walls of this room which were created by drying the beautiful plants of Filoli.

One of the many bathrooms in Filoli which, as you may recall, are not counted amongst it's 43 rooms.

Here is a sample of a typical place setting used in the dining room of Filoli.

Finally we were ushered into the ballroom at Filoli. I held my breath as the beauty seeped into my soul. There were huge murals on the walls. This one depicts the 11,000 acre estate in Ireland that the Bourn's gave to their daughter, Maud on her wedding day. Did you catch that? THAT'S SOME WEDDING PRESENT!!!!!!!!!!!

According to the brochure, the ballroom is 32 feet wide and 70 feet long with a ceiling height of 22 1/2 feet! The chandeliers are French crystal; the massive baroque fireplace is of Machiavelli marble; and 6 elaborate sconces complete the illumination of the ballroom.

It was in this majestic environment that God chose to honor our marriage. I head heard Robert M. say to a man walking by who was carrying some music, "Have a song ready for a couple who is celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary." My goodness--would he?

I had forgotten all about it, as I was taking in the beauty, when the musician said very loudly, "And now would the honeymoon couple of 30 years please come forward to receive your gift from Filoli in song?"

We stared at each other but Robert M. chuckled and led us up to the grand piano. He took this picture while Robert and I listened to the song sung in our honor. Later we learned that both Robert M. and the pianist/singer only came to Filoli on THURSDAY MORNINGS--the very time that God took us to the estate. ISN'T OUR KING FABULOUS TO LIFT OUR SPIRITS LIKE THIS?????????

After we thanked the man for the song, we were led outside to the extensive grounds. Robert M. explained that the house was built with a central hallway throughout it's entire length. The gardens, also, were built on this same theme. Notice the huge Irish yews which had been taken as seedlings from their daughter's home in Ireland decades ago. They had gotten too large and needed to be severely pruned. Robert M. said that in half a year you'll not even be able to see that it had been pruned and, indeed, much new growth was already covering the stumps.

The grounds were massive and I do believe that one could get lost in them. I thought that this was a capital idea. Many of the gardens had small blueprints of the layout of the plants. This helped one to capture the concept behind it's design--very clever idea!

This was the garden house where the family would often picnic with their guests. Robert M. said that the servants were not as fond of this as was the family. They had to drag the food a considerable distance from the kitchen and it was expected to be warm as usual.

This is the sundial that marks the exact center of the 16 acre garden.

Who could resist walking on that sweet, little path?

Another view of the family's picnic area.

One of the many ornate gates that separate different parts of the gardens. Many volunteers (lower right corner) come to help keep Filoli beautiful for generations.

The 25 by 74 foot swimming pool was added by the Roth family in 1946.

Around every corner there was either an architectural wonder or a natural one. This is a tree that had about 6 of these limbs hanging down to the ground. There was enough room for about 10 people to stand in the little "Caves" that the branches formed. I just HAD to have my picture taken inside.

This was built to house the Roth children while they were little and mama wanted to work in the gardens. It was HUGE--like everything else at Filoli.

Here Robert is cooling off in a natural arbor of leaves from some unknown tree. It was rather warm that day so it felt good in the shade.

This is the high place looking down that long, central corrider of the entire gardens. Can you just imagine being there when the Roth's daughter, Bernice, walked this path up to become a bride in 1941? What a place to get married!!!!!!!!!!

This is one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen in my entire life. At some point Mrs. Roth had seen a stained-glass window garden and she, of course, wanted one. As you can see, box hedges were planted in a certain design to be the framework for the "Glass." Inside the little hedges were planted many flowers of different colors to make the design of the "Glass". Unfortunately, the flowers weren't in bloom when we were there, but it did give me an idea......

Here is a small portion of the rose garden which is the home to 500 different rose bushes.

This is the cupula on top of the Garden House which was designed to help break up the long brick wall and give a view to the sunken garden and the walled garden. We were told that this is no ordinary rooster up there, but it comes to us from the French. I'm trying desparatly to recall the name of the bird, so if anyone knows, please send me a comment. I found it amazing that the Bourns thought so much of their gardeners, that they gave them this lovely bit of archetecture to gaze at when their backs were sore and needing a good stretch. Is ever there a more lovely place on Earth than this place called Filoli?

This is the last picture which I took at Filoli. Robert M. told us that all of these apple varities are grown at Filoli. Each one had a toothpick in it bearing it's name. When I asked what is done with all of this rich abundance of fruit, Robert M. smiled a big grin. He said, "IT'S ALL DONATED!!!!!!!!!!!"

After I recovered my breath, I pressed him further with, "To whom?" I could tell that Robert M. was thrilled to tell us about the generosity that was carried on there.

He answered me, "Well, all of the volunteers can take as much of it as they want and then it's given to homes."

I asked him, "Do you mean nursing homes for the elderly?"

He nodded and then added, "but mostly to homes which shelter the homeless."

I'm crying tears of joy even now as I think of the generosity of the Bourns carrying on to those who tend Filoli to this day! Also, think of Mrs. Roth giving up her home, while she was still alive, to see that Filoli would be a blessing to millions of people. HOW AWESOME IT IS TO ME TO SEE THAT THESE WEALTHY PEOPLE TRULY DID THEIR BEST TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE!!!

Shortly after this, we parted with Robert M., but not with Filoli. Filoli will forever remain in my mind as a place of unsurpassed beauty and peace. I hope that I have inspired you to dip your tastebuds into Filoli by going to: http://www.filoli.org/.

I wish to thank Miss Jen (listed on my side-bar) for sharing about her family's trip to Filoli earlier this year. You made this wonderful experince possible for us as we'd not have heard of it otherwise! It just goes to show, you never can tell how you will bless others from a simple, little blog post! :) Keep posting about the beautiful things folks, for we are all hungering for them.

Lastly, I wish to publicly thank the three most incredible young people in the world--our children, Cora, Andrew, and Jacob. Countless times I told the story in California of how our precious children could see that we needed a vacation and how they put the entire trip together for us. Every time I told it, I saw the wonder and amazement in the listener's eyes and it made me realize how truly rich we are to be parents of these incredible people!!!!!!!!!!!

"Thank you" hardly seems enough for all that you did for us, you three! May God bless you richly for all of your efforts to make our 30th anniversary one that we will cherish all of our lives!! I love you so much!!!

Your proud mama!