Rockwood and Nemours

 I got a call from Nemours that they could fit me into the 3pm tour on this day and jumped at it in order to avoid the rain.  That gave me a couple of hours to kill and I had a great crock of French Onion Soup at Hollywood Grill with the most amazing looking desserts, but resisted.  This place was recommended by a local and worth it. http://www.hollywoodgrilldelaware.com/

I then got lost several times trying to find Rockwood Mansion and gardens that are on my little tour and it was a very nice house, but my guide was a little slow and I had to tell her that I had a deadline to be at Nemours.  The best understatement of the day was the director or Rockwoods' statement, "They're much more hoity-toity than us".  At Rockwood, I fell in love with the conservatory, even with it empty of plants, and decided that John and I don't need just a sunroom added on to the house....

 The Hoity-Toity place: Nemours www.nemoursmansion.org/  the place that AI DuPont built to win a woman.  These gates are from Wimbledon and gilt with 23 karat gold, the W was changed to N.  Unfortunately, I could not take pictures inside and they did treat you like you might make off with the silver if

 you moved two feet from your tour group.  There was reason for this because the house was 77 rooms of fabulous paintings by Reynolds, La Tour, Canaletto. Lamps and chandeliers of murano glass, tapestries, priceless carpets,

 to the point that our guide didn't even mention most of them because we didn't have time.  As you can see from the grounds, fountains, and Diana in a gazebo sculpted by Houdon, the statues of 23 karat gold, money was no object.

 He got his woman, but couldn't buy her love, found true love later in life luckily.  The children's hospital he funded is right off the grounds of this house, so there is philanthropy too.  This house is fashioned after Marie Antoinette's petit trianon on the grounds of Versailles and the gardens are like Versailles.  I have to admit that this was a beautiful tour and somewhat overwhelming to have in Delaware.