Crazy Weekend

 Boldt Castle (from the water)

We had a crazy weekend (to put it mildly)  On Friday night we went to a munch.  A friend from out of town showed up and asked if he could "bunk out" on our couch for the night.  None of us slept that well and were up with the sun drinking coffee on the front deck at 6:00.......... By 8:30 am said guest had packed up his motor bike and headed off...By 8:45 am W asked if I wanted to go visit Boldt Castle (which involves a boat cruise)  

W booked the tickets on line (thank god) and at 9 o'clock we were rushing around throwing on clothes grabbing cameras and gear and heading off to pick up a quick breakfast and drive the 30 minute drive to the boat dock to catch the cruise which left at 10 am!!!

We were the last passengers to board with a good 3 minutes to spare.

A little history for those of you who have no idea what Boldt Castle is or the story behind it.  In 1900 George C Boldt (owner of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel) decided to purchase Heart Island - one of the 1000 Islands and build a castle for his wife - a monument to the love of his life.  Stonemasons, artists, carpenters ( a total of 300 workers) set to work to build a 120 room castle complete with tunnels and a draw bridge - Italian gardens - a tower play house (for their daughter).  Just 4 years after construction was begun - it was stopped.  His wife had died suddenly.

The castle was left as is for over 70 years when finally the Thousand Island Bridge Authorities gained control / ownership of Heart Island and started restoring and finishing Boldt Castle.

And that is where we landed up on Saturday around noon.  It is a most impressive castle - and buildings.  Hell the "boat house" is nicer than most homes...........

Two hours to explore the castle was not nearly enough time............ we didn't get to the outbuildings or the gardens ........  I think my favourite parts were the upstairs where there has been no restoration - just bare bones waiting for the Boldt's builders to finish.....

Here are just a few of the shots I took of Boldt Castle .............

heading to the front doors....... 

one's eyes travel up up up .....

to the stained glass ceiling

  the following are just random arty farty shots

the children's play house

After 2 busy hours of trying to take in as much as possible we were back on the cruise ship heading home.......... 

Boldt Castle is the stuff fantasies are built on.......