After a good night's sleep Friday night, we were up bright and early on Saturday to go to the Biltmore Estate. This was my second trip to the Biltmore this year, and I was worried that it may be boring the second time around, but it wasn't at all.
The Festival of Flowers is April 3-May 16th and this was our first time there during the festival. The home is massive; in fact it's the largest privately owned home in the United States and boasts 43 bathrooms!
After touring the house and walking through the gardens and green house, where they had live music playing, we had lunch at The Bistro. The meal was delicious and affordable. The pizzas are heavenly, and are big enough to share between two people.
Then we proceeded to the winery. In the past, the Bitlmore has offered a free seminar on wine for guests. You needed to only call a few days before and reserve a spot. Unfortunately, when we called to reserve a spot this time, we found out that it is now no longer a complimentary seminar. The chocolate and red wine tasting seminar is $15. That's certainly not bad, and we didn't rule it out because of the price, but we did the exact same seminar for free 2 months ago, so we saw no need to pay to do it again. Also, they offer a behind the scenes winery tour for $8.
I picked up a couple bottles of my favorite sparkling wine, Biltmore's Pas de Deux, and also a couple champagne glasses from the gift shop, along with a deck of cards... those were my only purchases on this trip.
We also visited the newly opened Antler Hill Village. I was expecting more in the way of shops and variety. It was nice to walk around for a few minutes, but I think they missed the mark on this one. I do suggest stopping in at the Biltmore Legacy exhibit at Antler Hill. In the back right corner there is an entrance into a room where a panoramic video of the home and family history plays on a continuous circuit. It was actually quite enjoyable, and we were impressed with the 3 screens surrounding you.
After a quick nap back at the hotel, we decided to go exploring more downtown, unfortunately half way to downtown the skies opened up and it started pouring down the rain, so we turned the car around and went to the mall instead. Not nearly the charm of the downtown shops, but at least we were dry.
The rest of the evening was a wash. I had planned to take everyone to dinner at Tupelo Honey Cafe, but the in-laws asked for Olive Garden instead. (Deep breath.) I was wet, tired, and I shamefully admit, a bowl of their zuppa toscana did sound pretty good, so I tucked my adventurer tail between my legs and enjoyed a meal at Olive Garden.
I think it was the bad juju from the Olive Garden decision that caught up with me about 30 minutes after the meal. I was as sick as a dog all evening. I spent much of the night on the bathroom floor.
The next morning I washed the vomit from my hair, pulled myself together, and went on a last-minute shopping trip with the in-laws. They had forgotten to get my brother in law a t-shirt, so we went back to the gift shop at the main gate of the Biltmore. The sun was finally out, so we went downtown to explore. It was Sunday morning and most of the shops were closed, but at least it gave us a chance to explore the area little bit without getting drenched. Then we said our goodbyes and headed home, where I laid around on the sofa all day, still recovering from the Olive Garden Illness of Doom.
Thanks for the great trip Asheville! We didn't see the President, but by all the security we saw all over town, we sure knew he was there. Asheville, we'll be back for our next quarterly visit in July!
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