Third Times a Charm

We went back for the THIRD day in a row, on Christmas Eve, and finally made it in to Vizcaya! Haha. Sterling laughed that we were twenty minutes early, but there was already a line and when we left there was a BIG line, so I'm glad we were early. 

On our way there we were meandering a bit through the old part of Coral Gables (my favorite part of Miami) and came across this old church. Is it not the prettiest sight?!?! It was completely stone-fenced in, and it looked just like some old abbey/monastery you would see from the 1700s. So pretty.

Waiting to get in to the museum.

The downside of this post is that they don't allow cameras inside the house. No pictures. There is absolutely no way you could even imagine the intricacy and immense opulence of that house. I could not get over it and I saw it in person. Every single room we walked into I just about died again. I have never seen anything like it. 

So this guy in the early 1900s, during the American Renaissance, wanted to build an estate for his summer home (winter home? can't remember now) and it was the biggest one in all of Florida. It is right on the ocean and it was acres and acres and it was all gardens and this one incredible house. So, in following with the American Renaissance, he imported all this hugely expensive and old stuff from Europe. Mostly everything is imported and all of it is dated back to the 1700s or so and thats about as rough of an idea as I can give you. The house was just unreal. Every single tiny centimeter was covered in filigree and gold and paintings and....just such detail! Maybe its a good thing they didn't allow pictures, this would be a REALLY long post! Haha.

You had to pay extra for an audio tour, which we didn't do, so we didn't know what we were getting into or where to go first, so we rounded this corner and suddenly it was glistening sun on water and I fell IN. LOVE. Gloriously beautiful. 

The ship behind me had a little pool inside of it once upon a time, but the water is higher now I guess.

Gorgeous, look at that sparkling water he walked right out of his house to enjoy!

So incredible!

Ok, so this pool looked way more cool in real life. See the steps underneath the openings going down into it? Right from his house.

He had a pretty neat orchidarium.

In the gift shop!

Ruth had to try out all the staircases.

Snack break. Not sure if food was allowed, technically.

This area was more overgrown. If nobody consistently cut away at Miami's intense jungle, it would all be overgrown within a week, I am convinced.

Asian sight-seeing photo bombers.

Even the outdoor archways had incredible ceilings.

Cool sea shell ceiling.

Crazy orange and cobalt blue lizard, too bad this picture doesn't show how incredibly bright it was!

I wasn't sure I would feel this way, after having to make THREE trips to get there, but it was MORE than worth it! I really wish I could show pictures of the inside, it was beyond amazing. We loved our trip! Also, Ruth did such a great job at walking and staying happy. We didn't have a stroller like we usually do and she was a trooper and just walked right along. She did get tired of the unending spiral staircases inside, and the fact that she couldn't touch ANYTHING inside the house, but I was so impressed with her. It was such a great day!