There's so much to report! In a nutshell: we packed up, moved from urban Balto to suburban Balto, unpacked, drove to Binghamton, spent a day in Bingo, drove to the 'Twa, unpacked, and now we're here in our nation's capital wondering what the hell just happened. Monty, especially. But that's not even the tip of the iceberg of the awesome I have to relate so will attempt to catch up the blog in the days ahead.
First off: before the hardcore packing commenced, we took a day off and drove to DC to take in the Hillwood Estate, former headquarters of Marjorie Merriweather Post (Close Hutton Davies May, bust above!), heiress to the Post Cereal fortune and founder of the General Foods empire. Born in 1887, died in 1973, she lived most of her life as the richest woman in America. She was married four times (divorced, What does the richest woman in America do with her time?
Collect bullshit!
The estate is a museum of her incomparable collection of 18th-century French and imperial Russian art. To put it lightly, the woman had an eye for the ornamental. The docents explain it away by saying that her father was very strict and wouldn't let her spend money on anything so when he died she went cray-cray and bought anything shiny, pink, or associated with royalty. By 1937, she'd been buying up rococo in a way that would compel even Elton John to stage an intervention when she went to live in the Soviet Union for a couple of years (third husband was a diplomat and became the US ambassador to Stalin in '37-38).
What does the world's ultimate consumer do in a context devoted to the unpretty where everyone is looking for a little cash? That's right - go *bananas* buying up trinkets of the newest ancien régime at bargain prices.
One word: Fabergé!
I had to fight my way through a crowd of old biddies to get this pic:
The cultural history writes itself: a gilded-age American heiress obsessed with the things of "real" monarchs at the height of their power and opulence just before devastating revolutions (there is no story trajectory here because - baah! - it's cultural history!).
Heart-felt looter, voracious preservationist, curatrix extraordinaire, early ancestor to the Home Shopping Network addict, or savvy businesswoman philanthropist, however you want to characterize MMP, her collection, and her mansion, these photos don't come anywhere near to doing them all justice. Hillwood was unbelievably fun to visit - I would recommend stopping what you're doing right now and planning your trip to DC.
In addition to everything about it I've already covered, four of my favorite things about the visit were:
1) The totally fucking awesome contrast between the grand dining room and the servants area. Not only the look but the smell, the temperature, just everything about the two areas was completely different. These two rooms are right next to one another, separated by only a door.
2) Creepy pet cemetery. Coco and Lassie seem to have been preferred names. No mention of servants' heads being put in glass cases on shelves or anything like that.
3) Beautiful Japanese-y garden. This is also a pic of E waiting and waiting for me to take the effing picture while the sun scorches her albino-ish skin.
4) A plethora of garden sphinxes, the likes of which I can only describe as both awesome and friggin' weird.
Uberthanks to B & I for making sure Hillwood was on our list of things to do!!! We're sorry we didn't go with you because that would have made the day pure perfection BUT we totally want to go again so when next I'm in DC, Hillwood, anyone?
