Holidays at Winterthur and Longwood Gardens

Since I wouldn't be in Washington for the holidays this year, the friend with whom I had been doing Jewish Christmas suggested we make a trip instead, and so we headed on a tour to Winterthur and Longwood Gardens to see their renowned holiday displays. It was a great day.

 First up, Winterthur, where a Tiffany exhibition was on. Really spectacular work that you could get very close to and explore in great detail.

 Interesting displays too on the process of making the glass designs as well as of the glass itself.

Of course, I'm partial to the dragonflies. These were done by one of the few women designers of the time.

 The rest of the house is pretty amazing. It's by guided tour only, and the holiday decor is spectacular.

I particularly liked this Chinese wallpaper room which was a sitting room. The scene is taken from a painting, and does not repeat around the room. It's remarkable. 

Of course, the famous spiral staircase. 

And while there were Christmas trees everywhere, of different themes, the one I liked best was the natural dried flower tree. All of the blooms were grown and dried on the estate during the year. 

Which made me sad that there was no time to view the gardens. The house is great, but I would still prefer the gardens.  

Longwood Gardens was all lit up! It was so beautiful.... 

outside with the magic fountains.... 

and inside. And the space is ginormous! 

I think we wandered in the conservatory for about an hour, and still weren't sure we saw it all. 

Of course there's an orchid room. 

I really liked the succulent tree, trimmed with blue lights. 

And then there's the organ! It's among the largest in the world and you can go behind and see how it's all laid out. I did not want to hear Christmas carols and a sing-along, so we timed it well. 

Not only was this remarkably cool, but there was so much information about the world's largest organs, how organs work, etc. Truly fabulous. 

I liked Winterthur and am glad I went, particularly at the holidays. But it's to Longwood that I want to return in the spring/summer, when everything's in bloom.