Chadds Ford

We got up in the morning and the rain was falling very hard.  The local residents tried to feel bad about it, but they've had a drought for two months and were not so secretly giggling with delight.  We headed off to Lockwood Conservatory.  It is 1100 acre flower garden created by Pierre DuPont, but it has a large glass enclosed area full of flowers.

We spent three hours wandering around inside and it is not just because it was dry.  It was really very interesting.  My favorite flowers are the orchids.

but the six foot water lilly pads were pretty cool. n a Jurasic Park sort of way.

They had a great section on how perfumes are made and you can even combine various scents to make your own. Mine was a manly scent with a hint of gentleness. but I favorite has too be this little tree that grows it's own Christmas lights.

 

It is actually a type of pepper and a single plant will have peppers of five different colors on it. They had a great display explaining how perfumes are made. You can even combine various scents to make your own. Mine was a manly scent with a hint of gentleness.  Then you could select a favorite perfume , no proof of purchase necessary, and an explained what the base, middle, and top scents consisted of..

 

Photos of Lockwood Conservatory

In the afternoon, we heade4d off to the Brandywine River Art Museum.  It is famous for its collection of Wyeth paintings.  It has NC, Andrew, Jamie and even a couple of Caroline's, who is Andrew's sister. 

Our tour guide was Victoria Wyeth, who is the grand daughter of Andrew. She is the only grand child and lived with him from age 15 until 29, when he died. She said she was not an art expert, but she knew what her grandfather told her about the paintings and what he liked about them.  It was very interesting and highly entertaining. If you are ever in the Philadelphia area, I recommend taking the time to visit.  You can even visit Karl Kruner's farm and see many of the things Andrew painted. Then you'll see why he considered himself an abstract painter and not a realist.  He moved things around in the paintings to fit his composition and included things that hadn't been there for thirty years.

The next morning we headed into Philadelphia, but it had rained 9 inches during the night and the rivers were flooding between us and Philadelphia.

We were one of the last cars through the over flowing Brandywine River before they closed the road. A couple of more detours, thank you Iphone for the wonderful GPS/map application, and we were in Philadelphia to see the Barnes Foundation art collection.  It is the largest collection of Impressionist art in the world.  Larger than any in France.  It is moving to the Philadelphia Art Museum, a sordid story of trust breaking, lawyers, and politicians, but it should make your visit to see it much easier in the future.