A Little Bit of Connecticut

  (Gillette Castle)
  (Camera-Random)

        There is this quaint part of Connecticut we discovered yesterday when we visited the Gillette Castle which is located in the town of Chester.  Well, my interest was immediately captured by this small but lovely town, what with its downtown cluster basically made up of its bank and library and  restaurants and shops and galleries and taverns and......... right across each other along a street that winds around the town.

        I would've wanted to stay a little longer than we did to soak in the simple beauty it manifested but we had to be on our way to the Castle. We had chosen to use the ferry service as the castle was located  across the river from where we were --top of a hill, the highest, apparently of seven named the Seven Sisters by the locals.

So while we enjoyed the ferry ride,  I was actually thinking of crossing a bigger expanse

of water like the Pacific or the Atlantic to reach another favorite destination of mine.... :)

Bing and Anika enjoying the scene.......

          At the reception room............

This was one Gillette built - an outcome of his great love for trains.

   And we walked towards the Castle......    

The pathway toward the Castle owned by William Gillette, - no relation to Gillette Blades.  Instead, he was an actor who played the role of Sherlock Holmes for almost half a decade.  He lost his wife to pneumonia in his 30s and went into a deep depression after which later, he built this castle with amazing stone- and woodwork!

The staircase going up to enter the castle

    

Willaim H. Gillette

        

Some of the walls carpeted

Looking up the ceiling

....... and up on the second floor -

Through a window overlooking the river

       

    

His study

    

And yet another fireplace

His bedroom... and as in all over the house, electronic switches are made of wood!

His shelf of drawers

     

Ah but he did have the usual kitchen and bathroom amenities

     Now from the second floor, we are told Gillette would have a view of what goes on at his bar down the left side from a mirror below the window on his right.....

          

    

....... and of who was coming in at the door (that would be below where he stands) from the mirror below this middle window down and  in front of him:

Both entrances lead to a balcony (with a fountain) overlooking the CT river.

Corridor leading up to the third floor

From a third floor window overlooking part of the gardens, Bing and Anika waiting for me

From yet another window overlooking more of his amazing stone structures: a balcony

  Two of the forty-seven doors of which none is like the other.

    

A door lock and some switches

      

                

Out of the castle now.....

........moving to the left

      

      ..... and walking out of the castle's premises...

   

   

     

        And as I leave the Castle in awe, I ask myself,- or rather, may I ask you:   -with all the phenomenal aspects of this magnificent wood and stone creation, would you want to live in one like it?