Exploring Fort Worth

The city is a maze of highways, zigging and zagging, with its drivers zipping in and out of lanes!  It is also divided into districts, with one entire area being called the Cultural District, and containing several museums, the Sundance Square, for nighlife, The Stockyards, and a few less distinct areas.   We decided our first stop would be  the historical homes of the  cattle barons.

Thistle Hill, as it is called, is  very large at over 6000, built in 1903 at a cost of  $68,000, later renovated by the second owner at a cost of some $80,000, which altered the exterior from its original to Georgian Colonial.  I liked it better in its first state!  No photos allowed, it has original stenciling that was painstakingly recovered from under layers of lead paint from the time it had been a girls home, and the house and the story of its owners was very interesting.  Furnishings, while mostly not original, are of the correct period.  Built not by a cattle baron, but a rich Philadelphian, who married a young playful cattle baron's daughter, who then moved back to the ranch when she inherited from Daddy!  Not quite what I expected!

The second home, seemingly more grand from the exterior, and built of interesting materials, was basically a Victorian home inside, with beautiful hand done  wood work and inlaid flooring of several kinds of woods forming intricate patterns, which were quite beautiful.  However, being used for events, there were no furnishings, and the kitchen, as in the Thistle House, has been modernized to serve as catering facilities to meet codes and needs.  Again, not what I had expected of a cattle baron's home, and in fact, this home had no relation we could determine to a cattle baron!  I guess I would rather have seen the ranch!  And as lovers of old estates, we found neither of these as interesting or grand as other  homes we have visited.  

Next stop was the Kimball Art Museum, noted not only for its world class collection, but the unusual building, which allows natural light to come in from the rounded ceilings.  While not large, it does hold works by Rembrandt, Picaso, Matisse, and other noted artists, and the traveling exhibit at this time in Picasso and Matisse.  The building is interesting, if not grand, and the entrance was cold and off putting to my mind.  But we did a quick spin, and headed out into what had turned into a spectacular day weather wise. 

Just too nice to be indoors any more, we headed to the Botanical Gardens, which were absolutely beautiful, even with fewer blooms in the fall.  I can imagine it would be gorgeous in the spring and summer months with the roses in bloom. 

Huge Monarch Butterflies fluttered about, reminding us of our luck in seeing their migration as we headed to Florida last year!

Interesting flower, I have no idea what it is!

We had grabbed a quick lunch off a food cart parked at one of the historic houses, and it was absolutely delicious!  Called a torta, a hot sandwich with meat, beans, onions and cheese, bread crispy, filling yummy!  We would find another for dinner, but were meeting Clem's cousin and her husband for dinner at the Texas Roadhouse.  Disappointed to see it was a chain, it turned out to be quite good, with ribs that had meat falling off the bones.  We have not seen these cousins in years, so there was much catching up to do over dinner, then home to sleep after a full day.