"Today was a Fairytale..."

As mentioned in my previous post, we did make one unexpected pit stop in Dunedin.... LARNACH CASTLE. What a beauty.

Hillary mentioned the idea of going and wondered if we would be interested... my philosophy? Let's do what our hearts desire.. there have been so many times in previous travels that I have not gotten to do half the things I wanted to do.. so if Hillary wanted to check this out.. by golly, we were going to make dreams come true! And boy, am I glad we did. (And who would not want to be princess for a day and walk around a castle?)

To die for.

Loves it.

...the drive up to the castle was worth it in and of itself. The Otago peninsula was one of THE MOST BEAUTIFUL sights that I have ever seen... (and yet again.. wondering why people were hating on the Dunedin area!) We stopped a few times before finally arriving at the exquisite Larnach Castle.

Must be nice.

Kappa <3

There was a ton of history surrounding this castle but some of the main points include the following:
-Was home to William Larnach ( a heavy hitter in the banking industry) and his family.
-Was offered a position at a bank in Dunedin when gold was discovered in Otago in the 1860s... etc.
-Wealthy man, etc
Right... and the list goes on.. what is truly sad is that:
-He was married 3X
-Had a daughter die in her 20s...
-And killed himself...

...Depressing, right? On a happier note... the castle was MAGNIFICENT. The architecture and materials were to die for... marble from Italy, slate from Wales, tile from England, NZ wood! Someone had a great interior decorator as well- the fabrics were beautiful! Not to mention we got to see an old-fashioned nursery...(obviously I was happy...)

Unfortunately pictures were not allowed to be taken inside of the castle.. however if you don't think I got pictures and a video from the top of the castle (Dad, ask Mom to show you on facebook!).. you are dead wrong! Just livin' the dreams up there... After doing the tour for about two hours... we headed inside to the ballroom (that Larnach built for his daughter Kate's 16th birthday....MUST BE NICE.) The ballroom had been turned into a cafe/restaurant.. so it only made sense that the 3 of us, as princesses for a day, would eat in 'our' ballroom.... just another day in the life....

View from our castle.

...it was really a fun little pit stop. (Major props on the good find, Hil!) The whole place was beautiful: the castle, the grounds, the gardens. It reminded me a little bit of the Biltmore Estate, which my parents took my siblings and I to a few years ago. I really thought this was something that my parents would have enjoyed seeing. Sad that they were not here, but I know they will enjoy seeing pictures. (Vati: we will just have to come back one day!) Again, the Dunedin trip was a hit and contained many fun surprises and lasting memories... already counting down the days until my next travel adventures! But for now, this princess will just have to wait....