Tours, Tours, Tours = FUN!

Woke up at SIX am, earlier than I have the whole trip I think. I started by driving to Frankfort the capitol of Kentucky. Okay I loved the simplicity of Raleigh's capitol but I also love fine, quality things. This capitol was DEFINITELY that. It was French, Baroque style.

You can't see it very well in the picture above, but there were gardens and a grand double staircase up to the building. It was beautiful and reminded me of the movie Count of Monte Cristo. The picture below was taken from the second floor looking across the way. the sides looked the same. Also this building is over 100 years old and those pillars are each one solid piece of marble from Vermont I believe. They were huge and there were 32 of them. I can't believe you can find them much marble all in one spot. Pretty much all the floors were marble.

For this picture I just used the timer and put my camera on the railing. I seriously love this staircase, so regal.

In this capitol not only do they give guided tours they take you into the Reps and Senate rooms, and you can walk right up to the front or the desks.

These rolltop desks are all over 100 years old! And they are still used by both the Senators and Reps.

Many of the doors and pretty much the entire Supreme Court are made of what is referred to as rainforest mahogany. It is now protected and illegal to cut, so this is an irreplaceable, priceless room now. I wish I could have gotten a better shot. The wood was amazing.

After the Capitol tour I went to Rebecca Ruth's Candy Factory. I couldn't take pictures of the factory but it was interesting to see. The candy company has been open over 100 years.

I then drove like a deamon to the American Printing House for the Blind. I didn't get to take the guided tour but I took a self-guided one. It was FASCINATING. Blind books started way back in the 1800s with just embossing the english alphabet and they had to feel out the letters. Then several different codes of braille were invented before one was chosen. Below is the instrument writing braile, it holds dot placement. You place the paper in between and poke out the dots with the little poker.

Here is a type-writer for braille people. The alphabet for braille is made up of combinations of six dots. So each number is a dot placement. I typed my first name in braille. It was quite slow going.

Then I went to Glassworks. A glass blowing/making factory. It was so neat. I love this design of little glass 'beads' placed on the top of the pillar.

Here a couple dudes are shaping some glass.

I really wanted to buy a vase or bowl but the cheapest one was $300!!!! I walked around for awhile looking and admiring and wanting and then walked away. I raced to Churchill Downs, hahaha, the RACE track. On the way there it was lunch time and I was hungry and the chocolates I bought at Rebecca Ruth's were the only thing in arm reach, so I ate all six. They were super delicious and I wonder why good chocolate in the U.S. costs so much. But I guess its okay or I would be eating chocolates all the time.

The museum starts off with hats. Below are two of my favorite. This black with red makes me think of My Fair Lady, which was agreed to by two other women looking at the hats at the same time.

I also loved this hat, it seems so British and cute.

Below: around the building are the year and name of each Derby winner since the first one in 1875. The Triple Crown winners are in gold, like Secretariat shown below.

Behind me, that white pole, is the finish line.

Then I paid and took the "Behind the Scenes" Tour, WELL WORTH IT! In the Scale room (where the jockeys are weighed) is this picture of the dueling finish. Before they had started the photo finish a photographer rolled out on to the track just to snap a photo and got this picture and rolled back. Here the jockeys are actually punching each other. The one on the left was determined to throw the first punch and the right horse seemed to be a nose ahead, so they gave the win to the right horse. Only win that horse and jockey ever had.

We went into the jockey's locker room. Each rider has his own saddle for each horse he rides, so you can see multiple saddles. The boots and things look like toys, everything was so small. Most jockey's are 5' range and 100-110 pounds. Also they don't just wear one pair of goggles in a race, they usually have about six on and as one gets too dirtier they pull it down and keep going. By the end of the 2 minute race they are usually down to their last pair. They are eating far too much dirt.

Here is the jockey's workout room, notice the horse, its actual workout equipment. LOL!

So in 1875 when the derby started, the place was known as Jockey Club and the two spires are the oldest part of the structure.

Up from Millionaire Row I took this picture of the Winner's Circle.

Here is Millionaire's Row. There are 100 tables with 8 seats at each table. You have to pay 60,000 for a 5-year right to the table and then each year pay $900 per seat, EACH YEAR! Ridiculous.

The tour was really cool and so many interesting facts. Then I went to the museum and they had a special exhibit on Willie Shoemaker. The black is the size of his actual hand, it looks like a child's. He was a teeny man and a great jockey with thousands of wins. My last stop was the gift shop and guess what I bought? A HAT, its BEAUTIFUL! Can't wait to show you when I get home.

So I used to hear about people having to parallel park to get their driver's license and I firmly believed that this was just impossible for me. I didn't think I'd ever be able to and figured, I'd never live in a big city where I'd have to. Well I have had to three times this trip and have been able to every time. Today was a bit more pressure, I had a whole line of traffic behind me. Thankfully they were nice and nobody honked at me. I think I did a great job. Go me!

After I got parked I walked to the factory of Louisville Slugger. This giant bat is like six stories high.

The tour was really interesting, but no pictures allowed because of their competitors. Each major league player can call and order their own custom bat, which they pretty much all do. A white ash custom bat is $55 and a maple bat is $65. I got to hold Derek Jeeter, Babe Ruth, A-rod's and a few other players bat type. Below is the bat vault. All the types of bats that they have ever made, all labeled and coded. At the end of the tour I got my own Louisville Slugger, its about a foot and a half long. I like it.

My final stop was the temple and again identical to the other three I've talked about. While it is a pretty temple, I hope they don't make anymore like it, I like seeing different types.

By the time I got to Elizabethtown it was almost 8pm and everything for sightseeing was closed. So I got a motel and cleaned/organized my things and my car. I have a busy day tomorrow. It was an awesome day, I liked every single one of my tours. I learned such interesting stuff. By the way I don't think I mentioned it earlier but I stayed in a city near Orlando calleed Kissimmee, Fl. I pronounce it as I see it but I found out locals pronounce it kesamey and Louisville they pronounce Loui-vul but almost all as one syllable. I am most definitely in the south and they do not speak phonetically. Goodnight!