The House on the Rock is unfathomable in scale. These pictures are a sad attempt to capture this impressive fact; it is room after room and some of them are colossal. Part of the fun is the winding and almost cave-like hallways that open up into little intimate displays or huge showrooms/galleries. Add to that the sound coming from the rooms and it is all pretty surreal and magical (and eventually, almost overwhelming trying to take it all in -- S)
Below you will see some doll houses and, as is the all too obvious fact, this guy has a lot of them -- 200 to be exact. You may remember that we visited a pretty impressive doll house museum in Carmel, Indiana. Well this collection puts that to shame with far more on display in a section of small rooms.
Then there are the Carousels -- Holy Mother of Merry-Go-Rounds!
1. This one is completely comprised of dolls with life-size mythological characters cavorting on the top. There are hundreds or maybe even over a thousand dolls merrily (so to speak) spinning around with their creepy little eyes while the barely clad Centaurs, Mermaids, Griffins, Half-woman/half-unicorns and various nymphs are decadently twirling above.
2. The world's largest (really not in the delusional Henager way) carousel. Absolutely indescribable.... enormous-gargantuan-behemouth! There are 269 handcrafted animals and nary a single horse. This is one of the areas where there has been debate about "authenticity" where in reality it matters not if the creatures are new or old; it's incredible. The carvings are amazing and the layout is very allegorical and unique. Now keep in mind there are over 20,000 lights and almost deafening musical accompaniment (in a room where the ceiling is comprised of winged store dummies -- yes, more dummies -- clad in diaphanous dresses that float behind them as they seemingly fly through the air with their hair hanging down - see more in message three).
Speaking of music, perhaps the most astounding things to see and hear in this monument to obsession and excess are the music machines. There are some pieces that can be accurately called calliopes but others that defy vocabulary. There are entire rooms that are made of on hundreds of instruments that are part animatronic and part computer programs. There are cathedral-sized pipe organs and then there are these over-blown environments filled with entire orchestras of human sized robotic musicians. Look at these music machines and try to imagine how truly magnificent and tremendous they are in every way. There are music machines around every corner and in every room that anyone would consider the highlight of their collection.
In another room were many case containing boat models of all kinds but mostly of sailing vessels. Every display also contained many scrimshawed tusks and other ivory carvings. This man knows no limitation on his collecting reasonable amounts of anything, the boats and scrimshaw are a grand example of this. If only half of these are "real" the collection is worth many fortunes and in all honesty, they are incredible reproductions or the majority are old and authentic.
How about a 200 foot long three story high sea monster? It takes over an hour just to view and work your way along the adjoining spiral walkway of displays from the lower part of the creature to the top. This was one of Alex's pet projects that was, unfortunately, not completed until after a few months after his death.
Remember, you are seeing only a sampling of the wonders we saw in the second third of the attraction. Even for professionals like us, it was overwhelming. We had to go to the cafe for some over-priced pizza (the only choice other than ice cream) in the hopes of recovering before moving on to the last third of the self-guided tour. Sore feet (Susan wore new shoes..... oops!) were nothing compared to the over-stimulated eyes and brains. Oy! Ever see those deep sea fishing shows where they have to keep throwing water on the reels to cool them off from too much friction? Well the mighty Nikon was in need of similar treatment. We were excited to see what was around the next corner but it was "time out".
Love, blisters, memory cards and awe,
Rodney and Susan
No comments:
Post a Comment