San Jose - Day Two

Today was frustrating. Everything arrived. Fine and dandy. At 1:30 p.m. finally Dominic and Tony came by the booth to say that they would "try" to be back to start building the booth. I was half expecting a ba-da-bing ba-da-boom we'll take care of you... And then poof they left. Needless to say, they were having "issues" with the other booth they were building and needed to go and build that one and in the meantime, our booth wasn't getting built. Why why why can't I be the one that gets my booth DONE on the first day and the other people get to wait for their booth to be built at the last minute.... GRRRRRRRRR!!!!

So aroung 3 p.m. I left. Mostly because I had to head back to the hotel to see if my last minute boxes came in...and they did.So tomorrow will be another day...and a long one at that because Sunday I have to be completely installed AND build my other product display as well.

So since it was 4 p.m. and I didn't have any "plans" I called a taxi and headed to Winchester Mystery House.Constructed in 1884 for $5,500,000. It took 38 years to construct. It has 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows 40 stairways 47 fireplaces, 17 chimneys, 13 bathrooms, 6 kitchens, and only one shower.Very interesting...the woman who built it was the widow of the Winchester Gun empire. She lost both her husband and baby and moved to San Jose and started to build the mansion. She was told by a medium that as long as there was construction going on in the house the spirits of those that were killed by winchester guns would stay away. The house was completely...um...wacked. yep that's the word I'd give it. Small little staircases (the stairs were about 3 inches off the ground and wound up and down...small hallways...turns...windows...doors to nowhere...cabniet doors that don't have a cabinet. If you've seen it ...you may understand what I'm talking about....truly whacked.

She also had this thing about the number 13. Everything had to be in 13...she even rewired a chandlier to have 13 candles instead of 12. (photos below about what I'm talking about)

Then I went to dinner at this lovely french bistro. The other day Tyler Florence was talking about fresh corn in a salad and mmmmm...that's what was in my salad...fresh corn, peashoots and heirloom tomatoes. Very good. I also had a small steak and some pom frittes. And as a bonus I found a See's candy store and bought candy for the booth :) So what was a frustrating day...turned out well. Also, I had the cutest cab driver named Raj. He drove me to the Winchester and told me to call him to pick me up...which I did. It was almost like having my personal driving service.