Monticello is the former home of US president Thomas Jefferson. Located atop a hill Jefferson sculpted the landscape & designed a home that was always changing. The house itself contains many gadgets that are very simple but quite ahead of their time.
When we arrived we watched a short film on the life of Jefferson before proceeding up to the house for a tour of the ground floor. The tour consisted of 25 people, moving from one room to the next. We learnt a lot about Jefferson including things that he spoke 4 languages, was an avid reader & entertained large numbers of guests. Many of whom would arrive at the house unexpectedly. His friends were Presidents James Madison & George Washington who often came to visit.
We took a behind the scenes tour immediately after this that was with a smaller group & much more relaxed. This took us below the ground floor and to the two floors upstairs. The highlight of this tour was the desk that the declaration of independence had been written on. Which I had been casually standing over until the guide brought this fact to our attention.
After this tour we strolled around the gardens where Jefferson experimented with different plants during his years there.
We had walked up to the house at Monticello along the 2.5mile trail. After the tours we were quite tired on our feet but going back down was nice & easy.
Before heading home we called in at the supermarket for some flounder for dinner. Once again I was driving, I am now very used to driving on the right side of the road.