We got a great deal that included breakfast for us while we
were there, a historic tour, and a cool back about the West Baden Springs and
French Lick Resorts.
We arrived early, knowing that, even if we couldn’t check
in, we could still enjoy the place.
We stopped first at the visitor center in tow, which is
pretty close to West Baden Springs Resort. There is always a nice staff
person there to tell you about the area. They also have a ton of great
promotional magazine and brochures about various Southern Indiana towns!
I walked out with a handful of material to help me plan future trips!
Like I said, we were early to town, but we decided to go on
to WBS and see if our room might be available. As we assumed, it was not,
but the check in staff was very pleasant about it and we were welcomed to enjoy
the property as we waited. We visited several of the shops on the main
floor, and then we read for a while in the beautiful atrium.
Check out the photos of the atrium. You can see how
grand it all is…. But you can’t understand it unless you actually walk in
to it, and feel being there under the huge dome.
Speaking of reading in the atrium…. This is such a
special and historic place. I consider time spent reading in the atrium
very special time. It’s a great environment and I really enjoy relaxing
with a book in this space.
After that, we enjoyed a one hour tour of the hotel that was
included with our stay on this visit. Several years ago, when we stayed
the first time, we did the tour then too. It was nice hearing the history
again. Our guide told us about the angel paintings done in the ceiling
attached room just under huge roof. You can’t access the area where the
original paintings are, but there are copies around the Christmas tree.
I am still amazed at how West Baden Springs went from being
a bit of a crumbling mess in 1996 to a functioning hotel in 1998. Now, it
is nearly flawless. There are pictures on the wall, that our guide
pointed out, showing the massive hotel throughout its history. Some of
the photos show rubble.
I enjoy hearing about some of the window art in the front
check in area. There were 8 angels painted on different sections.
Well, as the hotel sat abandoned, all 8 windows were stolen. Well, 4 of
the angels were found at an antique shop in Kentucky. The thieves who
took them were never found. The 4 missing angel windows were replicated.
After our tour, our room was ready! This was our first
time not having a room overlooking the atrium. The room was great, and we
loved it… but there is something special about the atrium here, and
having an atrium view is a real treat. Then again, we did hang out in the
atrium a lot on this visit.
We ended up having dinner at Ballard’s in the Atrium on this
day. I love WBS so much, I hate to be critical, but there are some issues
with Ballard’s in the Atrium. Our food was, for the most part good (I had
a Reuben on Rye and end of the bread was rock hard). We had to ask for
refills and things, including salad dressing for my wife’s salad after the
dressing less salad was brought out.
Some of my family from Owensboro met us at Ballard’s the
next day for a family lunch and our experience was totally different. We
had a very nice waiter named Austin that was on the ball and great.
We ended up having our two breakfasts at Sinclair’s.
More on that later but those meals were ridiculously perfect. We had a
different Austin as our waiter and he was great too.
It was cold, and even rainy at times while we were at West
Baden Springs, but it didn’t matter.
There were lights and other
Christmas decorations up everywhere. The garden area was lighted
beautifully, and it was so nice walking around and admiring everything- inside
and out.
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