Gunter Lunch

Last night Papa Bear left out of town, boys only one day road trip, and the girls and I had a free day. I woke up super early because I had some important errands to run. I was home by nine and took a quick nap. Then CC and I met Lisa for lunch at the Gunter Hotel. This was my second time having lunch there and it was delicious. Read more about my first time there here. There are also much better pictures there as well. Smart April left the camera in my purse the whole time today and only took pictures with my phone!

So, Lena stayed with my mother. She was scared because the hotel is haunted. CC and I left on a girls day out!
First up was lunch in the hotel's restaurant. As usual it was delicious!! We started with salads.

Then we went to the pasta bar. All the ingredients are fresh and the pasta is made while you wait...

CC had shrimp and chicken...

After filling up on the delicious food we forced ourselves to make room for dessert! This was a lemon cheesecake with caramel sauce... words do not even come close to describing how delicious this was!!!

A view of the restaurant.....

What I love about the Gunter is the architectural details. They are all original from the early 1900's when the hotel was built.

There is a case on the wall opposite the restaurant that holds memorabilia from the hotel's early days. The blue key in the middle is the key for the infamous room 636 where the murder took place.

More memorabilia....

Mae West actually lived in the hotel for 5 years....

Roy Rogers was also a visitor....

The Gunter was the first hotel in San Antonio to offer air conditioning....

An old guest book....click to enlarge it and read.....

If you click to enlarge this picture you will see that in 1913 rooms were rented at $1.00 per night. If you wanted a bathroom in it the price went up to $1.50. Imagine that!!!

We went up to see the Presidental suite. This room goes for nearly a thousand per night... and that is the original door

Sorry but this is where the picture quality goes waaaaayyyyy down..

The room is absolutely beautiful!!

This photo is in the wetbar area. It shows two NY Yankee players that stayed at the hotel.

This suite also has real wooden shutters on the windows. I LOVE wooden shutters!

The master bedroom.....

There is also a bedroom on the opposite side of the living room area that has two beds. So the suite is large with all the extras you could ask for!

Sierra and I stopped to get a quick photo on the landing of the second floor. As mentioned in my first post about the hotel, I love that painting behind me and again it didn't photograph well!

This is just more of the amazing detail the hotel features...

Looking into the lobby from the second floor....

We went into the Crystal Ballroom where many wedding are often held. Stunning would be an understatement. And of course these photos don't do it justice!! All moldings and detail are original to the hotel.

As are the chandeliers....

Just amazing!!

The Crystal Ballroom opens out onto the Starlight Terrace. I love, love, love the Starlight Terrace!These pictures are looking out from the corner I photographed the above picture onto the streets below, Houston and St.Mary's.

These pictures actually show what was the original hotel restaurant. Now it functions as meeting space.

All of the copper is original as are the tiles....

Just beautiful.....

Now is where the fun begins....

If you read my first post on the hotel you saw there is a stair case that is blocked off....locked off... and no one is allowed to enter it because the ghost that haunts the stairwell pushes people down the stairs. It happened so often when one person would go down the stairs alone that the entire stairwell was eventually locked off from use.

The original opening was to the second floor and the stairs lead down to the hotel bar.

The bar, McLeod's, is just so fun and reminded me of Cheers....

It was dark in there....and honestly, spooky.

The ceiling is covered in these tin sheets. They are beautiful. Underneath the tin sheets is stained glass.

Ugghh.... I don't even want to look at these photos. It was so spooky. But you know CC...she HAD to investigate. UGH.... I get chills just having to type this. Seriously. My stomach is turning and I feel uneasy. This is the darned stairwell looking up from the bar.

You can click on these photos to enlarge. I know the quality is zero but it was dark and my hands were probably shaking...I know my legs were!

Yeah...smiling! HA!!

That nut took her shoes off so if the ghost pushed her she wouldn't fall down in four inch wedges!

And the nut is still smiling!

Ok... now is where you can start to enlarge... seriously. After we came home and uploaded the pics on the computer you can see in the upper right hand corner a face in the window. Also.... look at how her hand appears... she was not moving but it's blurry as if she was. AND look at her "shadow" behind her... there is no hand there!

I faked a smile and wanted to get the "H" outta there! CC says she sees something to my shoulder on the left... enlarge it and you will see... it's like a light smoke or something on the wood behind me. I went on down and dum dum pop stayed so she could walk down alone to see if she would be pushed. She wasn't pushed but she did feel a very cold gush of wind pass her and she said she heard a woman scream once she reached the bottom of the stairs.

No one is allowed on the stairs. Guests, employees, no one. It's too dangerous. But since Lisa and I are so close and we were in a group we were allowed to tour the stairs. Let me tell you... there is even dust, thick dust on the wood because the housekeepers aren't even allowed to go dust and clean it!

Back on the ground (thank goodness!) in the bar was this beautiful stained glass! This is a small sample of what the tin is covering up.

Lions on the bar....

These little plaques are in honor of the customers who frequented the bar daily. There mugs are also on the ledge above the bar.

More stained glass....

And then we went home. I was so happy to be out of that bar and away from the stairs. I do NOT want to go back again. The stairs were spooky and scary and I didn't like it!!!

After the hotel we picked Lena up from my mom and came home and waited for my Papa Bear to get home. Not much got accomplished today, but that's ok. I needed a day of rest. I haven't had one of those since I quit working. Ha! Finally I got this post up. I had to stop to walk outside in the dark to find CC's lipgloss she dropped while walking Luigi. Then I made chicken wings for the girls...texted an old friend who's getting married in a couple of months. (Hi! Nick and Stacy!) And now put these pictures up. Ok...ahhhh.... I can take a breath now.

If you are interested in visiting the hotel you can contact Lisa York at lyork@gunterhotel.com. Just be sure to mention my blog if you do and she will be sure to give you a great deal!! Just don't try to take those stairs!!!