He shared his castle with the World - Day 2

Day 2, September 2, 2011

After a good night's sleep, everyone's mind turned lightly to what is to have for breakfast. There is a great little bagel shop in the shopping center near the grocer
y supe
r
market. Su

e, Paula and I went out and grabbed a bag of assorted bagels, and four bagel d

og
s. Bagel dogs! They are like corn dogs, except with bagels, and no sticks.

For bagels, we had some of the usual ones: regular

, cinamon s

ugar, etc. but they also have a jalapeno topped bagel,

so we tried one of those. Sue also brought out a bi

g bowl of frui

t salad. She also showed us how to use the built-in coffee machine. I had tw

o cups of coffee, and Paula tried the cafe latte. The coffee has a very nice crema on top, and

smelled an

d tasted wonderful. As much as I like the coffee percolator I have at home, this is the way to go for coffee lovers.

We planned the day while at breakfast. There is a farmers' market today (every Friday in the Summer) that Sue wants to try in Monterey, and from there, we can shoot down Route 1 South to San Simian to see Hearst Castle, from the wind up Route 46 to some winery for wine-tasting, then cruise up Route 101 North back to Salinas. That was the plan.

The road to San Simeon from M

onterey is 132 miles long. I don't recommend taking Ro

ute 1 South anymore, due

to the winding roads. Passengers tend to get car sick

on suc

h a long and winding road. The

view, on the other hand, is spectacula

r. The coasta

l road has

a lot of hairpin curves

, with the Pac

ific Ocean on the right side. You go over four bridge

s, one of

which has a large arch underneath. I believe the arched bridge has been in a few movies.

Along the way, we passe

d by River Inn. The hotel and restaurant is built along a sleepy river. Acros

s on the other side of the road is the La Padres State Park (which ex

tends for miles near Monterey all the way down to Big Sur. This is a good rest stop. You can check out the gift shop, or walk behi

nd the restaurant, down to the river, and relax a bit in the shade.

The restaurant has a few chairs in the water, in the river, so custom

ers can sit there and o

rder a

cocktail, while dipping th

eir feet in the wat

er, and enjoy the cool sprint water. The gentle flo

w of the water will soothe the tired feet, and help you relax and unwind from the long journey.

Past River Inn, there is a bakery and a restaurant on the rig

ht. Further down the road, about 20 miles later, you will come to Rocky Point Inn. This

is another good rest stop

. You can walk to the back of the Inn, and see the sheer cliffs of the Pacific highway.

After almost 3 hours, we finally arrived at Hearst Castle.

The castle is built on top of the hills of San Lucia Range. It is an actual working cattle range. You can buy meat (beef) in

the gift shop of the castle.

It was a short drive from the highway into the parking lot of the gift shop and visitors' c

enter. You buy your tickets at the visitors center, and eat at the cafeteria, and visit the gift shop and museum at the visitors' center. There are four tours. We took the Grand Room tour, which is recommended for first time visitors. We have all been there, except for Louis, so we took the first tour so we can visit the movie theatre again.

The movie is interesting. It is an IMax

movie, and talks about how George Hearst struck silver in the Sierra Nevada, and bought a lot of land, including 400,000 square miles of land where the castle is situated. He married a 19 year old school

teacher Phebe Appleson. William Randall Hearst is the son. When he was 10 years old, his travelled to Europe with his mother, and spent a year and a

half touring the European cities, se

eing the great architectures and art wor

ks. This has a lasting impression on his.

After his mother died, WR Hearst inherited the ranch and decided to build a house at the ranch, where he used to camp. He wanted the house to reflect the European architecture, yet gi

ve him access to na

tur

e and the camping experience. He commissioned a woman archit

ect, Julia Morgan, to accom

plish his dreams, and thus the castle was born. Very interesting movie.

From the visitors' center, we took a bus and drove the fi

ve miles up the

hill to the castle. The ride was interesting, and winding. We passed b

y some anim

al pe

ns. Hearst had stocked the hills with wildlife in his days. There were still some zebras, goats, etc (only the tame animals) roaming around the hills. I saw some deer, but no zebras.

The castle's main house is modeled after a church in Spain. We went around t

o the

side and entered the dining room. It was dim inside, and we were not all

owed to use flash, so the pictures are of

ve

ry poor quality. I tried to take pictures of th

e tapestries, but they did n

ot come out very well. We started at the convergence hall, to which visitors and dinner guests were escort

ed for cocktails and conversation before dinner. According to the guide, Hearst likes to invite guests for their conversations, and dinner is mandatory. The guests are seated according to how lively the conversation tends to be, and how long

the guests have been on the grounds. The longer you have been around, the f

arther you are seated from Hearst.

The next room is the pool room. The walls are covered with 400 year old tapestries, 200 year old Persian tiles, and valuable paintings,

but in the center of the room are two ugly and

modern pool tables, which do not go with the decor.

The next room we visited was the movie room. Hearst liked to show movies after dinner. Sometimes he will have his guests act out a play instead of watching movies.

After this room, we were released to the grounds, where we were free to roam or leave on the next bus.

The grounds are covered

with statues and very nicely landscaped. I took as ma

ny pictur

es of the statues as p

ossible. They will be

interesting to look at back home.

There are two swimming pools onthe grounds. A large out

door pool

called the Neptune pool is on the far side of the estate,

overlooking the moun

tains. It is a very impressive pool, and appears to have blue water. Th

e guide said the water just appears to be blue, from the reflections of the sky. The tiles in the pool are actually white. I took quite a few pictures of the outdoor pool.

At the far side, behind the big house is the sports complex (unfinished.) Here is the tennis court.

Those little squares under the net are glass blocks.

Below the tennis courts is the indoor Roman swimming pool. There are Roman statues standing on guard all around the pool. In the middle of the pool, there is a side hall. That is the shallow part of the pool, about three feet deep. Outside in the main pool, the depth is about 12 feet, deep enough to allow swimmers to dive in from the platform in the second floor.

The shallow lane is necessary becau

se back in the forties, not many people know how to swim, so they will mill around the shallow lane.

Remember the tiles in the tennis court? They shed light into the shallow lane from above, like skylights.

In this picture, you can see the diving platform, and the sun light streaming in from the glass blocks.

After his death in 1951, WR Hearst donated the castle to the California State, and it became part of the State Park, opening the castle to visitors year long. He shared his castle with the World.