The tiled bottom of the outdoor pool. Venetian windows and loggia at the back of the castle, facing the tennis courts. One of many views from the Enchanted Mountain.
Showing posts with label San Simeon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label San Simeon. Show all posts
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Images from Hearst Castle
The tiled bottom of the outdoor pool. Venetian windows and loggia at the back of the castle, facing the tennis courts. One of many views from the Enchanted Mountain.
Hearst Castle
Words fail me when I attempt to describe Hearst Castle. Awe-inspiring? Wretchedly excessive? Ginormous? Impressive? Weirdly beautiful? 75,000 square feet (give or take 10,000). 165 rooms. Built on a mountaintop from which (at one time) everything you could see in any direction belonged to William Randolph Hearst, only son of George Hearst, whose character was deliciously defamed in Deadwood in a chilling performance by Gerald McRaney, Hearst Castle is filled with antiques (tapestries, furnishings, entire ceilings) that once graced European castles and were sold by cash-strapped Europeans to wealthy Americans following WWI. We took two tours: Tour 1, the starter tour, and Tour 2, which shows more of the inside of the Casa Grande (the Big House). Let me digress for just a moment here to say how much I loathe most tourist sites: the visitor centers with their crappy souvenirs, the buses, the crowds (there were 60 people on Tour 1), the people who step on carpets or sit on chairs or take flash pictures even though the patient-as-Job tour guide has repeatedly told them not to, the people who push past you to be first on (or off) the bus, and especially those who bring crying babies on tours that last over an hour. Aggggh! Argggghhhh! Ahhhhhhh!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Hwy 101 South
There are two routes from Monterey to San Simeon: Highway 1, appx. 90 miles, average speed 30 mph, and Highway 101, appx. 130 miles yet faster because it's not so curvy. We got a late start and took 101.
The radio spoke Christian, Spanish, and oldies as we drove through a valley of mostly farmland. Workers in the fields bent low to pick our asparagus, our celery, and the tender California greens we'll enjoy in Minnesota and the rest of the country in the next few weeks. Faded windowless ex-school buses waited beside Port-a-potties to take the workers back to wherever they stay. Sleek white air-conditioned tour buses passed us on the highway.
The radio spoke Christian, Spanish, and oldies as we drove through a valley of mostly farmland. Workers in the fields bent low to pick our asparagus, our celery, and the tender California greens we'll enjoy in Minnesota and the rest of the country in the next few weeks. Faded windowless ex-school buses waited beside Port-a-potties to take the workers back to wherever they stay. Sleek white air-conditioned tour buses passed us on the highway.
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