Hearst Castle

Nathan and I decided to take a drive along the coast and go to the Hearst Castle in San Simeon.  The drive was beautiful! But it was slow and full of turns and hills (next time, pack the dramamine).  It was a fun day! We saw the beauty of the coast the entire way and we stopped to see the Elaphant Seal boardwalk which is really close to the Hearst Castle.  Of course, winter is mating season, so that was fun. Claire loved the castle.  She kept calling it her Castle.  We took a tour of the upstairs suites and then we roamed the grounds outside.  I think next time we may have to pay for all of the tours (okay, maybe next time if we're loaded cause it's $25 per adult per tour, but they do have a 10% discount for additional tours booked for the same day...who knows).  I was shocked and amazed at these rooms! I was tempted to tell you everything about this castle, but you can google it or watch the documentary on Netflix.  But, I do want to tell you that he (William Randolph Hearst) took 14th century CEILINGS from Italy and put them in his home.  WHAT?!! Oh you know. Just the usual.  Doesn't everybody do that for their homes?  Anyway, the grounds are gorgeous and the castle is wonderful.  I want to go back for an evening tour because they have people dressed in period clothing enjoying the castle as if they were there at the time.  It's like a dream come true right?!  Okay, so here are the pictures from our trip.

 

Okay, these things are HUGE! They were making some interesting noises. Claire was intrigued.  I was amazed at how fast they can move on land if they choose to.  They look like these massive lazy lumps that can't move very fast, wrong.  They can haul!

 

The view of the castle from the bottom of the hill.

Arriving at the castle.

 

Looking out a window.

A guest suite.

Part of the library (house over 4000 books).

Ceiling

The Lady of the House's room.

 

The Power Room.  Claire kept saying, "Big Power Room!"

And this is part of Claire's bedroom (She and the tour guide both called dibs). As you can see, the bed sits above, and there is the bathroom and parlor area below.  The space was narrow, so this is how they fit everything in to make a suitable guest suite.

 Celing of Claire's room.

 Stairs from the bottom of Claire's room to get up to her bed.

 Claire's bathroom.

This is the Neptune Pool.  I can see why this pool was so popular amongst guests.

There are fruit trees all over near the home. (The property is ginormous, though! Seriously, google it.)

This is the roman pool or reflection pool.  In my opinion it was a little dark in there so I see why the Neptune pool was more popular.

Our evening was happily ended with a beautiful sunset over the ocean on our way out.