Hearst Castle

This was very much my choice of sightseeing. And I certainly wasn't disappointed. Even Thibault enjoyed it. We had to double back on our route but it was only 45 minutes back the way we had come.

Surely the gayest Thibault will ever look....

I have to say I loved every bit of the place including how well it is organised. You get a little coach up the mountain to the house with a commentary which is trapped but perfectly co ordinated with the journey so it describes what you pass on the way up.

I had booked us on two tours starting with a small one of the upper rooms followed by the"Grand Tour". Our first guide was a somewhat rotund lady who wheezed up the stairs, but she soon made me realise she was the best tour guide I have ever. had - knowledgeable, funny  but not frivolous.  Suffice to say I am glad William Randolph Hearst managed to combine obscene wealth with good taste!

 This is an unfinished part, showing the shuttering of the wall which was to be faced, and of course the Renaissance window being recycled from somewhere in Italy.

 The interiors of the Upper Rooms, ie basically the bedrooms are a combination of Renaissance and Gothic extracted from various European buildings to create an interesting mishmash. The ultimate recycling yard.

Note the clever use of old legal documents on parchment as lampshades

The second part of the tour started outside with a much larger tour group.The outdoor Roman pool was sadly closed for restoration, but impressive enough even without water.

Hearst Castle was above all the ultimate guest house, for Hearst to entertain his cast of famous and glamorous guests. So it had every facility from a zoo, to tennis courts to pools. While the outdoor Roman pool mifgt have been closed for restoration the indoor one was not. And it was sumptuous. Why don't they make public baths like these?