Hearst Castle and Californian coast

sarahp

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We've been away the last few days, we drove down the CA-1 which goes down the Californian coast down to Hearst Castle which is a huge estate built by tycoon William Hearst on 250,000 acres of land that was left to him by his mother.

He spent 20-odd years collecting antiques to fill the 56 bedrooms of the main house, and the 3 guesthouses. All of the ceilings were gorgeously ornate - hundreds of years old, imported from churches and castles from all over the world. Every piece in every room was priceless.

Anyway, this is on the drive down





It was kinda windy out there...




And Hearst Castle - the main entrance (I should point out that you can only get to the castle on one of the official tours, and they keep track of everyone up there, so all the original statues, vases and other antiques can remain)



Some of the outside statues









One of the guest house



More pics to come
 
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sarahp

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One of the entrances to "Casa Grande" - the main house



Beautiful old tapestry in the sitting room



Dining room



A few of the ceiling panels in the dining room



One of the gorgeous fireplaces



More ceiling panels



Bedroom



The main library was gorgeous!



Beds



One of the bedrooms was 2 levels - check out the staircase leading up to the floor with the bed

 
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sarahp

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The main pool called the Neptune Pool - Hearst had it ripped out and redone 3 times because he wasn't happy with it... he finally settled on this design



The statues at the top of the columns there are about 2000 years old!



These are the pool ladders!





This is the indoor pool - it was breathtaking



Diving platform



Ladder again



 
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sarahp

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This is looking up to the castle - the visitors centre is at the bottom of the hill, and you pay for your tour, they bus you up, do the tour, then they bus you back down, then you get back on and go back up for the next tour...
They don't want anyone wandering around on their own up there for obvious reasons. We did 3 tours (there's 4 tours, one of which doesn't run at this time of the year, and an evening tour which includes highlights from the 3 main tours), so we saw all we could







 
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sarahp

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And lastly, we saw the elephant seals that come to one particular beach near the castle year after year and it's mating season, so there were plenty to be seen! These guys are HUGE - the males get up to 15 feet (5m)!



These 2 were cute




This baby was only a couple of days old




The juveniles (last years babies) hang at the back so they don't get squished by the big males





I have heaps more photos of everything, so PM me if you want to see them all!
 

dragoriana

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It's a bit too eclectic for me having rome, greece, egypt and everything else put together, i love the traditional castles in the UK, but the wooden staircase is SOO my style, very Harry Potter
There's actually a pagan supply store i go to in the city that has stairs very much like that. I just love LOVE how unique and mysterious they are. And the bed head, library and dining room. There's just something i love about dark medieval furniture and dark danky old rooms and their history.

Let's just say when we get our own house, i want that staircase


SQUEEEE, baby seals!! So very cute!!!
 
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sarahp

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Oh and we also took a detour to drive down the musical highway in Lancaster, CA after seeing friends down that way.

They have "rumble strips" in a certain pattern so it plays the William Tell Overture when you drive over it...


Here's a video I took - (excuse my giggling at the end...)
 
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sarahp

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Originally Posted by Dragoriana

It's a bit too eclectic for me having rome, egypt and everything else put together, i love the traditional castles in the UK, but the wooden staircase is SOO my style, very Harry Potter
There's actually a pagan supply store i go to in the city that has stairs very much like that. I just love LOVE how unique and mysterious they are. And the bed head, library and dining room. There's just something i love about dark medieval furniture and dark danky old rooms and their history.

Let's just say when we get our own house, i want that staircase
That's kind of what I liked about it - the fact that it was so eclectic - he just bought what he liked, and it kind of worked. I can imagine what it must have been like in the day when it was full of life. He made sure his guests used the hundreds of year old furniture, they had the fireplaces stoked, they treated it like a regular house apparently. It's all dark now to preserve the fabrics, but it was still gorgeous.
 

dragoriana

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Originally Posted by sarahp

That's kind of what I liked about it - the fact that it was so eclectic - he just bought what he liked, and it kind of worked. I can imagine what it must have been like in the day when it was full of life. He made sure his guests used the hundreds of year old furniture, they had the fireplaces stoked, they treated it like a regular house apparently. It's all dark now to preserve the fabrics, but it was still gorgeous.
Which part of Oz are you from? And have you heard of Werribee Mansion? It's not a castle, but i think it might be the kind of place you'd like if you enjoy heritage type places.
 

MoochNNoodles

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Oooo! A few years ago my FIL went through the castle when he was out that way visiting his brother. He got some beautiful pictures! I actuall framed a few pictures of the coast that he took on that trip. He wants us to go out that way some day and tour that area.
 
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sarahp

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Originally Posted by Dragoriana

Which part of Oz are you from? And have you heard of Werribee Mansion? It's not a castle, but i think it might be the kind of place you'd like if you enjoy heritage type places.
I'm a Brissie girl, I haven't seen much of Victoria.

Has anyone been to the Biltmore in North Carolina? Apparently it's the only US mansion bigger than Hearst Castle - I'd love to see it!
 

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Would it be germane to point out that the movie "Citizen Kane" was actually about Hearst?

The rumble strips were interesting. I guess the state of California has too much money, right?
Actually, I had heard about them on some show on NPR.
 

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Originally Posted by sarahp

I'm a Brissie girl, I haven't seen much of Victoria.

Has anyone been to the Biltmore in North Carolina? Apparently it's the only US mansion bigger than Hearst Castle - I'd love to see it!
Yes, I've been to Biltmore a couple of times, since I've never been to HEARST CASTLE I can't attest to Biltmore being bigger, but I can tell you that it's just as magnificent.
 
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sarahp

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Originally Posted by mrblanche

Would it be germane to point out that the movie "Citizen Kane" was actually about Hearst?

The rumble strips were interesting. I guess the state of California has too much money, right?
Actually, I had heard about them on some show on NPR.
It's loosely based on his life, apparently accuracy lost out to a more entertaining movie (as you'd expect).
 

white cat lover

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

I love the rumblestrips! What a brilliant idea!
I giggled at the rumble strips, too.


I bet it was way more fun to listen to than to drive over - you'd think one's bum would hurt!
 
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