First, I would just like to welcome the Hearst Corporation internet police. You can relax, only good things are in this post. Feel free to comment, we all know you've stopped by. Second, if there is no Hearst Corporation internet police, shame on them. Really. A media empire and no internet police. Pfft.
Hearst Castle took 28 years to build, and the architect was a woman, Julie Morgan. William Randolph Hearst, newspaper and mining magnate, built his little ranch where, after divorcing his wife, he lived with actress Marion Davies. Or maybe this was his vacation home. Whatever. It is big, it is fancy, and it is chock full of art. Hearst would invite famous guests for eclectic weekends, such as Churchill and Charlie Chaplin, but if you were a boring guest you would not be invited back. That's right. We went on a very informative tour with a terrific guide and the only thing that really stuck with me is that the boring people weren't invited back. Wow.
Anyway, I took some pictures, which you can see here. Below are a few I liked.
This was where Hearst met his guests for cocktails before dinner. The guests had the day to themselves, but they were expected to appear for cocktails and dinner. If you didn't, you weren't invited back. In fact, all meals were in the dining room, and there certainly was not room service. I wonder if guests were allowed to wander into the kitchen and grab something.
Neptune's Pool, the outdoor pool. Nice, right?
Reflections off the water. There's a color one too.
You can't tell here, but the little statue dude at the top of the fountain was wearing boots and a hat, but nothing else, so his little willie is hanging out. A curious choice of statue. Right around the time I took this picture I noticed a speck when I looked through the camera. Michelle and I spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out where it was, and ultimately concluded that it must be on the viewfinder. As I didn't see it on the photos, I guess it must have been. Told ya it was a tedious story.
I just love this courtyard.
This is the indoor pool. It's spectacular, with blue and gold tiles. One of the things I noticed about both pools is that they are not like modern pools with a deep end and a shallow end and maybe nice steps to ease you in. They're both just deep, and the only way in and out is using the step ladders. It's a little unsettling, I have to admit.
While visiting Hearst Castle I declined to use the port-a-pottie. As a general rule, port-a-potties are potties of last resort for me as I tend to throw up a little in my mouth whenever I use one. I was hoping the toilets might be gold-plated, but it wasn't so. Those were probably reserved for the guests who didn't bore Mr. Hearst.
