san simeon: hearst castle, ca | homebound
as we moved along the coast, my mother thought it was be a treat to visit william r. hearst’s castle in san simeon. boy was she right! if i could, i would go again and i would definitely recommend it to those interested. here’s a bit about the man himself:
William Randolph Hearst was an American newspaper publisher who built the nation’s largest newspaper chain and whose methods profoundly influenced American journalism. (wikipedia)
but honestly, this man created a masterpiece. we bought tickets to take the tour up to the castle. i cannot describe how amazing this castle was. of course i’ve never been to a castle (if you don’t include cinderella’s castle of the storybook castle at fairytale town) so i didn’t quite know what to expect but even then, once i saw it i was still in such awe. i’m posting pictures that i took, however, like most photos, they don’t do justice. the tickets were a bit pricey but worth every cent!
the tour starts right when you board the bus (they have a bus going up there every half hour). it’s about a 30 minute drive to the castle but you can see how high you get from the shore which is fun and unsettling at the same time. they offer different kinds of tours that vary in price but we chose to see the big rooms (really good for the first-timers). after 30 minutes we were set free to explore the property. wowow. if it weren’t so dang hot that day, i would have stayed so much longer…though we did spend a good few hours there. my word, there are statues everywhere! they were all replicas but dang flabbit that’s still pretty amazing. there are two large pools (one indoor and one outdoor) but unfortunately there was a leak in the crazy big outdoor pool and so they thought it would be a good time since california is in a pretty serious drought and won’t be filling that bad boy up anytime soon. when i was taking pictures i wanted to get everything in. i wanted to savoy the beauty and elegance of not only the castle but the entire property itself. crazy good stuff that i HIGHLY recommend seeing.
