DAY 6: San Luis Obispo to San Simeon to Carmel to Monterey, California
Breakfast at the Best Western Royal Oak, San Luis Obispo, was okay, but nothing special. It was a bit rushed - not their fault - but they had boiled eggs, toast, waffles, cereals, muffins and pastries, oatmeal and coffee so, there was a reasonable choice and it was a good-sized room. Breakfast was a little lacking and there was still no internet this morning, so three Teds is my rating for this hotel. Could do better.
After the breakfast dash, we were on the bus and headed for the Hearst Castle. The coast road, Highway 101, had fallen into the sea or something so we wouldn't be able to follow the regular Archers route. That meant a little doubling back later, so we wouldn't have time for the movie at the Castle, so Jose played it for us on the way there. It wasn't really an attention-grabber, but it tried to explain why William Randolph Hearst came to love various architectural styles and brought them from his visits to Europe into the hills of San Simeon.
Hearst established a newspaper business and then branched into magazines. In politics, he served as New York Congressman and pursued the role of Governor of New York. He became an early pioneer of television and a producer of movie newsreels. He also became a collector of antiquities, including paintings, tapestries, sculptures and more. He also had a goal to build a "castle on a hill". [No, not a castle on a cloud, that's Les Mis.]
We arrived at Hearst Castle at about 8.30am and headed into the store, which was only just opening (you'd think they'd have been ready for us).
Our tour was at 9am, so we first had to get a bus up the windy (lots off curves, not blowing a gale) route up to the Castle, which isn't one, by the way. A castle, that is. There are some great views from up here. Hearst had installed a pergola (covered walkway) and a little of it remains. It ran for a mile and guests would walk or ride along, under it.
We piled off the bus to be met by Chuck Walters, our guide. He explained the rules - no food, no gum, don't touch ANYTHING, before we headed up to the terrace to check out the view. You can see why Hearst built here, but jeez, could you make things any more difficult? They had to build the roads, making it deliberately windy, so the castle would appear and disappear on the approach.
Our next stop was at the Neptune Pool, the outdoor swimming pool. The architect for the castle was Julia Morgan, an amazing woman of the time. She shared Hearst's desire to build an fabulous place and I think it's safe to say they succeeded. The pool is beautiful. It's a teensy bit bigger than the one at my (Florida villa (plug, plug) and yes, apparently the staff there do use it. Even in the 1930s this pool was heated!
As the coast is on the San Andreas fault line, and prone to earthquakes, many of the walls are made of reinforced concrete. They told us a little more about the building - apparently, Hearst changed his mind. A lot. There are images on the film of trees housed within 600 pounds of concrete being craned from place to place. The swimming pool was torn out and rebuilt three times before Hearst was happy with it.
We headed for Casa del Sol, just one of the three thousand square foot guest houses. It contains indoor bathrooms - four of them - with shower and toilet, which was pretty advanced for the time. But then, Mr Hearst could probably afford it! Take a look how ornate the ceiling is - and remember, we're just in the guest room.
We passed through more gardens, and another courtyard with amazing views, to arrive at Mr Hearst's house, Casa La Granda.
Apparently, while staying at Hearst Castle, you could do whatever you liked, but Hearst expected his guests to attend cocktail hour and dinner, before watching a movie in his viewing room. So, we did just that. Sort of.
We entered one of the huge rooms, split into a number of different areas. We saw the grand piano, where Irving Berlin and Hoagy Carmichael would play. You could play poker, smoke a cigar. Many celebrities visited and were entertained here. In one corner was a door which led from a passageway from which Hearst would appear to his guests.
We entered the dining room with a huge table. The wood panelling looks more like church pews but don't look that comfy. I was a bit miffed at the Pool Room. It's a bit bigger than the one in my villa and has two pool tables. To be fair, Mr Hearst had a little higher budget than I did! Give or take a few million. We ended the tour of the house, as Hearst's guests did, by watching a short movie of the stars at play in the Castle.
We headed outside, to check out the tennis courts we'd just seen in the movie and then walked around and underneath to the indoor swimming pool. Another wow. This one is ten feet deep with a flashy diving board. I was going to go for a swim but Di stopped me. Then, the tour was over.
I can't recommend this place enough - it's an amazing place. They have several tours that you can take for different parts of the Castle. I would have liked to take more of them, but on this kind of bus tour there's never time. Some people would be bored, some fascinated. Archers, in organising their tour, have to draw a fine line and as I've said many times before, these are taster tours. I believe I will be coming back to Hearst Castle. It's great. Besides, I still haven't seen the zebra running wild on the surrounding hills. That would be cool.
We went back down the hill, taking what final glimpses of the Castle we could, before meeting Jose back at the Visitor's Center and then onto the bus. Although we couldn't go all the way to Carmel up Highway 101 - the road had fallen into the sea, remember? - we were going to head north a short way to go look at some elephant seals.
It's awesome to see the beach piled high with sleeping seals at Point Pidedras Blancas. They do a lot of swimming (for months at a time) so, when they stop, they want to sleep (I know the feeling!) Mind you, seals weren't the only natural history exhibits we found here.
I'm not totally convinced this seagull (okay, so it's just a gull, there's no such thing as a seagull) is real - looks pretty static to me. And the little black guy? I have no idea what he was (yes, a bird, obviously, jeez, you're a tough crowd), but he sure looks menacing. Then there's the little fat furry guy in the middle. No. Not me. The other little fat furry guy, the squirrel.
The squirrels here were pretty tame, and the fat one has to be the biggest squirrel I ever saw. He obviously knew how to milk the tourists for snacks. I think he could probably even teach me a thing or two, and you know I'm a master at snacking. Then, it was back on the bus to backtrack down to the town of San Simeon.
The lunch stop was at a Best Western. Di got a plate of veggies, but it was the salad that came with it that nearly killed her! Way too much for lunch, especially when she doesn't normally eat lunch! We also tried a local brew Firestone which wasn't bad. The taste was a little strong, but okay. Then it was back to Highway 101 and north to Carmel.
We had a nice stop in Carmel. It's a clean, pretty little town We did the shops the last time, so this time we walked down the hill to the beach. The sand is very white. Di claimed it was too far to go for a paddle in the sea, this time, but I think she was more concerned about the return walk to the bus - which was all uphill. On the way back, we grabbed a coffee and walked straight past Tiffany's to the bus.
I thought I'd take a bit of a pose on a car of Carmel's finest, before getting back to the bus. Seems many folks on our bus had been shopping and found some great deals, but I hadn't seen a Build-A-Bear shop, and you know they wouldn't let me go into Tiffany's so who cares about shopping?
Jose decided to skip 17-Mile Drive as we were behind schedule, owing to the Highway 1 problem. It also meant we missed Big Sur but I've seen it before. I'm fine.
While they dropped off the bags at the hotel, we got dropped at Cannery Row, Monterey, for about 45 minutes. Can't really say anyone on the bus saw much of Monterey however.
We found a shop selling two fleeces for $26, and a four-in-one waterproof, fleece, waistcoat (aka vest or gilet) for $23! Expecting rain and colder weather as we headed north Paul and Dave bought one each. Di and I figured we'd get wet! We did make a huge effort for you guys and grabbed a quick shot of the bay before we left.
We had the offer of a bus ride down to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner, but there was a Chili's just three blocks from our hotel, so we decided to go there. There was a twenty minute wait (probably because it was the only restaurant serving several hotels), but at least they had a veggie burger for Di. Trouble is, they served it with mayo so they had to re-do it. Otherwise it was good.
