Weekend Update

February 23, 2009 - We are in Hermosa Beach with Mark and Megan Udis and I finally have a minute to update you all on the weekend. As you know we left Tahoe last Thursday after 3 very successful days of skiing with my Dad and drove back out to the coast. We stayed our first night in Monterey and then headed south Friday through Big Sur down towards the Hearst Castle. The driving was a little slower going than we had hoped so we ended up staying the night in Cambria, close to the Hearst Castle. On Saturday morning we woke up pretty early and tried to make one of the first tours of the castle. If you have never been to visit this place I would say that the experience is pretty overwhelming. To begin with there are 5 different tours of the castle so right off the bat you feel the pressure to pick the right tour. We opted for the "safe bet" and took tour 1 which is an overview of the property, a snapshot of the inside, and a stop by the two pools in the house. Unfortunately for us and every other visitor of the castle one must deal with the tour bus loads of camera happy Asians that get transported in every hour. I don't mean to be stereotypical but at times these pushy crowds can make the entire experience pretty lousy. Without harping on the Asian factor Sarah and I both really enjoyed the Hearst Castle and we both HIGHLY recommend it if you have the time and the appreciation for historical buildings. We both want to come back and take the private tour (6 - 8 people for $700) which is 4 - 5 hours in length and gives you access to the entire property or pretty much anything you want to see. Next time.

This first picture was taken from one of the patios overlooking the drive up to the castle. The Hearst family owned 250,000 acres of land dating back to the 1860's. When WR Hearst inherited the land from his parents in 1919 he almost immediately began construction. The castle was never finished, meaning it was always under construction and hence he never had to pay RE tax on the property (old California law). The last work on the property was done in 1947 when Hearst had to permanently move to Beverley Hills due to failing health. He died in 1951 and "suggested" in his will that his five sons donate the castle to the state for a state park, which they did in 1957.

This is the main house that makes up the castle. It is 137ft tall and has 115 rooms. There are 3 guest houses surrounding the castle ranging in size but all over 3,500 sq/ft. My crappy little camera coupled with the bad lighting really does this building a disservice. I can not express enough how magnificent/intricate/grandiose this place is. Hearst was a huge antique & art collector. He was such a power player that later in life he could not show up to auctions because the very sight of him would drive up all the prices in the auction no matter what he wanted. While alive he was the single largest private owner in the world and from walking around the property and a few rooms in the house it was pretty obvious that he displayed most of it in his homes.

Here is a great example of how amazing this place is. The picture below is of one of the guest houses. One cool factoid of the property is that every bed has its own private bathroom with shower and toilet. This is not amazing by today's standards but in the 1920's and 1930's when the place was built almost no home had this luxury.

The pool below is called the Neptune pool and is the property's lone outdoor swimming pool. It was rebuilt three times (each time enlarged) and was/is still the largest private heated swimming pool in America. Being there and see the pool felt like being at a movie set, it was beautiful. The tiles used in the pool floor are all hand cut Italian marble.

The goddess was too cold for a dip on this day but she agreed to have her picture taken.

To give you an idea of the caliber of Hearst's collection this room is the dinning room and everything you see is an art collectible. The ceiling is from a 15th century Italian church, the wood pews lining the walls are from the 16th century from churches in England and Spain, the flags hanging on the walls are the original flags used in horse races of Siena and are 800 years old, the candle sticks are PURE silver!!!!!! Everything about this room was over the top.

This is the indoor Roman Pool fashioned after the the famous bathhouses of Rivena. There are 1.5 million Murrano glass tiles all hand blown and hand laid. The gold is pure 22 - 24 karat gold. This is the one picture that truly does not do the room justice. This swimming pool took a crew of six skilled masons 3.5 years to lay. TOTALLY AMAZING.

After the Hearst Castle we drove to Santa Barbara wine country and then to the the Danish town of Solvang. The entire town is a bit Disney World but it was fun and kind of cool to see an entire town built in Danish architectural style here in America. The pastries were unreal.

We stayed in Santa Barbara Saturday night. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures worth posting because the weather was overcast and we were really only there for one night. We did go to the best sushi place either of us have ever been to and HIGHLY recommend anyone go there if in Santa Barbara. The place is called Arigato and is on the 1200 block of State Street. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go if you are a sushi lover and in Santa Barbara. Shoutout for the Miller's who made the recommendation.

On Sunday we drove down the coast to LA to stay with the MUDIS' (Mark & Megan). As we were driving past Pepperdine University my car began to make a funny noise and we soon discovered that my exhaust pipe had come undone at a joint and essentially turned my car into a rice burner. It sounded as if I had a gutted muffler on my car and was pretty annoying (I got it fixed today). We made it to Hermosa safely and got out to the pier into for a beer and a few pictures. Don't be jealous of my CT country club style.

Hope all are well!