On the Road - Pt 2

Sunday morning, bright, but again not quite as early as we thought we would be, we headed up to Hearst Castle. I was going to spend the next 30 mins writing about the history of the castle and general Hearst gossip (surprisingly saucy and very sensational! love it!) but I can't be bothered. Main thing is that it's HUGE and extremely ornate. The guy just kept buying more and more antiquey stuff from Europe (anything from books to rugs to actual wall paneling and whole ceilings) and made his architect design a house around it all (on a mountaintop!) for him, his much younger mistress (wife refused to give a divorce) and their influential high society friends. It took about 28 years to build and was never completed (Hearst died, unfortunately). Still what they did manage to complete is pretty awesome. At the time, an invite to Hearst Castle was the way to know you really made it in the world!

Now, if the house itself is somewhat of an acquired taste I guess, the swimming pools are just too cool. The outdoorsy one is set inside a Roman temple (and I mean a real temple shipped from Italy) and the indoorsy one, well, the room is covered in 22 carat golden tiles. The guy definitely wasn't trying to cut corners!

Anyway, after a few hours at the castle, it was time to get back in the car and head off. we drove through Paso Robles where we did some wine tasting before heading down to Santa Barbara for the night.

Again, we had no bookings, so had to try our luck at a couple of places before checking into Monecilo Inn for the night (Janet urged me to remind the readers that this is where Barbara Streisand and Oprah call home). (and a note to the grumpy young lady at the Four Seasons, just in case she's reading this: No, $1,000 a room+tax is not OK.)

Had a really sensational dinner of local produce (or so we're told) in downtown Santa Barb, before calling it a night.