In December my sister
and I took a perfectly wonderful trip to California.
We drove down Highway
One from San Francisco to Cambria (see that post
here) …
took a backroad
through the hills from Walmart (see that post
here) …
and visited Hearst
Castle (see Part 1
here).
This castle was the
30 year project of William Randolph Hearst and architect Julia Morgan.
They began work in 1919 and, as beautiful
as it is,
it still wasn't complete in Mr. Hearst’s mind when he died in 1951.
As he furnished the castle, Mr. Hearst
traveled all over the world to acquire furnishings appropriate for “the ranch”,
as he called it. Everything you see
inside, including artwork, sculptures, carvings, ceiling panels, furniture,
rugs, tilework, tapestries ... everything … has some historical significance.
And your tour guide can tell you anything you
want to know about everything you see.
Being there in
December was especially enchanting,
since the castle was decorated for
Christmas as it would have been in Mr. Hearst’s day.
There were two 18
foot Christmas trees in the Gathering Room, one on either end. Mr. Hearst especially loved Christmas, and
would have a Christmas party for the children of his employees. One tree was for the boys, one was for the
girls, and the children were invited to choose a gift from underneath the trees. One child of a former employee told about
selecting a gift that turned out to be a bicycle.
The door to the dining room is through the wall of carved seating in the Gathering Room, and that wall also has a secret door that Mr. Hearst used to enter the Gathering Room.
Because every castle needs a secret door.
Mr. Hearst enjoyed
entertaining, and his guests were expected to contribute to making it a
pleasant party.
No going to your room
and playing the recluse!
So if dinner isn’t
quite ready yet, perhaps you’d like a game of billiards?
Or you might be more at home in the upstairs library …
Or maybe you’d like
to spend a little time in Mr. Hearst’s personal study (this was my favorite
room) …
Most of the bedrooms have adjoining sitting rooms, if
you’d rather …
Each, of course decked out with priceless antiquities
Oh, but there’s the call to dinner … shall we into the
dining room?
On one end of the dining room is a balcony for the
musicians. On the other end is a giant
fireplace. Mr. Hearst’s seat was in the
center of the long table. Our tour guide
told us that guests were generally seated close to Mr. Hearst at the beginning
of their visit, but as their stay extended, their seat assignments would
migrate to the ends of the table. Except,
as the story goes, for one of the Marx brothers.
He tended to annoy Mr. Hearst, so
he was seated right beside the blazing fireplace his entire stay.
It was suggested to Mr. Hearst that the
high windows in the dining hall be replaced with stained glass.
But he opted for clear glass … certain that
the angels would prefer to keep their view :o)
Guests were invited to the castle with a specific
arrival date but no mention of departure.
You would simply
know when it
was time to leave.
ummmmmmmmm ... would never be okay?
I'm linking this post to Amanda's
Weekend Bloggy Reading Party at
Serenity Now!
This One for the Bucket List California Road Trip is a Six Part Series.
Click below for:
( You just read Part 4 )
