- An introductory tour for first time visitors,
- a more in depth tour of the upper floors in the main house,
- a tour of the main house's north wing and one of the three guest houses,
- a tour of the gardens and grounds,
- and an evening tour.
We had taken Tour 1 two years ago, so it only seemed natural to take Tour 2 this time around.
During the off-season, the price per adult is $20. The tour lasts approximately 70 minutes, not including the bus ride to and from the castle.
We arrived at the visitor center shortly after eleven o'clock on Saturday morning. When I went up to the ticket booth, I fully expected the woman behind the counter to tell me we would have to wait until noon for the next available tour. (Buses for Tour 2 leave on the hour and twenty minutes after the hour.)
She surprised me when she said, "We have two tickets left for the 11:20 tour. If you can run, well, not run, but walk quickly, they're yours."
I took them without hesitation. As she was waiting for the tickets to print, she said, as though taking me into her confidence, "You know, I'm glad you got these. I don't have any other Tour 2s for the rest of the day."
I thanked her, took the tickets she passed through the window slot, and was just about to thank her again, when she shooed me away by saying, "Go now, through those doors and to the left. Hurry!"
As I said, Tour 2 takes visitors through the upper floors of the castle, also known as Casa Grande, where numerous guest quarters, Hearst's bedroom, and two libraries are located.
The tour began where I believe all of the tours begin - at the Neptune Pool. The pool is usually a brilliant blue, but it was white and empty the day we were there so they could repair a severe leak at the shallow end of the pool (the far end in the photo)...
From the pool, we entered the house...
Of the various guest quarters we saw, my favorite was the Doge's Suite. This is one of the walls in the sitting room...
As we were told repeatedly, the purpose of Hearst Castle was to display the art William Randolph Hearst had collected. In his day, he had earned the reputation and the nickname of The Great Accumulator and it was obvious why. He accumulated everything, not just paintings and statues, but also doors, door frames, door knockers, rugs, walls, and more. He especially liked to collect ceilings...
The upper floors contained two libraries. The larger one (with 4,100 volumes) was available to Hearst's guests...
The other, the gothic study across from his bedroom (holding 3,800 volumes) was for his personal and private use...
I think a dream of mine would be to spend a morning in his study - sitting, drinking coffee, and reading one of the thousands of books in his collection.
I wonder how much that would cost. Let's do some quick math - $20 per person, 12 people per tour, 2 tours per bus ride, 2 bus rides per hour, 2 hours of tours before noon, and tack on a 50% fudge factor. That equals $2,880.
Okay, I might have to put that dream on hold for the time being.
Anyway, let's continue to the last two stops on the tour. After leaving the upper floors, we took a quick peek at the modern kitchen (modern for the 1930s, that is)...
And finished our journey at the Roman Pool, another stop common to most of the tours, I believe...
Once back at the visitor center, we stopped at the gift shop, where I bought an illustrated biography of Hearst, just to learn a little more about the man.
Afterwards, we made a quick detour at Cambria for lunch at The French Corner Bakery, which makes inexpensive, but mouthwatering sandwiches. From there, we didn't stop until we reached Solvang.
