Went to visit 'Hearst Castle' today. At San Simeon near Cambria ..
Expected it to be like another tourist extravaganza , but was quietly impressed by what Hearst and his architect Julia Morgan had achieved.
This was the country mansion of
William Randolph Hearst an American newspaper publisher. It was donated by the Hearst Corporation to the state of California in 1957, and is now a State Historical Monument and a National Historic Landmark
http://hearstcastle.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearst_Castle
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| Grand Reception Room |
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| Grand Reception Room |
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| Dining Room |
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| Dining Room |
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| Billiards Room including French billiards which has pockets different to a normal billiards table .. |
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Neptune Pool and patio ( currently being repaired )
This pool was rebuilt 3 times ... no mean feat as the whole place was built in reinforced concrete to make it all earthquake proof ....
Read here |
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The Roman Indoor Pool
My pictures don't do justice to this so please follow this link for some rather better pictures ...
"The Roman Pool is decorated from ceiling to floor with 1″ square mosaic tiles. These glass tiles, called smalti, are either colored (mainly blue or orange) or are clear with fused gold inside. .... "
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| The diving board ..... |
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| The tiling on the floor of the pool ... |
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| The view on the bus ride down the mountain |
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| The view on the bus ride down the mountain |
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| Part of the San Simeon coastline ... |
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