The Enchanted Hill

2/16/2019

...Continued from yesterday:
On Saturday, my last day in Central California Coastal country - that is to say, what I thought was to be my last day there (spoiler alert: unbeknownst to me at the time, Saturday would not end up being my last day there; tune in tomorrow to find out why, though since I was flying you can probably guess) - we thought we'd drive out to San Simeon,

...and have a look at Hearst Castle,

...also known as "La Cuesta Encantada," or "The Enchanted Hill,"

...the pleasure palace built in 1919 by newspaper and movie magnate William Randolph Hearst as a refuge from life's cares - the Randolph family referred to the place as "The Ranch" - and to entertain guests.

As the cute town of Cambria, where we'd had lunch a couple of days earlier (see post from 2/12/2019, "Neon Green Hills, Turqoise Blue Water And Elephant Seals"), was on the way to San Simeon, we decided to stop there for breakfast.

The wine-country scenery along the way from Atascadero to Cambria ranged from charming,

...to spectacular.

When we arrived at Cambria,

... we discovered that the little bakery that I'd stopped at on our previous visit there,

...had a sister restaurant, also called Linn's, located on the next street over from the little bakery. So we decided to stop there.

The interior of Linn's was lovely,

...and the food was out of this world,

....especially the delicious toast with olallieberry jam.

And don't even get me started on the pastries.

I had a cinnamon roll topped with nuts. I think about that cinnamon roll still.

After breakfast we went for a walk around Cambria.

Then we drove up the coast to San Simeon,

…to the Hearst Castle visitor center,

...from which one could procure tickets for tours of various sections of the castle, such as the Grand Rooms, the Upstairs Suites, the Cottages and Kitchens, etc. Each tour costs $25, and visitors are shuttled from the visitor center up the Enchanted Hill to the Castle.
Inside the visitor center there was a free museum,

...which offered quite a lot of interesting information and artifacts about the life and rise of William Randolph Hearst,

...and the building of his newspaper, magazine, and movie empire.

The museum also gave the history of the construction of Hearst Castle,

…as well as objects and pieces of art that had been in the castle.

There were also quite a few photos of the castle and its rooms and areas,

…including these pools:

    As I read about William Randolph Hearst – born into wealth, surrounded by opulence his whole life – and looked at the photos of his castle and some of his acquisitions it occurred to me that having to deal with that much wealth, that much stuff would be stressful, oppressive, suffocating, even. Of course maybe if one were born into that kind of life the management, spending, and accoutrements of such wealth would feel altogether normal and natural. In fact I suppose that someone who’d been immersed in great wealth from the day they were born, someone who only knew wealth, would be quite comfortable living with it and might only feel in one’s comfort zone when surrounded by the trappings of wealth. Which could be a liability if one were ever required to exist in the realm of the rest of the world.
      Such were my musings as I strolled the museum of the Hearst Castle visitor center. However as well as being a billionaire William Randolph Hearst was also a philanthropist and after his death Hearst Castle was donated to the California Department of Parks and Recreation and designated a state park, which it continues to be.
      Anyway, after having spent the better part of an hour in the visitor center learning everything there was to know about Hearst Castle, Romaine and I decided that rather than now riding the bus up the Enchanted Hill to see the place in situ we’d actually prefer to spend the afternoon having a look at the inland countryside and the vineyards.

So we drove back to Cambria and had lunch at a cute Mexican restaurant we found called the Creekside Garden Cafe,