Hearst Castle Part 1: The Exterior

Remember when I was like, "Get excited for my post about the Hearst Castle up next!"? And then remember when 3 weeks went by and I never shared my pictures from the Hearst Castle? I'd like to say I was super busy getting ready for finals, but to be honest, I was probably watching DS9 marathons. (Netflix instant streaming is dangerous.) But I've finally gotten around to sorting through the hundreds of pictures I took, and I've put together some of my favorite exterior shots! The Hearst Castle grounds are so beautiful in the most decadent of ways. It made me yearn for a life full of incredibly fabulous garden parties and champagne for breakfast by the pool. Ah! One can dream. The trip wasn't all day dreaming, though; there was some learning, like:

• Did you know construction continued continuously from 1919 to 1947?
• And the entire exterior, while it may look like stone/bricks, is made of giant slabs of concrete. The base concrete is covered with sort of bleached exterior pieces of concrete. And those are carved to give the stone/brick look.
• Also, the Castle has 3 villas, which were actually built first. The villa are named after their view, like Casa del Mar or Casa del Sol.
• And the Neptune pool was built 3 times before Hearst was satisfied with this final version. Yikes! Picky guy.

PS: You can go on night tours where all the docents dress up like they are from the 1920s! And the guests are encouraged to dress up too! I didn't know about this until I went, but now I'm dying to go back for a night tour. If they would just throw a murder mystery into the mix, it would be just like Clue!