Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Paso Robles and the Hearst Castle

Beautiful hillsides adorned highways 101, 46 and 1.
This is the "Outside" pool at the Hearst Castle. He wanted the whole thing to look like Italy 300 years ago. I told Kim it would have been a lot cheaper for him to just go and visit Italy from time to time.
These are freshly planted vineyards. They last 35 to 45 years before having to be replanted.
This is a view from the Hearst Castle.
More pretty hills


Today we toured the Hearst Castle. It is a true paradox. It is a fascinating place and I could go on and on about the furnishings brought from Europe to decorate and furnish it including ceilings, benches, artwork and special made sculptures. I left there really saddened by the whole thing. I don’t think like other people – OK? Here is a guy who built a castle to his own ego. He entertained stars and leaders from all over the world – but here are some things we learned from the tour guide and the display area we toured. William Randall Hearst married and he lived in the west in California while his wife lived in the east on Long Island. He had a mistress that was in the video tape he shot that was part of our tour. He had 5 sons and between them they had 16 wives. When he was a child his mother would take him to Europe for up to 1.5 years at a time without his father. His father was a mining tycoon and was very wealthy. W. R. Hearst got into the newspaper business and owned newspapers, magazines, radio stations and got involved with the film industry. He built the castle but had no conception of how things looked on paper and consequently had them build many things and then tear them down and start over. There were artifacts where he sent letters to the architect and wanted things changed. As if this weren’t bad enough, he also had them quit their progress in one area and finish another area because he wanted to bring guests there. Consequently he had trouble keeping craftsmen on the job as they didn’t like his micro managing and tearing down their work. They would just quit. There was documentation that he was slow in paying the bills also. There was documentation that in 1923 he had $25,000.00 per month allotted to keep building his castle. In 1937 his empire began to collapse and it was discovered he was in financial trouble with 126 million in debts so from 1937 to 1945, he turned his estate over to an attorney who liquidated land, art and antiques. He never did get the castle finished. When he left it in about 1948 he said it was half finished. Here is one last irony. This guy was a nut that built a monument to himself and 600,000 people a year pay $20.00 each to see it. I didn’t want to go see it but so many people said we should – personally. I wouldn’t again. Here’s my logic. It is interesting that people around the world build these huge monuments to their success and then when their heirs can’t afford to keep up the place they make a tax deal with the government to take it over and turn it into a tourist attraction.

We met a guy in a coffee shop on our way home that was a strong believer and has a son who is in the mission field. When it is all said and done at the end of my life would I rather be able to say I built an empire but didn’t father my kids – or live a life that would send a son to the mission field? Sorry, I don’t usually rant, I just couldn’t help myself.

On the plus side, we had a great day for a drive and saw many, many wineries and beautiful vineyards. The countryside is so very pretty here. We got back at about 4 this afternoon and we laid in the hammock in the sunshine for an hour or so. Last night we got home after dark and there were so many stars that I set up the hammock and we got some blankets and laid under the stars for a while. It was fun.

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