Day 3 - Rosebud!

We reached the Pacific coast last night and stayed at the 'Days Inn' in San Simeon. After a good night's sleep we headed out early to see the main local attraction, 'Hearst Castle'. As we were told on numerous occasions during the tour it was actually referred to as 'The Ranch at San Simeon'. The castle is the lasting legacy of a William Randolph Hearst and is a unique blend of American opulence from the early twentieth century and European decadence from the centuries before that one. For the movie buffs out there, Rosebud is a reference to the movie 'Citizen Kane' in which the castle 'Xanadu' and the main protagonist are inspired by both The Ranch and Hearst's life. Alice and I were on the ground floor tour and thoroughly enjoyed the house and the surrounding gardens. It was during our visit that we were introduced to two new words of the American-English dicionary:

Fictionary - The person who said this on the tour of the castle, I'm guessing, meant fictional but I actually quite like this new word and totally know what he meant.

Portapotty - We have learnt since being in California that they are in the fifth year of a drought and so portaloos (as we say in the UK) seem to be an appropriate convenience for some public amenities. Someone in the queue referred to them as a portapotty that when you think about it is about right.

After the castle, we were on Highway 1 heading north.Read more