Hearst Castle

Our third day started with a visit to Heart Castle set in the mountains of press baron William Randolph Hearst's ranch, overlooking the Pacific. This house (or selection of houses) was a demonstration of what the Americans do when money is no object. From the 20s to the 40s, he collected European art from the Renaissance to Gothic periods and built his mansion to house his collection and impress the great and the good. It was very over the top - however not as mis-matched as we were expecting. Christopher managed to elicit a grumpy reply from the guide by mentioning the forbidden words "Citizen" and "Kane".







Pismo Beach

We stopped at this small bay town for lunch and frozen yogurt.

Santa Barabra

You could easily believe you were in Spain here, but with better town planning. Santa Barbara was re-built in 1929 following an earthquake, in the old Spanish style. The court house was open to the public and gave us a great insight to the detail of the builidngs, as well as fabulous views over the city from the clock tower.









Point Dume
We stopped here to put our toe in the Pacific and have a romantic moment, unfortunately the mist had come in and it was freezing so this was a very shop pit stop! This beach was featured at the climax of the original Planet of the Apes, when Charlton Heston comes across the half-buried Statue of Liberty and realises the Apes planet was actually Earth. (Oh, sorry, spoilers!)

Arrive at LA
We arrived late last night in our lovely large hotel room outside LA - I love how much space you get in the States!