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Never Been to the USA part 6

San Simeon 4 hours drive from Santa Monica following the scenic route 1. We pass Malibu and Santa Barbara, how I wish we could stop and take a look at these lovely places, but we have booked a tour of William Randolf Hearst’s Castle and I really didn’t want to miss our tour slot.

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Such a stunning building with so many fabulous antiques. It reminds me of an opulent Riviera Villa with a Spanish influence.

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Our guide.

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By the time we finished the tours of the grand room and the upper suites and the gardens we were exhausted so headed back to  San Simeon Lodge where we were spending the night.DSC_0659

Back in the 30’s Mr Hearst built a private zoo he had polar bears lions and tigers. When he died the animals were sold to the various zoos in the US, with the exception of the zebras. They were set free.

It is said that they have thrived and you can come across them in the surrounding land.

https://www.afar.com/magazine/did-you-know-that-california-has-a-secret-herd-of-wild-zebras

I didn’t see any……

Never Been to the USA Part 5 (b)

…….If you have never been to LA, it’s big! I know, so far of what I’ve seen, everything in the USA is big.

Their food portions, their motorways, their juggernauts….. back to LA; it is probably the size of southern England. Therefore what looks like is just up the road can take you over an hour to drive to. We crammed as much of the sights in….. the usual Beverly Hills Police station (in honour of Eddie Murphy ) a drive along Mulholland Dr   (David Lynch’s masterpiece) and up to the top of Griffith Park to see the Hollywood sign.

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Never been to the USA

I have never been to the USA! I have been going on and on and on about how much I wanted to do a road trip (I love driving). Surprise surprise Biagio booked our flights and rented the car.

I am not going to bore you with a travel diary, but I will give you snippets as this was a pretty amazing trip with quite a few funny twists! 🙂

 

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San Francisco tram
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San Francisco China Town
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Hoover Dam
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Grand Canyon south Rim
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Hollywood 
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Las Vegas 
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Grand Canyon South Rim
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Barstow Route 66
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Alcatraz
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San Francisco 
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San Francisco