Aboard the Queen Mary

Sometimes the hotel is the destination itself and so it was with the Queen Mary.  This luxury ocean liner of yore is now docked at Long Beach, California.  It far surpassed my expectations when I stayed there last week.  This Grand Dame of a ship is a living, breathing relic of history.  The pulse of humanity runs through her elegant hallways.  Greta Garbo, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Bob Hope, Clark Gable, Sir Winston Churchill, the list of celebrities and dignitaries who danced and dined aboard her while traveling to Europe goes on and on.

A self-guided tour took us not only to the bridge, but to the engine room where we saw her massive propeller and a well-documented history of her life.  After reading about the thousands and thousands of men she carried to Europe in World War II, I no longer had any desire to take the Ghosts and Legends Tour.  The spirits of these brave men and the hardships they endured haunted me for the rest of my stay.

View from our port hole

Detail of Hem

I wore this Rozae Nichols maxi dress to dinner at Sir Winston's restaurant that night.  I love her clothes.  Most of them are made in Los Angeles; all of them are feminine and luxurious, often beaded or embroidered with that je ne sais quoi refinement.  This particular dress with its tulle overlay is so beautiful, it needed no jewelry.  It was the perfect dress for the stately Queen Mary.

We walked from one end of the ship to the other.  Along the enclosed promenade deck with its teak floor, I imagined what it must have been like to travel across the cold Atlantic on a rolling ship.  The sun deck probably sees more visitors now than it did on any voyage.  I have never had any desire to go on a long distance cruise, but staying aboard the Queen Mary has changed my mind.