Family Field Trip: Queen Mary, Long Beach CA.

All my life I have wanted and intended to visit The RMS Queen Mary. She is a huge boat (once one of the largest in the world) who makes her home permanently in the harbor of Long Beach, California. Part of this glamorous piece of the past is hotel and naturally there are weddings hosted on board. There is a fancy Sunday brunch in the original dinning room, shops to walk thru and endless floors to explore. Obviously I am a bit obsessed with history, especially 30’s, 40’s and 50’s…so this was just heaven for me. The walls are all solid birds-eye maple, with incredible brass trimmings. For the large part the ship retains all of it original fixtures and materials.The grand salons are showcases for art-deco design including this painting in the Royal Salon I just fell in love with. It is also widely accepted that the ship is very haunted. This only added to the fun of creeping up and down the halls and staircases. Trying to open doors and peak thru windows.

We made our way to the captain’s bridge where Captain Jack took a turn at the controls.

Since the boat was pretty empty- it was surprising to turn the corner and find one of the rooms populated by people. I tried to tell the kids they were ghosts, but the one guy’s Oakley shades gave him away. These guys actually rent the space and run a radio station from here. Note the vintage microphone….(I want). One of the most interesting clashes with the the present day was the Carnival Cruise Ship docked just next to the grand ol’ Queen Mary. Passengers boarding the Carnival boat actually check in for their trip in the lobby of the Queen Mary. Made me think the poor Queen Mary had to be a little more than jealous- and I could almost hear the  old ship saying “Hey, I used to be really something special too ya know”.

Yeah we know Queen Mary.

We know.

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