Oldies On Tour

Oh dear, what a night, the shower/toilet door kept coming open, as I said, noisy and bumpy train with hard beds; we were glad when the tannoy went to tell us breakfast was ready: then to cap it all the toilet vacuum system packed up so had to get to another carriage: one can only laugh about it.  What a way to spend Christmas, ha ha!!!

Albuquerque Station

Breakfast was good and we sat with an old retired man who was on his own, so for his Christmas he took this train from LA to Albuquerque (New Mexico) where he was going to spend 5 hours then return.  During his 5 hours he was going to find a Mexican restaurant to enjoy empanadas.  When we arrived at Albuquerque we had a 1 hour wait whilst they re- fuelled the train etc., so had a wonder round. Everything closed and the place was dead so this poor old boy would have been very

The Front of the Train from our Carriage Window and the endless miles of un-interesting Scenery

disappointed.

Not a lot to do on the train but read, play crib and look forward to the next meal.  One doesn’t appreciate how big this country is when normally you fly over it: mile after mile of similar terrain, quite boring really and I think we will re-think the travelling by train in the future, still one has to try these things.

Lunch today was again very nice, we chose a pork dish in bar-b-q source and we had the last of the Merlot, yes they had

More of the Same

run out!!!

To cap it all the Wi Fi went down so we can’t communicate with the outside world either!!!!

Due to lack of sleep last night we had a siesta this afternoon, very welcome and it got us through to the evening.  Normally on Christmas Day one may have a nap due to a big lunch with wine and port etc, not us today, it was only due to lack of sleep.

Christine enjoying a cup of tea

The sad thing is that historically travelling across countries in Pullman type sleeper trains had a certain elegance attached to it and mistakenly we thought there may still be a little magic left in this type of transport.  Not a bit of it, totally casual, plastic crockery, told where to sit and share, paper cups for coffee and tea, eat and get out attitude, never mind we crossed two time zones and didn’t get jet lagged!!!!!

The Dining Car

There was a change on the evening menu, roast chicken was on so we thought that was the nearest thing to turkey, so we ordered it only to be told later they had run out, oh dear another steak.

A few more games of crib and off to bed, let’s hope we sleep better tonight, one can but hope.

On The Move Again, a big day today so up early, well 0800hrs! As today we make our way to the Union train station in LA but this time with all our luggage. After a quick breakfast of cinnamon buns and coffee in our room, we check out of the Queen Mary and walk across the car park to collect the free bus shuttle to the light train station, really a tram! The bus ride was fine though trying to keep 4 cases, all on 4 castors was interesting, especially when we went round corners. We re-charged our transport cards with a day’s pass and boarded the tram. Fortunately we were first on so the tram was empty, we had time to turn the cases onto their sides, this ensured they wouldn’t float around. Being the first stop on the line was good as we had plenty of time to sort things out. After an

A Sections n of the Roof inside Under on Station

uneventful 1 hour ride we arrived at the other end of the line, we then changed onto another train, this time only 3 stops. We were told a taxi from Long Beach to Union Station would cost around $85-$90, add in a tip, no change from $100; our public transport totalled $14, what a result. Maybe we should use public transport more often!!!

Entrance to Los Angeles Union Station

Arrived safely and unflustered at the Amtrak “Metropolitan” passenger lounge, rather like the Business Lounges at an Airport but without alcohol.  We checked in our cases, had a coffee then headed back to the metro, after all we did have day passes.  On the  way to th Metro we came accross a shoe shine boy so naturally I had my shoes cleaned!

Having my shoes cleaned

Then onto the red Metro line and headed out to Universal City and Studios In Hollywood.

The Free Shuttle to Universal Studios & Universal City

Arrived, left the station then got onto a free shuttle for the ride up the hill to the Studios, naturally we didn’t have time to do a studio tour but alongside they have Universal City, a themed shopping centre.  We wandered about window shopping until we came across the Cinnabon Shop.  After much soul searching we dashed in and treated ourselves to a couple, well it has to be done, they are lovely.

Back down the hill onto the shuttle, back to the Metro and then back into the Amtrak lounge and had a cup of coffee and waited.

The call came to say the train was waiting,  so we all piled into large golf carts and were taken to the platform only to find the train wasn’t actually there but we were dumped on the cold open platform anyway!!

Christine Under our Sign (We aare e known as the fossils by some of my family!)

About 15 minutes later the train arrived but our coach didnt stop where the “red cap” said it would, we gathered our bags and walked to our carriage door only to be told by our stewardess she wasn’t ready for us yet and that we had to wait outside on this draughty platform.

10 minutes later we boarded but when we saw our cabin we nearly died. It had two arm chairs facing each other, there was a bit to go in the middle to make a bed and the other bed dropped down from the roof to make to bunks. That was it, no space to store our bags, to undress, no facilities and very claustrophobic.  We wandered about and found bigger cabins with a shower/toilet cubical

Outside the Universal Entrance

as well so that was it, we were on a mission to get upgraded.

we asked our stewardess, but she was no help, Christine then found another carriage stewardess who was much more helpful and advised us to see the train conductor/guard.  We found him and asked, I was hoping to just drop a wedge but no, he was a jobs worth and had to ring HQ for permission and find out the upgrade cost.  He came back and said yes we had

King Kong Theme Area

one of the large cabins and the upgrade fee was , wait for it, $577, wow! We had no choice we couldn’t manage in that little apology for a sleeper compartment and queening the price to him would have been a waste of time, we will try and sort it out when we get to Chicago.

Anyway, Christmas Eve so down to the restaurant car where we enjoyed a very nice tender steak cooked to perfection, well for us anyway, very rare and washed down with several 1/4 bottles of rather nice Merlot.

Back to our new compartment and though very much bigger, when the beds were down, floor space was at a premium and you had to wedge yourself into the shower/toilet compartment if you wanted to shut the door:  we thought the shower compartment on the Princess Cruise Ship was small, ha ha, that was wonderful compared to this.

Christine went up and I stayed down and hoped we would sleep……………………..

Inside Universal City

The Queen Mary in Long Beach

Today is nice and sunny so we booked a tour of the Old Queen Mary and then followed this by a self guided audio tour, both covered different parts of the ship, however the guided one we paid extra for but the self guided was included in the room rate: difficult to decide which was the best!

A View Looking Back from the Bow

For the stasticaly minded, here are just a few facts of the old girl:-

Built on the Clyde by John Brown & co.  Keel laid December 1930 for Cunard Steamship Co

Launched in 1934,         Maiden Voyage May 1936    Made a total of 1,001 transantlic crossings

Length  1,019.5 ft    Gross Tonnage  81,237 tons   Cruising speed 28.5 knots   1957 Passengers   1,174 Crew all on 12 decks.   For more details suggest their web site:-       www.queenmary.com        there are numerous fascinating faces about this ship on their site.

We were walking up and down the ship, up and down stairs several times on the two tours which lasted for a little over 3 hours, we were thoroughly worn out by the end but we both agree it was worth the effort.

The Bridge

We walked and visited the bridge down to the Bowles of the ship’s engine room

The Bridge

and everywhere in between, compared 1st class amenities against 2nd and 3rd, how the rich and wealthy lived!!!

One striking fact was the intolerance the first class passengers had towards the 2nd and 3rd class, never the train should meet, not very PC in the current times we live but we must not forget how life was when she was built in the 30’s.

The Class Divisions

It is the history, coupled to the fact Long Beach has coupled her up to a sort of amusement park with skating rink, Russian Submarine and various  “British buildings” and red telephone box’s that draws people here.  This ship solely as a hotel would not draw sufficient guests and this is proved by the fact the “hotel” has been made bankrupt 5 times since arriving here in Long Beach, just south of Los Angeles in December 1967.

The First Class Lounge

The First Class Dining Room

To be fair, the Long Beach owners have tried to keep the ship in as much as the original state as is possible but with lack of funds she looks very tired both internally and externally.  I suppose that it is still cheaper to keep her going as an attraction as it would be to scrap her.  She is moored alongside and though still floating, they have built a long breakwater out of large rocks her whole length; she is stuck in!!!

Magnificent mantelpiece in 1st class lounge

This queen’s other main claim to fame is her part during the war, she was a major troop carrier and because of her speed was far too fast fo any

The Bow Displaying her wartime Main Gun

German “U Boat” to catch.  Apparently  Hitler knew this and offered untold wealth plus the Iron Cross to any U Boat captain who could sink her, no one came near to doing so.  This Queen also holds the record for carrying the most human beings on any ship, over 16,000 soldiers plus the crew.  She also held the blue ribbon until 1952.

The Second Class Lounge

Everyhere you walk there are pictures of the rich and famous aboard her but I couldn’t find one of my Brother who sailed in her from Southampton to New York  in 1950.  It was also aboard that Winston Churchill signed off the D day landings plan and naturally there is the Winston Churchill suite though we couldn’t see in.

Samples of all the wood used on the queen Mary

All the timber used in the building of this ship came from every one of the countries in the British Empire, which of course we stil had in the ’30s.  When John Brown & co’s buildings were being demolished on the Clyde, they found samples of every piece of wood used on this ship so they made up a beautiful casing showing off the different wood and presented it to the new Ship’s owners and it is on display in the main concourse.

What the future holds for this once majestic ship, who knows, but I hope she continues flying this piece of British history, we don’t want her burnt out and sunk, as happened to the original Queen Elizabeth in Hong Kong harbour.

After this exhausting “walk-about” we jumped, well crawled, onto the free bus and went to the other side of the waterway to have a meal, we were hungry as we had only had 1 “cupa” and a bun and now it was about 1430 hrs!  We ventured into a restaurant  called “The Yard House”, it was very busy so assumed it was good, so good I fact they had Guinness on draught, wonderfull.  We had soup and a couple of Chesee Burgers with the usual trimmings.  My soup, Clam Chowder was hot and excellent,

Where We Dined For $13

Christine’s Soup was cold but delicious.  Our burgers were ordered medium rare, they arrived “murdered”, still we were hungry and they were very busy so just got on with them washed down with another Guinness and Bud for Christine.  We asked for the bill, Christine had to go you know where, the bill arrived, $45 plus tip, so to save time I went inside, (yes we enjoyed eating outside in the warm sun) and met up with Christine at the till. The lady on the till asked if everything was good, well no we said and told her our issues.  Our bill was reduced to $13, no tip,  there has to be a message to be had here!!!!!

We jumped back on the bus and went to Wallmart for a few odds and ends, including a couple of buns for breakfast, not included here.

Back on the bus, back to the hotel, have a quick cup of Coffee and Tea then write the log and prepare for our trip on public transport to get our Amtrak train to Chicago Tomorrow.

Up early, the boat has berthed in the Port, and we are all packed ready to go, we went for breakfast, and met up with Jan and Mike said our good byes, and then disembarked, it only took us twenty five minutes to clear customs and we were free, the only problem was we had a taxi booked for 11am and it was only 9am, so we tried to cancel the car, and we got into a taxi. We reached the Queen Mary, and I was a bit taken back, it needs a bit of updating, everything looks very tired. We booked in, dropped the luggage off, then had a coffee at Starbucks.

we wondered around the ship, went to the tour operator, thinking we could book something, but no luck, oh dear what have we done!
We then decided to catch a bus downtown Long Beach, to see if we could hire a car, or get a tour into Hollywood, well the first surprise was that they have a local free bus that you can take, so we hopped on, didn’t have a clue where we were going but decided to just go with it. First stop was a little tiny village, which was on the waterfront, we didn’t know whether to get off or not, so we stayed on, as we were leaving we saw an “Tourist Information Booth” so the next stop we got off, and walked back, it is so pretty around here, little tiny boutique type shops, with lots of restaurants on the waterfront.

. We could see the Queen Mary in the distance, and enjoyed walking back along the waters edge, we stopped at the booth, and Pat was so helpful, she told us about a day tour going to Hollywood, told us about the trains for when we leave here, and also where the local Walmart was.
I need my nails done, and although it is a Sunday we took a chance, the bus driver told us where to get off, and we made our way to Walmart, but they didn’t do them there, but they directed me to another shop, and within two minutes I was having them done, so another job sorted. We then went to the rail station, but couldn’t find anything out as it was closed for maintenance. Still we know where we have to go.
We started walking back, but Geoff found an Irish Pub so we stopped for a Guinness or two, then walked onto “Outback” we used to go to these restaurants with Jane and Dave, but the Essex one is closed

We had a lovely big steak, as we have time to digest it before going to bed, as it is only five o clock, we caught the bus back to the ship, and just crashed out, it’s been a busy day.