Queen_Mary_Long_Beach

The Queen Mary The Queen Mary, located in Long Beach, is now used as a hotel with many restaurants, and a museum with much history. It is a huge cruise ship that has been restored and made into a hotel and preserved to show different parts of the ship for a museum that many people come from all over to see. It was originally launched in 1934 to be used as a troopship. It housed and transported troops during the war, and transported famous people such as Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth, before becoming a cruise line in 1963. After becoming a cruise ship, many more famous people traveled on the ship. In fact, this is the first thing I noticed as we walked into the entrance of the museum-like part of the ship. The walls were basically murals of photographs of people that had been on board the ship. Also along the wall was a timeline for the ship, ranging from the mid-1920's to the late 1990's. I enjoyed looking at the timelines and seeing the many people that have been present on the ship at one time or another. Next, I went down into the lower deck, where I saw all of the pipes, and gauges, and gears, and everything that at one time made the ship run. Here I saw the control room, and pressure gauges, and turbine exhausts. It was kind of weird walking around down there, as I'd never seen anything like that before. There were huge turning gears, and other things of this sort that I really didn't know anything about. After the control room, and all of that, I next went into a room with a small theatre showing a movie, and examples of steering wheels and propellers. The next part of the ship I visited was probably my favorite. It had all different mock rooms side by side, with examples of first, second, and third class rooms. It was interesting to see the differences in size and quality in each room. For example, the first class rooms had a large bed, and a sitting area, with a mirror and decorations like flowers and nicely carved furniture; while the lower class rooms were much smaller and had nothing other than a bed. The third class rooms were just bunk beds, chained to the ceiling, and didn't look very safe or well-kept. Around the corner there were also mock rooms of hair salons, restaurants, and gyms that looked more like small exercise rooms. The hair salon was interesting because a lot of the appliances they used didn't look like the modern appliances we use; for example, the hair dryer. Next I saw the troops' quarters from when the ship was used to transport troops. The mock-up they had displayed, was just bunk beds with three beds, instead of the normal two. This area was called the berthing quarters, and I learned that during wartime all available space was used to provide sleeping quarters for troops and crew members. After this, I took the elevator to an upper deck, where I passed a couple of restaurants and the wedding chapel, which I couldn't go into because they were actually holding a ceremony that day. The Queen Mary is used for weddings not only in the chapel, but also outside on a side deck. As I walked through the hall, I saw artifacts such as old record players, as well as gift shops with trinkets and other standard gift items. There were a lot of books on the history of the Queen Mary, especially ghost stores, as the ship is thought to be haunted. I made my way outside to the open decks, where I saw old telephone booths, and benches, and a couple of lifeboats. There was also a beautiful view of the harbor across the water. Lastly, I made my way to the upper decks where I saw more examples of steering wheels, and speed controls, and other things that go into making a ship run. I also saw a room full of old radios, not just the kind they used to communicate at sea, but also just old radios that people would have in their homes, or in this case- their rooms. I saw the smoke stacks from up here, and being up there was rather noisy because every couple of minutes they blared the horn. After looking at all of the control equipment, I made my way back towards the entrance of the ship and started to look for my car in the parking lot. I'd definitely go back to the Queen Mary again to explore more, and maybe even go on one of their ghost tours they host at night. It was super interesting and I enjoyed it very much.