Long Beach/LA

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 – LA (Long Beach) – sunny, 65 degrees today (snowing in Delaware!)
Los Angeles remained small well into the 20th century. The obstacle to growth was an acute water shortage. Transcontinental rail travel changed everything. Oil was discovered and people arrived in droves and now water was an even bigger problem. In 1923, the much-photographed giant letters were erected on the hill, and the golden age of Hollywood was born. The Depression spurred the film industry; cinema offered instant escape. LA sprawls across five counties and 34,000 square miles, a little more than the state of South Carolina. Water concerns still loom and have sparked word wars between governments and vendors. The life-giving liquid may well become more precious than gold soon.

Some of the tours available for passengers are: Mann’s Chinese Theater, Universal Studios, Japanese American Museum, Huntington Library, La Brea Tar Pits/George Page Museum, Malibu/Pacific Coast Highway, Getty Museum, Farmer’s Market and Olivera Street and of course the Queen Mary, one of the original Cunard ships which is now a docked haunted hotel!

Long Beach port is HUGE! There are miles and miles of freighters and derricks and new cars and tall suspension bridges. It is fascinating.

Everyone had to leave the ship for U.S. immigration. The lines for foreigners were incredibly long and slow and several comments were made. U.S. citizens also had long lines but they moved quicker.

Cunard provided a free shuttle bus to the Queen Mary museum/hotel and it was very nostalgic to visit this “Queen”. She is docked in a beautiful setting and they have an excellent historical perspective of her days – from 1936 when she entered service as a trans-Atlantic ocean liner and as a troop ship until she retired in 1967. At one point, there were over 16,630 men in her as she zig-zagged across the Atlantic to avoid submarine attacks. There were personal accounts by the men who sailed on her and the war brides (and babies!) as the Queen Mary brought them home to the USA. By the end of the war, she was called “The Grey Ghost” as she had been painted grey, and had traveled more then 600,000 miles and played a significant role in virtually every major Allied campaign. You could tour the engine room (at least six levels!) and there were replica rooms for each cabin category, the gymnasium, the dining room, the hair dresser…walking around I felt such a connection. We were touring the “older Queen” and in a few hours would be back on the “newest Queen” being wined and dined and pampered, just as (most of) these people had been in their day. Would our ship also end up in a similar venue? Or be sold for scrap? Or be used as a war ship?

The Passport is a free bus service offered by Long Beach so we headed into town. Drug store stop and back to the Convention Center to get the last bus to the ship.

Back on the ship, we received mail! Yeah! What fun! Such an everyday occurrence at home can mean so much at sea. If you are so inclined… Cunard – Queen Victoria, 24303 Town Center Dr. #200, Valencia, CA 91355 and in the lower corner write QV 8028, GEORGOV – WORLD. Nothing after April 1, please.

New dinner mates…from Sydney, Australia. Enjoyed hearing about their trip to Mexico and Cuba. Then to the theater for Hal Frazier, a singer, with a Nat King Cole style.

Made many phone calls today but did not get any internet work completed. Delivered gift bags and letters to our 22 new passengers! Welcome Onboard!

And off we sailed at sunset. It was a beautiful sunset as we passed through the port and headed out into the Pacific Ocean.