Next time you check into your hotel, ask at the desk if there’s a room that has a notorious past. Who knows? If you book it, you may find yourself sharing your room with the ghosts of Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy or General MacArthur.

Marilyn was in Suite 1200 at the Hollywood Roosevelt for two years at the beginning of her movie career. A full-length mirror originally in her suite is now in the hotel lobby. Some employees report they often see the fleeting images of Marilyn preening herself in the mirror.

Montgomery Clift lived in Room 928 while acting in the movie, “From Here to Eternity”. Visitors and employees say his ghost walks the nearby hallway on some midnights reading aloud from his script, and at other times sounding Taps on the bugle his movie character played.

Last year I was drafted into signing up for an Elderhostel session on the Queen Mary I. It is firmly and permanently anchored in California's Long Beach Harbor, and serves as historic monument, hotel, shopping center and variety of restaurants.

During World War II, my brother-in-law sailed to Europe on her as one of the 10,000 GIs who were transported back and forth on each voyage. He wanted to see the old ship once again, and as I found out later, to be idolized by all the little old ladies in our Elderhostel classes.

While stationed at the Naval Air Station, Corpus Christi, we drove up to visit the Alamo, about 100 miles north in San Antonio. We all knew the history of how Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Colonel Travis and the other martyrs had held out against the big Mexican army for two weeks in 1836. Since "Remember Pearl Harbor" was still fresh in American minds at that time, we were familiar with the rallying cry from that earlier war, "Remember the Alamo!"

At least don’t expect the usual ones with orange wigs, over-sized shoes, red noses and Figaro costumes. In London, circus means circle, and the famed Picadilly area is a big loop (traffic roundabout) among many businesses, cafes and theaters, with a statue of boy love god Eros in the middle. Actually, the official name of the statue is Anteros of the Shaftesbury Memorial.

Of course, you’ll find many clownish characters wandering around Picadilly at any hour of the day or night. They include young lovers, panhandlers, tourists, punks, street musicians, peddlers, chestnut stands, prostitutes and just plain staid British citizens. For tourists, Picadilly serves as a good base for exploring central London, fashionable shoppes, the theater district and many upscale restaurants.