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Enter a luxury cruise liner . . . in a major metropolitan area?

When you check in at Hotel Monaco in San Francisco, it's like boarding an intimate cruise ship of early 1900s and stepping back to heady days of Hemingway and Christie. Get a good look at registration desk — it's built to look like an ocean steamer trunk.

Then take a quick stroll to right, past elevators into elegant sitting room. Fanciful furnishings, high-backed sofas, and a crackling fire all make for intimate spaces for private conversations. Join your fellow guests in other sitting room just past old marble grand staircase for wine and cheese in afternoons. There you can have your tarot cards read and get a neck and back massage. The decorations evoke days of elegant travel. The art deco flavor and high ceilings made us feel like we were giant pieces in a grand Monopoly game.

We loved décor of our room — French, fun, and boy-oh-boy were fabrics expensive and fine. So nice, in fact, that if you smoke in your room, hotel charges an extra $250 cleaning charge. Like all San Francisco hotels built at this time, Hotel Monaco has smaller rooms than you might expect from a modern luxury hotel. But don’t be fooled; this room makes most of space — a period armoir holds TV and mini-bar, and a huge circular mirror gives room lots of light.

The foundation of any hotel's success is in their beds . . . really! If you don't get a good night's sleep, how great can a hotel be? You'll find Hotel Monaco’s sheets and bedding an inviting way to recover from a day of walking through what locals call The City. Dreamy pillow top covers, down pillows and romantic canopies may make you want to stay in. Luckily, Grande Café, attached to hotel has mouth-watering room service. Be sure to order “omelet and wine,” which comes with a small green salad, perfect for lighter appetite.

One day King was in danger of being trampled by an incensed stag while hunting and how Herne putting himself between King and stag was mortally wounded.

In last 250 years, hundreds of people have claimed to have seen his spirit, often accompanied by his pack of hounds. In early 1860's tree from which he was found hanging, was cut down, and Queen Victoria kept oak logs for her fire "To help kill ghost". Her plan didn't work however.

Other legends tell of witchcraft and suicide, and a demonic horned being upon whose appearance brings illness and misfortune to all who see him, especially Royal family. He can be seen in Windsor castle’s gardens with "his trademark stag’s head."

King Henry VIII has been seen walking hallways of Windsor castle. His footsteps, along with agonizing moans, have been heard by many guests of castle.