Does the word “hostel” conjure visions of unkempt youths snoring in bunk beds, their backpacks littering an already crowded room, a less-than-sparkling bathroom down the hall and a surly concierge who won’t let you in two minutes past curfew?
Hostelling International-American Youth Hostels is going a long way to dispel that unfavorable image by renovating, restoring and adapting historic buildings for use as hostels in cities across the United States and Europe. These hostels run the gamut from a 19th-Century lighthouse in California, a Greek revival farmhouse in Ohio and a landmark building in New York City to a three-masted full-rigged sailing ship in Stockholm and a castle in Altena, Germany.
Hostelling International-American Youth Hostels, a non-profit corporation, has 27 such historic buildings among its 150 hostels, and they are featured in its 8 1/2-by-11-inch booklet, “Historic Hotels” (Hostelling International-American Youth Hostels, $3; 733 15th St. NW, Suite 840, Washington, D.C. 20005; 202-783-6161). The booklet will help you pick the right hostel by offering black-and-white photos of the buildings and detailed descriptions and histories of each building.
For example, the Chamounix Mansion, located in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park, was built in 1802 by a former mayor of the City of Brotherly Love, and the Lewellyn Williams Mansion in Sacramento, Calif., features a grand mahogany staircase lit through a glass atrium and frescoed ceilings. However, for all its beauty and wealth of information, the booklet comes up short as a traveler’s resource because it offers few of the hostels’ capacities. And details of accommodations, prices or phone numbers for reservations are nowhere to be found.
– In the Great Historic Places To Stay Department, the Grand Hotel on Michigan’s Mackinac Island officially opened a second nine-hole golf course earlier this month in conjunction with its 107th anniversary. The new Woods Nine joins the existing Jewel Nine to give golfers a full 18-hole round on a unique golf course. The course is the first in history to transport golfers from the front nine to the back in horse-drawn carriages, and the fifth tee on the Woods Nine was used as a British gun emplacement during the War of 1812. Although golf is included in some of the Grand Hotel packages, guests generally can expect to pay $55 for 18 holes of golf ($65 for non-guests). Tee reservations for non-guests are not taken until the day of play. For hotel reservations, call 800-33-GRAND.
Marauder reunion
Their mission during World War II was described simply as “dangerous and hazardous,” but nearly 3,000 volunteers answered the call and became the famed “Merrill’s Marauders,” named for their commander, Gen. Frank D. Merrill. They fought in the jungles of Southeast Asia behind Japanese lines, always outnumbered, disrupting enemy communications and supply. Although officially disbanded after the war, the unit was reactivated under the Ranger Department at Ft. Benning, Ga.
The Merrill’s Marauders Association is sponsoring its 48th annual reunion Sept. 2-3 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Oak Brook. After 48 years of meetings held mostly on the East Coast, this is the first Marauder reunion to be held in the Midwest. Groups of Marauders will gather informally Friday and Saturday afternoon at the Hyatt and have a formal dinner Saturday night. The informal sessions are open to anyone who wants to hear a few war stories. The dinner costs $27. To reserve a room at the Hyatt or attend the dinner, call Jim Brown or Karen Parker at the Hyatt, 708-573-1234. For details on the Merrill’s Marauders Association reunion, call Edward Zaino, 312-238-1466.
Modern pilgrims
The Archdiocese of Chicago has established a Center for Shrines and Pilgrimage Apostolate following Pope John Paul II’s call for Roman Catholics worldwide to participate in pilgrimages to shrines of devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Pilgrimage Center, under the direction of Fr. David Byrne, is intended as a resource center for group travel, and Marian Tours of Deerfield is the official tour operator for the center. Popular destinations: Guadeloupe, Mexico; Lourdes, France; and Fatima, Portugal.
For pilgrims who cannot afford visits to the major shrines, a nearby U.S. national shrine is the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, Ill. Other North American shrines include the California Missions, St. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec, Canada, and shrines in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. For a catalog, call the center at 708-499-3283. For tour information, call Marian Tours at 708-948-9600 or 800-878-9601.
Rating Russia
There are plenty of good reasons to be squeamish about the quality of hotels in Russia, especially because there is no unbiased source of hotel information. What’s described as a “palace” in St. Petersburg can fall far short of its billing when you’re standing in line to check in. Russiatours Inc., has published the “Russian Hotel Review for St. Petersburg and Novgorod.” The guide minces no words. In its section on the Astoria Hotel in St. Petersburg, the guide says the hotel once “offered almost-Western service and food at definitely Western prices. . . . Unfortunately, the hotel quickly deteriorated as management found more profit in slot machines and prostitution than in restaurants and convenience stores. Breakfast comes with the rooms and it is not very good.”
The guide rates hotels by location, food, rooms, public spaces, service and price, and every one mentioned sounds like an adventure. The guides-the next Moscow edition will be out in the fall-are updated annually. Both hotel reviews and the quarterly Russian Traveler newsletter, which has information such as new restaurants and the locations of automatic teller machines, are available until Sept. 30 at the half-price subscription rate of $10.95. Call 800-633-1008.
