Hotel Chelsea

I'm not sure what I expected.
'Grand and beautiful' was the promise,
and it fulfilled it in so many ways,
but the mood is not what I would
have thought for a place made famous
for mood-evoking clientele.

But it seeps in.

Bit by bit, as you wander about, waiting
for the tour to start and discovering a
painting here, or a bit of sculpture there.
Even the touted architecture begins to become
more than merely detailed molding,
fancy decor, or simply the trappings of
ancient (as such things go) artistic accommodations.

Even before you've taken it, you
know the tour won't be enough. That
a full understanding will entail coughing up
the money and time to stick around and
savor the wandering ghosts--living and dead--
as they make themselves known to one
sharing the experience, sort of.

24 days is nowhere near enough.