We left Lucky Us about 10:30 am and set out to experience Inner Harbor and Fells Point areas. They are a big part but by no means all of the beautiful waterfront area in downtown Baltimore. I first visited the Inner Harbor Area while at a meeting 24 years ago. Some of the Inner Harbor had been developed and the restoration of the historic houses and shops in the Fell's Point area was underway. At that time the construction of Camden Yard (home of the Baltimore Orioles) was nearing completion, and now they have added the new football stadium as well. Wow, how much it has grown and expanded in that time!
Our marina is in the eastern (down river) side of the Inner Harbor. I set off to the other side of the Inner Harbor by water taxi while the Admiral walked (her choice). The water taxi afforded me great views of the National Aquarium (above) and the schooner Lady Maryland and a reproduction screw pile lighthouse (right). We met up at Harbor Place, which is a large, two story building with many stores, restaurants and even a Ripley's Believe It Or Not. As luck would have it, it was then time for lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. I had a wonderful Shrimp Po-Boy.
This is also where the USS Constellation is moored. She is the sister ship of "Old Ironsides" (the USS Constitution), which is moored in Boston Harbor. Please excuse my finger in the picture because she is a magnificent sight.
She floats pretty high today without a crew, supplies, munitions, etc. She is moored in a prominent location with great views of her, especially when the water taxi docked about 50 feet from her stern...
We toured around a little more, and then we boarded a water taxi for a short trip back across the Inner Harbor to the Fell's Point Area. We wanted to cruise some of the shops there and have a coffee before going to the Vagabond Theatre to watch a play. The restaurant in the picture at the left is one that I ate at during my first trip to Baltimore. At that time the row of waterfront warehouses behind it was totally undeveloped. Now, they are expensive condos.
One of my favorite places on our walk around was this one called "The Horse You Came In On Saloon". While we are at it, my favorite t-shirt of the day was "On The 8th Day He Created Whiskey So That The Irish Would Not Conquer The World".
...and then it was about 20 minutes before the first curtain so we walked about one block to the Vagabond Theater. Outside it was quite a sight with cars dropping off local people. It was obviously not a "tourist" event. The theater is the oldest, continuously operating local theater in the US and celebrates its 100th Anniversary in 2 more seasons. The play was a comedy called "The Foreigner". It had an under lying theme involving the KKK, and several cast members were in "white sheets" briefly. The picture at the left shows the stage which had the same set for all 4 acts. It was very well acted and at times uproariously funny!
After the play, we took the water taxi back to the other side of the Inner Harbor. If it seems like we rode the water taxi a lot, that is true because they either charge $7.00 for a one-way trip or $12.00 for a day pass. Kind of strange pricing, and there was NO discount for seniors, military, etc.
The "plan" was to then walk back to Lucky Us, enjoy some more sights and find Roy's Hawaiian Fusion Restaurant. Some of the more interesting sights were the retired ships, such as the Lightship Chesapeake (picture above right) as well as a submarine with menacing teeth painted on the bow (picture at left), and a (huge) Coast Guard Ship.
On the street side of the National Aquarium, they have a marvelous water sculpture consisting of a pod of dolphins. Rather simple, unique and beautiful...
Even the larger restaurants were often quite unique, such as Phillip's Seafood, which has an outdoor area that sits above the water where ships used to lie while they were moored at the old wharf and warehouse.
We found the restaurant, and we were treated to wonderful (but pricey) fare. Personally, I am still not sure what "Hawaiian Fusion" really means, but it really did taste great!
What a great way to end our 8 hours of exploring along the waterfront. It is a good thing that we were only a little over one block away from our marina because suddenly we were both yawning (a lot!).
Tomorrow, we are headed north to just beyond the northern end of Chesapeake Bay. Not to worry... We will be staying over night at Chesapeake City. The city lies along a canal that connects the Chesapeake Bay with Delaware Bay to the north.
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