After FaerieCon: 

 touring Baltimore!

This was our means of transportation, Baltimore's Light Rail.  For a mere $1.60 ($0.55 for seniors), we could get all the way downtown in about 45 minutes!  The Hunt Valley stop was right in the mall's parking lot.

On Monday morning we rode the rail for the first time, taking it to the Convention Center stop, close to the Visitor's Centre.  From there we took the trolley tour, our guide pointing out the Flag House and Edgar Allen Poe's gravestone in a church's small courtyard.   The trolley even took us all the way out to the Fort, but unfortunately on Monday most museums are closed.

After our tour, we walked the harbour front, catching a quick lunch and admiring the vessels. 

That's the aquarium in the background.

We came across this adorable little lighthouse, which originally stood at the opening of the harbour.

The building now contains a small museum dedicated to the lighthouse and other lighthouses in the area.  I found the story of living in the lighthouse quite amazing, what a life!

Nice model!

The building with the tower was once a power generation station...

Now it's a Public Works (SEWER!) Museum... a "Surprisingly Interesting" one!  Unfortunately closed on Mondays.

So we walked on into Fell's Point, the oldest area of Baltimore.  Cobbled streets (ships' ballast), row housing... many houses had outdoor entrances to their basements.

It was a lovely area to walk through, and we had a beautiful day with 17C as a high.

We came across a plaque that explained the devastation from Hurricane Isabel in September 2003, when this whole area was flooded.

Neither Mom nor I could remember hearing anything about this hurricane... maybe because we were too wrapped up in our own affairs:  finding and buying a house in Stratford!

And then we had to walk all-l-l-l-l the way back to the train!  Argh!  Our feet were definitely done!  Thanks to a kindly train conductor who made sure we got on the right train, we had no troubles!  And once we were back in Hunt Valley, food from the fancy grocery store and a limp home ended our day!

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Photos by us.