Oh say can you see?

Just under the Francis Scott Key bridge, before even entering Baltimore's Harbor, we located the bouy on our chart then spotted it out on the water (painted red, white and blue) marking the place where Key, a prisoner on an English ship, penned the poem which would become our National Anthem. "By the dawn's early light" Key saw in the distance the "broad stripes and bright stars" at Fort Mc Henry...

We had a great time in Baltimore (in spite of a few more mechanical problems)...I thought if you bought a new boat you wouldn't have to worry about these little things! Anyway, waiting at Ithaka for mechanics to show up was probably God's way of slowing us down a bit...In between getting Ithaka's bottom scrubbed and all the intake portals cleaned out & the air conditioning fixed (thank goodness, temperatures are breaking records) we did get out to see a lot of the sites. We stayed right downtown at the Inner Harbor Marina which gave us a front row seat of the modern skyline. Plus, the water taxis which take you all over the city had a convenient stop right at the marina!
We took the water taxi to Fells Point, the original old downtown and had lunch at the Broadway Market. We also went to Fort Mc Henry. While downtown we took the tour on the USS Constellation, flagship of The African Squadron. We went to an Orioles game...I got to see my Yankees in Camden Yards. There were as many Yankee fans as Orioles fans at the game! It was a great experience to sing the national anthem in the city where it was written. We had dinner one night in Little Italy with our friend Leigh who lives part time in Baltimore. Afterwards she took us for a little impromtu tour of the city at night, topping it off with a lovely view from atop Federal Hill.

Tonight we are in a nice marina in the middle of The C & D canal which connects the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays...on our way to Cape May tomorrow!