Baltimore Diary : 4

The National Aquarium was on our list, most importantly for the dolphins. So, we got our tickets for a 4:30 pm entry.

                                                     National Aquarium ticket windows

National Aquarium - It was opened in 1981 and includes over 5000 marine and freshwater animals. It had some amazing never-seen before exhibits like Animal Planet Australian exhibit, which had Archerfich, Barramundi, Laughing Kookaburra and Snake-necked Turtle. Other Exhibits had amphibians, many varieties of fishes like Bonnethead Shark, Zebra Shark, Green Moray Eel and Southern Stingray. It was full of some of the most beautiful and colourful fishes, I had ever seen. 

Then, there was the Giant Pacific Octopus, the largest species of octopus in the world. It was hiding, but we could see half of it with its arms stretched out. And from there, we went to the next exhibit, 'Wings in the Water',  where we got to see different kinds of turtles like the green sea turtle, Painted turtle, Giant Amazon sea turtle and many more.

From there, we went to the Marine Mammal Pavilion, and there we were to see the dolphins, yipee!!. It was so good, to see the bottle-nose dolphins swim around in the water, there were four of them and they were jumping out  of the water and back in the pool swimming. And the next and last exhibit for the day was 'Jellies Invasion: Oceans out of Balance', where we saw some of the most stunning jellyfishes ever. They looked so calm and serene, just floating effortlessly in the water.

                                                                  Dolphins

                                                                                                Jellies

We clicked some awesome pictures and went on to the cafeteria to grab some food. And we had the yummiest possible thing - the 'Drippin' Dots' , colorful ice-cream dots which melted away in the mouth - for sure the best parting shot ever.

                                                         The great drippin' dots

After the mouth-watering experience, we went out to the inner harbor and soaked in some more of the beautiful sights before heading back to New York. In all, we had a wonderful time in the amazing city of Baltimore. 

Baltimore Diary : 3

The next was the 'Inner Harbor', just two minutes drive from the Camden Yards. It was bustling with people, with towering buildings, the calm harbor, lots of food to eat; it was perfect place to be during lunch time. Yes, we headed towards the harbor-place food court and had a hearty lunch, with some freshly baked cookies on the side.

                                                             Inner Harbor

After lunch, we went around the Inner harbor and captured some breath-taking sights. The place is lined with some of the best known structures of the city like World Trade Center building, National Aquarium, Visitor center and Barnes & Nobles building, with USS Constellation parked right in the centre of the harbor. It can definitely be called the most happening place in Baltimore.

World Trade center- Next, we headed towards the World Trade center building, located at Pier 2 and is the tallest Pentagonal building in the United States. Took the tickets and within minutes we were on the 27th floor, overlooking the whole of Baltimore. The splendid views from the observation level were unmatched; one could see the inner harbor in its entirety, federal hill in the south and the outer harbor. It was amazing to see the whole city from up above, the traffic on the roads seemed like toys moving. It was really so much fun to see Baltimore from the 'Top of the World'.

                                                             World Trade center building

We spent almost an hour looking down at the city, and I must say, a trip to Baltimore is incomplete without visiting the World Trade center building. And after seeing the panoramic views of the place, we went to the National Aquarium Building to get our tickets.

Baltimore Diary : 2

After seeing  Fort McHenry, we went to Camden Yards, which is about 5 mins drive from there. We were at the ticket counters at 11, and got the walking tour tickets for 11:30. 

                                                            Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Oriole Park at Camden Yards - The home of the Baltimore Orioles, the baseball team. It was completed in 1992 and is located few blocks away from the inner harbor. It is built on land which was once a rail yard and the Baltimore-Ohio warehouse stands right beside the stadium, and bears a home run mark too.

                                           The only home-run mark on the B &O Warehouse

We started the tour right on time with the guide, who first gave us a background of the ballpark history and how it was designed in 'retro' style quite opposite to the trend of multi purpose stadiums. With green color chairs, steel structure, B &O warehouse behind the right field wall, Camden station behind the scoreboard; it was a perfect mix of state of the art features and traditional looks.

From here, we were guided to the standing only section, next to the scoreboard to get an idea of the field and   then on to the seating area. The field looked amazing from that point, and while the tour guide was giving us information about the teams played and the ball park, it stated raining. And all of a sudden we saw people running to cover the field area, as there was a baseball game in the evening.

Rain was not at all a dampener, we went down to the main field and sat in the team section, where players sit while there team members play. We got beautiful views from there, clicked so many pictures and it was so good to see the field so close and the best part was the field cover was removed as it had stopped raining. So the park was clear and green. From here, we were ushered into the walled part of the stadium, got to see the rooms where the guest team relaxes before a game, where the family members of the players sit and watch the game.

                                                               Orioles Park

The next was Media Room, where the media persons sit and watch every moment carefully. And on the third floor was the Radio room, where the commentators sit. And the fourth level was more of a lounge place, with cafes and party rooms, VIP rooms overlooking the field, and of-course walls dedicated to the greatest players of the game.

And then on to the open area, where the winning team gathers and celebrates. It was an amazing experience to see a famous ballpark and to actually get to see the behind the scenes places, where the media people sit and the teams celebrate and relax. It was the best part of our trip to Baltimore. Loved it !!!

                                                            Out Ticket stubs to the Ballpark

Baltimore Diary : 1

A long Easter weekend, definitely means one thing for me and that is visiting a new place. And this time it was Baltimore, Maryland located along the Patapsco river. The largest city in the Eastern United States; is known for its famous Inner Harbor, National Aquarium and Baseball Stadium at Camden Yards.

                                                                       City of Baltimore

We went there on 23rd April, Saturday and spent a day exploring the beautiful city. Reached there in the morning at 8 and there began our day and the first pit-stop was Fort McHenry.

Fort McHenry - Built in 1790s, designed in star-shape in order to make surprise attacks impossible, is well known for the Battle of 1812, the Battle of Baltimore. In 1812, the Americans declaration of war against British to preserve 'Free Trade and Sailor's Rights' was carried by the war hawks (groups of congressmen who wanted to annex Canada and Spanish Florida). From then on, for two years, Americans were mostly an annoyance to the British till the Napoleon's defeat in April 1814. But in mid-august, a force of 5000 british soldiers sailed up Chesapeake Bay to give Americans a complete drubbing and burnt Washington in the Battle of Bladensburg.

Now it was the turn of Baltimore, which was better prepared for the invasion, but British succeeded in the Battle of North point and Americans had to withdraw. And next came the attack on Fort McHenry on September 13th , 1814 by the british naval forces and the bombardment continued for 25 hours. Even after repeated attacks, the british ships were not able to pass Fort McHenry and withdrew on September 14th. And the American soldiers fired morning gun and hoisted the flag of victory.

This flag became the 'Star Sprangled Banner' from then on and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the National Anthem of America. So, Fort McHenry is also known as the birthplace of the 'The Star Sprangled Banner'.

                                                 Birthplace of Star Sprangled Banner
We went around the fort, saw the huge cannons which are still preserved and the barracks for the soldiers, Junior Officers quarters and the Officer's Quarters. The exhibits looked like they have been kept intact since the day the officers last lived there. The fort was beautiful and we clicked some pretty pictures and bought souvenirs.

                                                                         Fort McHenry
And yes, it was great to see a place of such Historical importance to this nation. The next destination on the list was Orioles Stadium at Camden Yards.

Easter Sunday

This year, Easter will be celebrated on April 24th, 2011. Easter, 'celebrates Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead' (history.com), so on this day Jesus rose from the dead, the third day after crucification. And it is one of the most important celebrations in Christianity.

It is mostly celebrated between March 22 to April 25. So, the beginning of spring brings with it the Easter eggs and Bunnies; particularly Chocolate Bunnies, Marsh-mellow Bunnies, colorful eggs Baskets, golden eggs and candies and that makes it the sweetest occasion. As the stores are full of these sweet delights during Easter season.

And the easter egg hunts are famous around the country, especially for children, as they have a complete week off from schools to enjoy the festivities. And the Easter pictures are also clicked with a life-sized bunny poster, as yesterday we saw many family pictures being clicked in the mall, with the decorated bunny and eggs. And we picked up a Godiva easter chocolate basket too, amazing chocolates, I must say.

Well, definitely a good time to go out as it is also the long weekend, so looking forward to visiting a new place and eating chocolate bunnies on the way !!

Link:
http://www.history.com/topics/history-of-easter

'Homes For Sale' draws serious attention !!

Homes for Sale , pictures of various houses and 'Prices Reduced' - this is what the board put up right opposite our window said. Yes, a new Realtor had taken up the space which had been vacant for almost an year and the place has started drawing a lot of attention.

The day it was put up, I saw the owner of the building and the new Realtor checking out the board to see how it looked. And then started the attention grabbing time, as almost everyone who passed by gave it a closer look.

A women who was trying to teach her son how to ride a bike, stopped by and read it carefully; she must be thinking about, 'the beautiful house with a huge backyard and lots of space to teach her son how to ride a bicycle right inside the house, that'll be so nice'. 

A man with his two children, on his way home after picking up his children from the school, read it carefully too. He must be thinking, 'It would be so good, to have a house close to the school, so kids could come home by themselves'. 

Another man was talking over phone, stopped by and read the board very carefully. Then he went back on the call, must be telling his wife about the new Realtor in town. 

The mail delivery guy, took few minutes off from his tiring work and gave it a good look. Must be thinking about, the pretty houses and when he'll have one.

And a girl walking the dogs seemed quite interested in it too, but I definitely have no idea what she must be thinking at that point of time.

The 'Homes for Sale' board was sure a hit with the passersby and drew too much attention in all possible ways. Well, i think its time for me also to give it a closer look. 

Well Done Indian Team !!

Indian cricket team won the World Cup 2011 on 2nd April, thats yesterday. And it was the time for celebrations, a very proud moment for every Indian. 

We woke up at 5 in the morning and set up the projector and the speakers. And saw the match till 1:30 in the afternoon, till the presentation ceremony. In the starting the match was pretty slow, with Sri Lanka batting first, it was more about waiting for the wickets to fall. Well, the wickets came late and so did the runs; but a target of 275 definitely seemed big.

And then came the Indian batting side and it was time to pay more attention to details, as every run counts. The beginning was kind of slow, mostly singles and by the end of 13 overs and 2 wickets down, it felt like India would lose the match. But Gautam Gambhir (97 off 122 balls) and Virat Kohli (35 off 49 balls) really stuck to the wicket and the singles; and gave India the much needed stability.

Then Virat Kohli went down and it was a scary time, as only Yuvraj was left to play. But of course, Dhoni came out with surprisingly good performance quite unlike his performance all through the series, with 91 runs off 79 balls. And Yuvraj was there, a must, for any thrilling match win. So it was the perfect recipe for a world cup win - Yuvraj as one of the players, Dhoni in form and less runs to win from more number of balls. And there it was - a fabulous win after 28 years.

A match well played, Indian team was truly worthy of the World Cup !!