Saturday, September 13, 2014

Star Spangled Banner; Francis Scott Key; Fort McHenry; Tall Ships; Baltimore Inner Harbor;

Overcast, 69 degrees, a little rain and later Sun, just like it was in 1814 when the Star Spangled Banner was written by a Carroll County lawyer who was being held in confinement.




"Oh Say can you see,
By the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd
At the twilight's last gleaming."




Francis Scott Key  (1814)




Today was the 100th anniversary of the day our National Anthem was written by Mr. Scott, during the bombardment of Fort McHenry at Baltimore, Maryland.  A day of great celebration, right here in Baltimore.


I went on a bus trip with other people from Carroll Lutheran Village to the Inner Harbor of Baltimore.  There, we joined one million or more others who were there for the celebration.  Let  me tell you a little about the day.


Elaine didn't go with me because she is in a wheelchair, and would not be able to handle the boat trip.  Yes, she probably could survive the long bumpy ramp up to the first deck, and the very narrow spaces to squeeze through to get the food;  however, there is no way she could get down a steep flight of steps to the rest room and then climb back up again.  I see no way that this boat could ever comply with ADA rules in that regard.


I sat next to a very nice lady named Dottie Bell. She has lived at CLV for two years.  Soon after she moved  here with her husband, he died.  This is a story that I hear very often.  Men move here from homes that they were comfortable in, and somehow lose all desire to go on living.  Yet, the women prosper here and outlive their men by many many years.


Poor Dottie. She had to hear my stories for one hour down to the Inner Harbor, and for one hour back.  I didn't look, but I'll bet her eyes were glazed.


Immediately off the bus, I bumped into my old Gamber neighbors, Pat and Pat.  They now live in Taneytown and were also  here on a bus trip.  The male Pat looks exactly like he has looked for the past 50 years.  The female Pat has put on a little weight, but still looks similar to her old self.  The only big difference is that she rides a scooter because of arthritis.  They ate on the boat as we did and somehow she got the scooter up the ramp.  I wonder what she did about the rest room?


The area of the Inner Harbor was chock full of white tents where all kinds of information and goodies were being given out.  One of the participating groups that seemed interesting was "Jews for Jesus."
Along that line, I picked up a couple of brochures for the Baltimore Jewish Museum that caught my intense attention.


The welcome center rest rooms were where men relieved themselves in 20 seconds and where women waited in line for 20 minutes.  Doesn't seem fair somehow.


Some massive tall ships were docked in the harbor and people were lined up to get a tour of each.  One of the most gaudy of them all came from Wilmington, Delaware.. and for $150. you could ride on her to Fort McHenry to see the fireworks and other festivities.  The advertisement indicated that although it was a rather high price, it was for an occasion that will never happen again... you don't want to miss it.


I have never seen so many people in one place as I did today at the harbor.  They were streaming in by the hundreds.  One thing I notices though was, that almost all of these people were white.  Wait a minute.. isn't Baltimore more than half black?  Perhaps they don't feel that this is their holiday since when the anthem was penned, people were still enslaved.


At 11:30, the CLV folks, the Taneytown folks, a bunch of Red Hatters, and a few assorted drunks pushed onto the ship, The Spirit of Baltimore, and we took part in a wonderful buffet lunch.  Our friend, Rose Marie sat next to me and we pondered whether a glass of $8 or $9 wine was a good deal.  We decided "no."  At least not for this time of day.


The dessert of cookies, cheesecake and decadent chocolate cake was left out for the whole afternoon.


I managed to climb up to the observation deck and do some observing.. Baltimore certainly does not look like it did when I first came here in 1960.  Now, there are sky-scrapers everywhere, two lighted ball fields, and a massive gambling casino.  Free buses take you everywhere you want to go downtown and I don't recall seeing even one taxi.. how could that be?


Two weeks ago, when Elaine and I took her grandkids to the aquarium, we paid $32 to park.  But it is a lot better than a $150. parking fine. All of the handicap spots in the downtown area have been turned into paying spots.  I'm surprised there hasn't been a lot of noise about that.  The problem was that many people have been obtaining handicap hangers illegally and people were using them to tie up parking spots all day while they worked.


Baltimore's outer harbor is filled with massive ships of all kinds.  I'm told that two of  the biggest were used in cable laying activity.   I thought that was completed a century ago.. but apparently it continues today.  Also, container ships lie high in the water, awaiting hundreds of containers filled with every conceivable material heading to all parts of the world.


The announcer on the ship talked about every ship and place that we passed... except that what he said left much to be desired.  For example, I don't know what he meant  when he said:  "We're now passing musglic glaven."  or  "On the starboard side is clavinal flagellant."  I guess I should have worn my hearing aid.


We could not get close to Fort McHenry because of all the rafts assembled for tonight's fireworks extravaganza.   I think that we might be able to see a little of it from our back deck if the night is dark enough.  If not, it will be repeated on TV at 11 tonight.  Meanwhile, Channel 67 is showing a Great Performances show taking place at the inner harbor, even as I write.  I just watched a little of it with Elaine.  Nicely done. 


When we left on the ship for our tour of the harbor, there appeared to be a million people on the quay.. now, on the way back, I could see that the crowd had increased.  We had to squeeze our way back to the bus.


Oh, by the way, before we got on the ship, a patriotic parade of happy dogs walked by us.  At least one hundred dogs of all sizes and shapes, dressed in variations of the flag.  Very inventive costumes.


Unfortunately, our outing was just to tour the harbor on a boat while eating lunch.  There were thousands of other things to do on this glorious day in this beautiful city.


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