High Spirits Great Loop Voyage: Annapolis City Docks, Annapolis, Maryland

sign on a sailboat here at the City docks; when I stopped to take a picture, he asked if I had a granddaughter, or who I might have had in mind when I took the picture. Didn't tell him granddaughters were 6, 4 and 1. He apparently was seriously recruiting a first mate (female).

Part of the residence at the Naval Academy; the area in front of the residence is used as a parade ground every day at noon when school is in session.

One type of archicture here in Annapolis; in these buildings the bricks were turned on end, made a very strong wall, but very expensive, so this means that someone very rich built this house.

Warm sunny day today. Went on a walking tour of Annapolis, learned the history of many of the buildings in the historic district, then went to the Naval Academy. Toured the Capital Building; it has the original capital building, built in the 1700's and used for a few months as the federal capital after the Revolutionary war, and the new section built on in 1902. The original senate chamber was restored a few years ago, then they discovered a crack in the plaster. On investigation, it was discovered that damp was getting in through the walls because they had not been finished properly so it is being redone. The dome on the original part of the capital building is of wood, and is the largest wooden dome in the US. At the naval academy, we toured part of the residence. There are over 1000 students in each of the 4 years, and all live in residence. This was the largest residence in the world until Moscow built an even larger one in the 1950's. The tour guide wasn't sure if it was still standing, but one of the people on the tour happened to be from Moscow, and knew that it was still there and in good shape.
This afternoon sat on the back of the boat and watched the activity. We were boarded by US Customs and Border Patrol again, but our paperwork was in order and we have been reporting in regularly, so no problems. There was a car show here this morning, then they moved on and tents were set up. They had entertainment all afternoon, singing, someone walking on stilts, face painting, balloon animals, and lots of people on the waterfront. At the same time, boats were going up and down the waterway in front of us, down "Ego Alley", and the bar across the waterway was doing a great business. Very busy place.

Our guide on the walking tour - very knowledgeable

Historical plaques on buildings in Annapolis; there is a different colour for each period. The tree represents the liberty tree here in Annapolis, just taken down a couple of years ago. Each city had a liberty tree prior to and during the revolution, that is where the people who wanted freedom from England met and made their plans.

The original senate chamber in the Capital Building; the whole room was the blue colour that we see in the one section. This is the room in which George Washington resigned his commission

The wooden dome of the capital building; it is even held together with wooden pegs, no metal in any of it. The guide told us about the man who did the decorative plaster work inside the dome, he had it almost finished when he fell off his scaffolding and died. When his wife came to collect his pay so she could take the children back to Ireland, the foreman refused to pay her anything because the contract called for him to have completed the job. People in Annapolis took up a collection to get enough money to send them home. They say his ghost still walks in the dome, people feel cold air on the back of their neck, and see a candle light being carried around in the dome at night.