Mrs Sashi struck up a conversation with another passenger travelling to New york by the same train and was informed of the presence of a 'Quiet Car ' , where passengers could not talk or use their cell phones.So , when our train arrived , we very prudently opted for the ' Normal Car ' .The half an hour journey to Baltimore went very quickly . We disembarked at Penn station , ,Baltimore and walked out towards the stop for the free Circulator/Shuttle that the city has.
The first stop was the extreme end of the city , as we planned to visit Fort McHenry.After a 25 minute walk to and along the beautiful promenade ,
we were informed by the DockMaster about the existence of a water-taxi which would take us to the fort. At the pick up point of the taxi , we came to know that the fort had closed down for the winter since the 1st of Oct . We paid 10$ for the taxi and got off at the Aquarium .
We planned to take a ride in the boat all around the harbour later in the day .The aquarium was very good . I liked the fact that there were a large number of exhibits , stacked up on four floors , but spread over a small area . There is a escalator that takes one up to all levels .After our entry inside at 10.45A M , we went to the Dolphin show within half an hour as the timing on our ticket said 11.30 AM The Dolphin show was nice .The 20 minute show , had the Dolphins doing a number of antics . When the trainer came up to the edge of the pool and talked to the audience by hanging on to the edge of the pool , the Dolphin too mimiced her by perching on the edge. It was very cute!! After this we completed viewing the rest of the exhibits and went for lunch at 1.30 PM.We ate at an Asian joint ,where we selected our vegetables and gave it to the chef , who then prepared it to our liking ( spicy/ not spicy ) and served it with rice. After that we went on a shopping spree at Hard Rock Cafe and Noble and Barnes and then went to the Baltimore World Trade Center and viewed the city fron the 27th floor .
We clicked away on our cameras and finally descended .Here Eija parted ways with us and arranged to meet us at the station at 6.15 PM.We continued to the Maryland Science Center , stopping at the Visitor's Center to pick up a map of the city .
The hands on activity for children was good and one set of exhibits was for adults too.It was not a very big museum . After this , we boarded the water-taxi and took a complete tour of the Inner Harbour and returned to the Science Center after an hour.
Despite the sun on us , the wind on our faces had us feeling chill . But the water tour was very soothing . We then indulged on a Ben and Jerry's ice-cream and took the Circulator back to the station. We arrived back by 6.15 PM and found to our dismay that our train was delayed by 30 minutes . We were informed that we could change our tickets to an earlier train.We did so , with no charge and returned to N ew Carrolton by 7.15 PM with me sleeping all the way .Again in a taxi , with the others sitting and me crouching and nearly plastered to the front windshield , we arrived back by 7.40 PM or so.
The early return helped , as we did not feel very tired. That was a very pleasant experience and the day was cool and sunny .The sun helped to restore balance when the wind got chilly.
WOW---- what minute details, excellent memory.Re-lived my Baltimore trip. Thanks sudha.
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