Annapolis – Naval Academy, Sailing & Slave Trading

Annapolis is about as charming as you can get, it seems so small with a population of 36,000 that you forget it is the State Capitol of Maryland.  Rosie and The Operator had an early start, blue sky again and the mist was steaming off the motorway.  The State Capitol welcomed us with open arms and we had a great time today

We drove to the information centre and even got a park outside, two lovely ladies told us all about the town and gave us a walking map and a friendly warning to watch out for the parking wardens, there are no second chances here….you will be towed.  The streets are narrow, the cobblestones are treacherous as tree roots buckle the pavers off the main drag, keep your eyes where you are walking!

The Colonial architecture, cobblestones flickering gaslights and brick and wooden row houses are worthy of Dickens and the effect isnt artificial, the city has actually preserved its heritage rather than re created its heritage.  Everything is wonky and cables and trunking weave down the front of buildings.

The town is compact, very much so, it only takes about 5mins to stroll from the town hall above where all roads radiate from to the harbour marina.  Yet they have a free shuttle bus that does a 10 min circuit around the town moving people about, mostly it picks up tourists from the hotels and takes them to town.

We stopped at 1030ish for brunch at Chick and Ruths Delly….the diner is stressfully compact, you are sitting shoulder to shoulder with he next table and the heat coming out of the kitchen is abit oppressive….the menu on the other hand is a novel, there is so much to choose from, the sandwiches are named after famous local folk and boards decorate the back of the counter.

The good thing about such an intimate setting is you soon make friends with your neighbours and start chatting away, everyone here is very friendly.  An institution at the ‘delly’ is that every morning at 8.30, since the opening in 1965 everyone stands and swears the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag which hangs proudly above the counter.  We had a classic cooked breakfast with coffee for $6.50 and it was good!

The Us Navel Academy is housed in its own walled complex down on the harbour, the undergraduate college of the US Navy is one of the most selective Universities in the US.  We went into the grounds, please present government ID, to watch the 1205pm daily drill in the courtyard, 4000 midshipman and woman did a twenty min marching exercise to the navy band beating the big bass and blowing the bagpipes.

The photos do not even do it justice…..the parade ground and the building was so huuuuge.  Their were so many military on the steps and to the side, then they all turned and marched through the doors to the left and right of the middle…..off to lunch I suppose. It was a great display and the appreciative crowd loved it.

This big ass torpedo was on the way out of the academy, everyone was walking over to it having a look and exclaiming how huge it is….then as they are about to take a photo of it, they read the plaque and find out it is a Japanese torpedo, the kind that bombed pearl harbour….none of them wanted to take a photo of it and all commented about ‘NOT taking no photo of no Japanese torpedo’….I was the only one that snapped…traitor.

Perched on Chesapeake Bay the motto of Annapolis is ‘Come Sail Away’ and life revolves around maritime traditions.  Sailing is not just a hobby here they tell me it is a way of life.  The city docks are virtually crammed with boats of all shapes and sizes, man, they are impressive.  A boat show is in town for the week and had sectioned off alot of the town marina…boo hoo, it had a chain link fence around it and would have been a nice stroll. 

 Annapolis was a bustling slave harbour back in the day, Alex Haley, the award winning author of Roots, whose ancestor Kunte Kinte and character in his book was bought in chains here at this port and sold into servitude.  This statue commemorates and acts as a memorial.

This photo is too show the beautiful hanging baskets, this is a pretty wild one. After a lovely morning wandering around the town seeing the sights and doing abit of shopping we hopped in the car and drove the 40 mins to Washington DC and settled in for the afternoon

What did we get up too and what did the weather bring? Will fill you in tomorrow!