Memorial Day in Baltimore: Day Two

USS Constellation, originally uploaded by michaelcollinsdunn.

This is kind of a placeholder post until I have a little more time as it's already 11:20 and Sarah's still up. Our second day of our three-day to Baltimore consisted of a quick lunch, then renewing our membership in the Science Museum (which is part of a consortium so our membership gets us in at museums anywhere outside of a 50 mile radius, which has gotten us in free at museums in Richmond, Hampton Roads, and Philadelphia (including the Franklin Institute), so it's worth it even if we only go to Baltimore once or twice next year.

We also visited the USS Constellation. A mainstay of the Inner Harbor, it's now interpreted as what it apparently is, an 1854 construction that was the last all-sail-only warship built by the Navy. For years it was interpreted as the 1794 frigate Constellation, one of the founding frigates of the US Navy and a sister ship of the Constitution (Old Ironsides). It's now being preserved as a pre-civil war vessel that saw antislavery and Civil War era duties. The reinterpretation some years back upset a lot of old Baltimoreans who were convinced they had one of the frigates of '94. The website is here. Wikipedia explains it here. There are still some hangers-on who insist she's at least partly the 1794 frigate, including this site which otherwise seems to be a comic book fancier. Unfortunately for the deadenders, the Navy and most historians now agree she's an 1854 build, maybe with a few timbers from her namesake.

Sarah particularly liked lounging in the seamens' hammocks, but did seem to enjoy the visit. At one point she said, "Dad, are you ready to go belowdecks?" Aye aye, cap'n. I think she'd heard me use the term.

Then we watched a comedian/juggler do a street performance at the Inner Harbor, which fascinated Sarah. We ate tonight at a restaurant called The Olive Tree near our hotel, instead of going back into Baltimore. Good Italian place, Sarah picked it, and way too much food. (Our hotel lacks a refrigerator in the room and we didn't have a cooler so we had to leave what we couldn't eat. Sad.)

More on today at some point I hope.