AHH. Wonderful day today. The weather was cool, not humid, and although rain threatened, I took my trusty umbrella, put on my walking shoes and walked for an hour over the lunch hour. I headed south on Charles Street - past the Cardinal's residence - just kept walking. Saw lots of shops (bookstore was closed or they would have had my business) - stopped at the half-way mark at a restaurant advertising itself as Greek and Afghan food (go figure.) It was packed, which was a good sign. I ate my gyros sandwich perched on the end of a table with two middle-eastern looking businessmen sat (a benefit of being middle-aged - they really thought I was just there to eat my lunch and move on.) I poached in on their conversation as much as I could, while watching CNN International - apparently, my table-mates think the people in the middle east "deserve" what ever happens to them. Don't ask. By the men's accents, I thought they might actually know first-hand. I got a bit off on the way back, since none of the streets are exactly parallel, as I was shooting to go back on Cathedral St. and it apparently doesn't go that far south. But I righted my confusion by spotting the directions to the Mt. Vernon Historical District (that's me!) and the basicilica - thank goodness for the directional street signs on the corners - and didn't have to double-back. It can get pretty dicey pretty fast in Baltimore, but I survived ... It was SO much fun to walk and gape at the old buildings - watch people - see something new! Now I'm jazzed for the fall - I can do this sort of thing all winter. I need to figure out how the light rail works - I do think I could go to the Inner Harbor and back over lunch. Today, I discovered it is too far to walk. One more "urban living skill" - how to ride the public transportation. :)



woman at the well