Same day...different museum...
First the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, now onto the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.
First the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, now onto the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.
We began with an interactive segment of the museum that focused on how things fly. It was one of Christian's favorite parts of the museum.
We explored space and space travel...
And the history of flight.
We were here for hours, closed the place down and still didn't see everything.
Exhausted we took an uber to a yummy Mexican restaurant and rested before walking the twenty minutes back to Christian's apartment.
The following day, after doing some work, we caught a train at Union Station and went to Baltimore. Again, this was a first for Bishop. He had never before used the rail system. After getting there we walked a good twenty minutes to the Inner Harbor to tour the USS Constellation.
We also decided to tour the submarine USS Torsk.
I love experiences such as these as they leave an indelible impression. We have experienced how the ceiling of each deck of the ship gets lower and lower as you descend and how it gets colder and colder as well. We have seen the size of their living quarters and medical facilities. We have touched the ropes and the cannons. And on the submarine we have experienced the narrow hallways and bunks and doorways, the narrow everything. These sensorial impressions will be drawn upon when we are learning about any related thing. It will bring it all to life, so to speak.
Also on the Inner Harbor is Baltimore's World Trade Center. It happens to be the world's tallest regular pentagonal building and in front of it is a 9/11 memorial. This memorial includes three 22-foot long steel beams the New York World Trade Center, which were part of the 94th to 96th floors of the north tower. The steel beams are twisted and fused together and are mounted on a marble base that is inscribed with the events of the day and with the names of the 68 Marylanders that died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It is powerful and deeply moving. I imagine it would be even more moving on September 11 of any given year as the events of 9/11 are inscribed as a timeline on the marble in such a way that as the shadow of the building move across them throughout that day the shadow touches the inscription at the time that event occurred.
After our other Inner Harbor adventures we were blessed to have the opportunity to meet up with a friend of Christian's for dinner. We met her at Bubba Gumps. The boys had never dined there. We had delicious food, passed the Forrest Gump trivia quiz (I didn't, I was a failure but as a group we passed with Christian doing the "heaviest lifting").
Christian's friend is from Saudi Arabia and she shared with us many customs and traditions of her country. She shared that there is a significant difference between American and Saudi breakfasts. Saudi breakfasts often consist of small bowls of things to dip bread into and meats. She doesn't understand how Americans enjoy pancakes for breakfast. She shared with us one of her favorite drinks - warmed milk, with honey and a small pinch of saffron, and how dried ground orange peel is wonderful to cook with. I know that she shared more with us but this is what I can recall presently. It was fun.
We then moved on to another museum so let's move on to part three, shall we?
Exhausted we took an uber to a yummy Mexican restaurant and rested before walking the twenty minutes back to Christian's apartment.
The following day, after doing some work, we caught a train at Union Station and went to Baltimore. Again, this was a first for Bishop. He had never before used the rail system. After getting there we walked a good twenty minutes to the Inner Harbor to tour the USS Constellation.
Also on the Inner Harbor is Baltimore's World Trade Center. It happens to be the world's tallest regular pentagonal building and in front of it is a 9/11 memorial. This memorial includes three 22-foot long steel beams the New York World Trade Center, which were part of the 94th to 96th floors of the north tower. The steel beams are twisted and fused together and are mounted on a marble base that is inscribed with the events of the day and with the names of the 68 Marylanders that died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It is powerful and deeply moving. I imagine it would be even more moving on September 11 of any given year as the events of 9/11 are inscribed as a timeline on the marble in such a way that as the shadow of the building move across them throughout that day the shadow touches the inscription at the time that event occurred.
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