Annapolis

Work just sent me to Maryland for a week, so here comes a whole slew of posts on my East Coast adventures (including Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore, and Civil War Battlefields).

My first full day in  MD, I decided to drive down to the capital after work. DC was a traffic jam away, so I went to the other capital - the capital of Maryland, Annapolis.

The Maryland Capital Building

The first thing you notice coming into Annapolis from the east is the neatly laid out  United States Naval Academy.  I was there just a little too late to visit, so I walked by and headed down town.

Annapolis is an interesting mix of modern business and happenings (there are cadets everywhere in running shoes and identical shorts and t-shirts) and shots of colonialism. Town is laid out like what  you might expect to see in Europe at the brink of the industrial revolution: brick structures standing shoulder-to-shoulder a few stories high, a central sort of square wrapping around the water, narrow streets radiating nearly straight outward from the capital-topped central hill.

A few truly colonial structures dot the government campus, including the "Old Treasury Building" from 1735. Next to the larger, modernized government buildings,  it looks almost like a frontier cabin. I can only imagine that in the early 1700's, it was one of the finest structures in town!

The brick walkways and manicured yards were crowned by steeples in several directions. The atmosphere was quaint and bustling. Every third building seemed to be flying Irish flags - I can only image what Annapolis will be like this weekend!