Annapolis, Mary-land!

I loved (and, yes, had a little laugh about) the way the Brits said "Maryland". They say "Mary" just like we would and then "land"...hard to write, but it was funny. Hence the title of this post.

Then when I tried to teach them how we say it (because they asked, not because I "corrected" them), they would lower their voices about 2 octaves and try to say it quickly and run the words together. Very funny.

ANYWHO...

so I just got home last weekend from a great, fun trip to Annapolis and Washington, D.C. I went to spend time with Holly who was there for a wedding of a close friend of hers from London. We were actually staying in Annapolis and drove in to DC two days.

Day 1 - I landed in D.C. at about 11:30am and after a $60 taxi drive I arrived at the Chez Amis, the B&B that the bride's parents own and operate. It is overflowing with family and I know NO ONE. Holly is not due to arrive until about 6:30 or 7 that night. A man, who I now know is the groom, makes his way over and introduces himself. "Very nice to meet you. Congratulations!" I say. He then introduces me to Michelle, his bride to be. We hug because that's what you do to your friend's friends, right? It is now plainly obvious to everyone as they put the pieces together ("Okay, so she just met the groom, just met the bride...I don't know her...you don't know her...why is she HERE?) that I am the wedding crasher!

No matter, I just want to get the key to where I'm staying and get the heck out of wedding central! I finally manage to do that but I don't stay there long. I head out to explore historic Annapolis which my room is smack in the middle of! Here's what I find at the end of the street:

This is a sort of market square where I stopped for coffee. It was very cold,

blustery and wet. Perfect for coffee! There was a lot of that: cold, wet weather and coffee!

This is the dock that is immediately to my left and comes right up to market square.

This is Main St. which I walked to the top of from the Square. There's a great little Starbucks that's in a basement. Coolest one I've ever seen.

Since I'm about a 2 minute walk from the Naval Academy and it's game day (they were playing SMU), there are the Navy flags on the poles. I bought a couple of shirts for Reed and I and a pink Navy sweatshirt for Evy.

One side of the State House. The oldest capitol building still in use in the U.S.

It was the capitol for the 13 colonies in 1783 and George Washington himself resigned his commission as commander in chief here.

A typical house in Annapolis. Cute little historic duplex.

Cute little courtyard all decorated for fall!

More about this later. It was located right at the end of the street I was staying on.

Hope you enjoyed this mini tour of historic Annapolis! Tomorrow: "How to Crash a Destination Wedding and Eat and Explore for Free All Week!"