Baltimore was one of the few major U.S. cities that I had not visited before. So on the list it went for a look-see. Of course the first thing most people think of when thinking of U.S. history in Baltimore is Francis Scott Key at Fort McHenry on the Chesapeake Bay writing the poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" which later became the Star Spangled Banner and national anthem of the U.S.

Other famous landmarks in Baltimore are John Hopkins University and Hospital (they are separate buildings in different parts of the city but are close to each other). And south of town, in Ft. Meade, is the Cryptology Museum.

I wanted to see them all. And I did. Unfortunately, I could not get close enough to the J.H. Hospital to take a photo. So, on this trip I missed out photographing two Presidential homes and one Hospital.

The Cryptology Museum was pretty cool. Small, but then, how much is there in the history of cryptology. It has been around for centuries but little is known except for the past century or so. The museum had a couple of the oldest known books on the subject. It went into the history of it and talks about some of the pioneers of modern cryptology. It is thanks to cryptology that the U.S. entered World War I after learning that Germany had a deal with Mexico to regain the southwestern U.S. in exchange for their assistance. And of course cryptology was much used in World War II which is a main reason why computers were even designed and built.

In some ways, downtown Baltimore reminded me of being in Manhattan. Narrow streets with one lane too many carved out of the space. Vehicles darting everywhere. Vehicles parked in a lane for load/unload. Bicyclers zipping in and out of traffic doing their own thing. Missing were zig-zag lanes, bumpy road surface and the taxi cabs and trash trucks.

And dog-gone it, people in Delaware and Maryland are as bad as Missourians and Kansans in one regard -- they love those absolutely hideous PT Cruisers. It was so nice hardly ever seeing them in New England. People out here prefer SUV's over pickup trucks (as compared to Kansas City). Even saw a couple of mopeds today.