Stewart's 2023 Baseball Trip

 I've been feeling better, but I didn't really go anywhere much today. However, I did to to the game in the evening and having lost 4 games in a row and allowed the Tampa Bay Rays to draw level at the top of the division, the Orioles snapped their losing streak and won the game, so there were lots of fireworks to celebrate the win

The transport options available in Baltimore seem to have changed since I was last there.  I'm sure the water taxis used to run every day, even after Labor Day, but now they only run on Saturdays and Sundays.  There is the free Harbour Connector boat, which does run Wednesday to Friday, but it is only three routes.  These boats are an extension of the Charm City Circulator coloured bus routes - the Purple route is ideal for me to go between Penn Station and my hotel, rather than relying on the Light Rail, which cost money and is further away from my hotel. So I took two boats along to the far end of the harbour for a much longer walk around the harbour today, back along the waterfront past Fells Point and then back to the hotel before going out to dinner. This lighthouse is a historical preservation, not an active one as it wouldn't do much good here!   There are a lot fewer people about now that summer has been declared over, and lots of things are closed.  I t...

Unfortunately, I now seem to have a very bad cold - or rather something scratched my throat a couple of days ago and it's going to take a week for it to get better.   I did go for another walk around the harbour on Thursday, not going too far.  I walked around to the Rusty Scupper restaurant and had this view across the harbour whilst having dinner. I saw birds having a bath at the side of the road where the sprinklers had been watering the plants and drained off into a puddle at the side of the road.   I did feel well enough to go to the game anyway, which was the first game of a 4 game series against the Tampa Bay Rays - who are the Baltimore Orioles big rivals for the AL East division.  I haven't been able to get a ticket for game 2 on Friday night. One visitor has made an early appearance - you don't often see this man at baseball games, just at NFL games once it gets to December - even though he was famously booed by the tough crowd in Philadelphia a few years b...

 I didn't really do a lot on Wednesday as I wasn't feeling that well.  It's still picturesque. Again, it was Bark at the Park night and all the dogs were with their owners over on the left hand side in the bottom section, just along from bullpens.  The setting sun always lights up the warehouse in an amazing way.

I decided to eat in the hotel bar this morning since my train was due to leave at 11:02 and I wanted to leave 45 minutes to get to the railway station (it's 30 minutes walk away, but I wanted to go on the subway as it's quicker with luggage)   The location of this hotel really is superb.  I took these two photos to show the balcony at night and then again in the morning. I'd booked  a ticket on the grandly named "Silver Star" service that runs all the way from New York to Miami, even though I was only going as far as Baltimore.  It takes in a day and a half to get all the way to southern Florida!  However, the seats are really comfortable and spacious. The journey was delayed departing for 20 minutes or so, but that gave me time to buy an iced coffee at the station in the brand new train hall that has been added at Penn Station which is light, airy and clean! I had intended to take the Light Rail service down to the centre of Baltimore, but Google Maps sugg...

My love/hate relationship with the Weather Channel app took another turn for the worse today, as it promised a storm-filled afternoon, with the trouble starting around 2pm.  I had decided to go for a walk along Rockaway beach out at the end of the 'A' subway line, so despite it being warm and sunny, I took my coat with me when I left around 10am.  Not having the hotel breakfast has allowed me to set off earlier in the day than I would have done previously, so I thought that I would go as far along the beach as I could until the weather turned and then get on the subway back to the city and dash back the one block to the hotel. It took nearly two hours to get to Rockaway Park, as despite it being the same line, I had to change at Rockaway Boulevard and again at Braod Channel for the shuttle to the end of the line.  I walked along the shoreline, able to paddle in the remarkably warm - or rather not-bitterly-cold -  Atlantic Ocean.  I stopped for a beefburger for l...