The GreyHound Bus Service starts from State College at 8.30 so to be there on time i had to wake up early. From State College it travels to Harrisburg where you have to change buses to one heading to wards Washington which also stops at Baltimore.
It was on this leg that we had a Bus Driver named Al, a Nam vetrean who told some interesting facts about buses. One was about the restrooms on the bus which i will not repeat the other was about the "professional traveller". This Traveller according to him comes well equipped with all the things needed. By all things we mean food too which our traveller comes equipped with ;drinks, chips etc.., the book which he spreads out in the back seat.., Well some one quipped "the table is set..." to which i had to agree. From this the talk moved on to the Food Cooking and of course; Sept. 11. It is surprising how much it stays in our minds.., This also lead to the recent episodes on the planes including the shoe bomber and so on. But happy to say people had the opinion that the effect would surely reduce over the months. I as such don't agree but that is a different matter altogether. We reached Baltimore about 2.45 and there was fine weather with the sun shining and a nice temprature around. I walked up the Fayette Street to The University of Maryland Hospital Center where i called up Uma aunty to let me in. Soon after we meet and after leaving my bags I decided to have a lunch at the Mac and head to the Aquarium. First thing i noticed about the mac was it didn't have my favourite (Number 6)., Well had to do with the other one . I walked down from the Mac on Paca Street to the Busy Pratt Street which is where the major wharf side attractions like the submarines,ships and the Aquarium can be seen. Missing from the list is of course the WTC-Baltimore which is a single tower with a lot of offices, The Little Hill where you can see the guns pointing at the harbour [which were supposed to have destroyed it if the allegiance of the harbour changed..,] ( I eaves dropped on this one...). Also was a plaque commemerating the Exodus so named because of its purpose ( The palque says that this ship was one of the many ships which was used to ferry jews out of the axis controlled states in europe and unfortunately was caught by the british who promptly turned the ship over to the germans who more promptly sent the passengers to concentration camps !!!!!!.)

Next i walked around the convention center ( the order of the narrative is a little reversed ) and to the Aquarium where i was shocked to discover it would leave me cheaper by 16 bucks. Well for all the money i payed it was very worth while to have a look at the aquarium.

The National Aquarium at Baltimore

The aquarium by itself is a built on the wharf. On entering you can find columns of water bubbles rising inside pillar like water columns. Moving beyond you can find a large pond like structure (except the pond is almost as big as a lake). You can see many sting rays giant size fishes ( relative sizes). I found it exciting to see the gliding giants. there was a slide show about submersibles and its history on one of the walls around it. On the same level we can find some visuals of the giant cylindrical structure which forms one giant aquarium divided by levels.

The second level contains the Maryland Section (Baltimore is a city in the State of Maryland) Labelled Maryland:Mountains to the Sea. The main section of this exhibit is to ( you guessed it ) showcase the various sections of the Maryland coastal waters and some sections of the marshes. From National Aquarium In Baltimore "Four exhibits depict Maryland habitats. The water cycle is traced from an Allegheny pond through a Tidal Marsh and Coastal Beach, out to the Continental shelf. Bullfrogs, diamondback terrapin and sea robins show the diversity of Maryland's aquatic life." Well one thing that caught my eyes was the varying sizes from the river water to the marsh to the sea....(increases). Also from the Site. The Burrfish caught everyones eyes here.

The most exciting of the all is the sea horses section where you can see many seahorses and similar creatures like the sea dragons,kelp dragons believe me they really look like dragons. Unbelievable were seahorses of such a small size that you had to stare to catch them..

Traveling higher up I looked into the puffins exhibit ( wow how do they manage to keep it cold ?) and the fragility of the rainforests ( guys remember this is where most of the diversity of earth comes from and by loosing this we are loosing a part of ourselves). It also contains some information about the tropical forests and many fishes which unfortunately i don't remember. I also saw some snakes and frogs on this level.

If i ever remember the aquarium, It will be because of its amazing tropical rainforest complete with life. You will be amazed at how beautiful the rainforest is and the various fishes and turtles and frogs and vegetation, not to forget the parkeets that live in it. This exhibit also includes a outpost like structure where from you can look down on all the growth and animal life. There are plenty of strategically placed aquariums holding various fresh water fishes which add to the beauty.

After finishing looking at all the stuff, the shark exhibit is one thing which you can't miss ( it is sort of on the way down :-) ), It is amazing that one of the deadliest predators has so many varieties. Hammer heads, nurse .... i can go on and on. since this exhibit descends as you descend from the top level and is almost a continous area it gives you an idea of living in the center of a great expanse of water.

One thing i almost failed to mention is the coral reef structure which flows with moving visitor.

After this i waited for some time before the dolphin exploration/show started. Meanwhile i got to know of the one of the founding members of the aquarium who gave his collection to the aquarium.

The show was amazing and fields a number of dolphins and explains how to recognize them and informs us about the birth of a dolphin ( there were 2 females with babies at that time ? ). Truly it is a nice finishing touch to a memorable tour.

After visiting the Aquarium, I went back to the Center. We ended the day with a nice meal ( i was stuffed ) and some playful moments with chintan.

The next day i woke late ( well sure has become a habit ). and headed to meet badri at john hopkins. I first went to the Center in the middle of the town and caught a bus to the homewood campus. I meet badri there and we had our meal at a nearby indian restaurant ( badri if you are reading this, i forgot the name), We had gotten the movie "Bedazzled" from the campus library and enjoyed it throughly ( Dudley Moore and Peter Cook with of course Raquel Welch ).

Waking up in the morn I headed to the campus and met some of badri's friends. We munched at the campus eatery and i headed to explore.

Curosity getting the better of me i entered the Baltimore Museum of Art.