002 Annapolis

I had never heard of Annapolis until a month ago, when I was seated next to Mr Mitchell during the Xmas dinner on our river cruise. He was quite a character, being the most fervent Republican I’ve ever met. You lived in San Francisco? Voluntarily? Nobody forced you to live in that shame city of our nation? That kind of guy. I asked him if his children voted Republican too. His answer was clear: I’ll use the whip if I hear they vote for the Democrats. I would disown them. A big mouth for sure. But also a funny guy who was entertaining. He used to be a tour guide in the Naval Academy in Annapolis and had invited me over.

When I contacted Ray to visit him in Atlanta, he told me he was working in Annapolis during the week! I was able to get a cheap ticket to BWI airport (Baltimore/Washington International) and now I’m staying in the Marriott Courtyard just outside of Annapolis. I had some delay yesterday, flying in from New York to Baltimore, because of the snow! Yes, it snows here. And quite a lot. Ray has a car at the airport as well, but we had trouble finding it, as all the cars were covered with snow.

Today, I went to the city centre. There’s a bus stop in front of the hotel that took me there quite easily. I had some trouble finding the Visitors Centre as it was relocated and the signs/locals sent me to several different spots. But I ended getting some nice information. And all for free! What a difference to cities in the Netherlands, where the tourist board charges 2 euro for an 8 sheet walking tour brochure.

Annapolis is the capitol city of Maryland, one of those small States that most people forget when they have to name American States. Baltimore is the big city of the State, which was one of the original 13 colonies that declared their independence. But it’s Annapolis that is the state capitol, just like smaller cities are the capital cities in other states too. The city is filled with houses of men who were of some importance during that revolutionary time. There’s the house of the only catholic who signed the Declaration of Independence. Or the house of the guy who patched the first American flag. I know, it’s not that interesting for us, old Europeans, but at least they try to give the city some historic charm. The city was the capitol of the country for a few years as well, before they created Washington DC.

But it’s a charming city. I reminded me of Portland, Maine (the small independent shops near a harbour) or Montpellier, Vermont (one main street and a few side streets) or the city in which McFly is skating in Back to the Future! The city has a state capitol and a few churches. But the charm comes from the unique stores on Main street and the harbour area. I was so eager to eat at Burger King or Subway, but I didn’t find any! They were all independent stores that didn’t ring a bell. I loved it! Not everything in the US of A is corporate. I went into this small independent record/dvd store, but I didn’t find anything interesting, apart from the first season of Oz for 15$. Unfortunately, I can only watch US dvd’s for a limited time on my laptop. I can only change from region three times. Good to know.

The main tourist attraction however is the Naval Academy near the old downtown. There’s not that much to see there, but I found it interesting. At least more interesting than Harvard for instance. At the visitor centre, you get a promo film about what the Academy stands for. It’s all about ‘midshipmen’. That word somehow appears everywhere. The big slogan is ‘to develop midshipmen morally, mentally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, honor and loyalty’. It’s an attractive propaganda clip and I can imagine a lot of people want to join the navy. Especially when senator John McCain for instance raves about his time on the academy.

The grounds look like a normal campus, with big sporting facilities (you can visit the swimming pool and the wrestling area, but unfortunately there were no sport activities when I was there). I did see the students though. I thought of asking some of them to pose for a picture, but that idea sounded a bit ridiculous. I walked in the main square when the students had to change classes. I felt out of place. All these kids wore their uniforms and I was the only tourist there. I don’t have a sailor fetish, so I didn’t feel in heaven, but I did find the whole atmosphere unique. There were a lot of women, according to the statistics only 20 percent, but of all the people I saw there at least half of them were female. I had some rebellious thoughts when I was walking around there. Like, how would they react if I would burn the huge American flag in front of the big hall? Or how would they react if I asked them in a Bruno-way about gay life on the academy? Hehe. (Bruno being Sacha Baron Cohen’s Austrian gay reporter character).

There’s a museum on the grounds as well with all kinds of uniforms and medals and information about important moments in history. It wasn’t that interesting, although I watched a movie about the cold war there. There’s also a chapel which has a stained glass window depicting a navy officer! It doesn’t always have to be a biblical figure. The old lady in the visitor centre told me the story of John Paul Jones, whose crypt is in the chapel. He was a Scottish immigrant who helped defeat the English during the Revolution war and wanted to set up a naval academy. However, the new American government wasn’t interested, so the Scott went to Russia and France, who also weren’t interested in his services. He died penniless in Paris and in order to commemorate him, the naval academy decided to get his bones in Paris and move them to chapel.

Annapolis also has a museum about African American history, as this was a port where the slaves were brought in, but it was closed. I did see a nice monument at the harbour front of Alex Haley, the writer who wrote that book on which the tv series Roots was based on. I didn’t see that many African Americans though. Annapolis is pretty Caucasian. And very friendly. Every single person I met on the street greeted me with a friendliness that you just can’t find in Europe. However superficial it might be, it’s great to be greeted!