On Vacation

Although Ernie is more fatigued now than at the start of the chemo, he is determined to get out of the apartment and enjoy Baltimore.

 On Saturday, we celebrated in Little Italy as they marked the end of summer with their annual Festival of Saint Gabriel.  Street vendors sold "Italian iced tea" (you had to be 21 to purchase this), meatball sandwiches, pizza by the slice, Italian sausage sandwiches, cannoli, and Italian ice, with the proceeds going to the local parish church.   There were also games of chance and a bocci tournament where passersby yelled "paesano, what's the score." 

Pizza by the slice!

Sunday we made our weekly trip to the farmer's market.  Each week the produce is more abundant.  We bought ingredients for fresh tomato sauce--to put on the fresh pasta we buy in Little Italy--as well as ingredients for more ratatouille. 

Flower Merchant at Farmer's Market

It rained in the afternoon so we visited the Walters Art Museum in a neighborhood called Mt Vernon.  The collection was started by a Baltimorian--William Thomas Walters--during the Civil War.  For business reasons, Mr. Walters did not want to choose sides so he moved his family to France for the duration.  While in France, he began to collect art.  When he died, he turned the collection over to his son--Henry--to continue.  Together, they amassed over 22,000 works including French Impressionists, Greek and Roman antiquities, and Renaissance Europe (we particularly liked the copy of the Mona Lisa done in the 1600s). 

Today we took another of the Visitor's Centers wonderful tours that focused on the older part of the city that is now the cultural center of Baltimore.   I think Ernie is probably more than ready to  sleep away the day at chemo tomorrow!

Sculpture of Nancy Pelosi's father--long time Mayor of Baltimore