We've been invaded!

This weekend is the 200th anniversary celebration of the War of 1812 in Baltimore, as you may or may not know, the Star Spangled Banner was written during the shelling of Fort McHenry.   As a part of the event, there are lots of visitors to Baltimore, including a number of tall ships, and some modern navy ships from several countries.   I decided to take a spin around the Inner Harbor and see what there was to see.  I headed down to Fells Point, and at the rec pier is the HMCS Iroquois of the Canadian Navy.

I continued down through Harbor East and tied up at Pier 6 were these training patrol ships that came up from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis.  Pier 6 is the tent structure behind them in the second picture, it's a concert venue here in Baltimore during the summer.

I continued on around to the Inner Harbor proper, where the real tall ships are tied up, this is the KRI Dewaruci of Indonesia tied up on Pier 1 with our very own USS Constellation, which lives here in the Inner Harbor.

Continuing around to the Light Street side, came these two. In the foreground here is the Cisne Branco of the Brazilian Navy, and behind that is the ARM Cuauhtemoc of the Mexican Navy.

I rode around to the pier where the speedboat tours live, and shot them from the other end, the Cuauhtemoc is in the foreground here and the Cisne Branco is in the background.

Also almost hidden amongst the larger ships, this is the Pride of Baltimore, a reproduction of 19th century Baltimore topsail schooner.  It's tied up her at the end of the Constellation Pier.

I continued around the Inner Harbor to get a shot of the BAE Guayas of the Ecuadorian Navy.  It's tied up on the backside of Pier 4 which houses the National Aquarium.

I continued out to Fort McHenry to see what was going on, there were a bunch of US Navy ships tied up on what are normally commercial piers, this was about as close as I could get.

Then it was back to the homestead for another busy day at work, hopefully I will be able to get out there again tomorrow, I believe there are some more tall ships due in.  There are a bunch of things going on in addition to the ships, here is a picture Kathleen shot this afternoon from our deck of the Blue Angels practicing over our house.