Brexit and what came before

What an eye-opening series of classes we attended at the private club at the US Naval Academy on Friday!  When and if I am in a situation where Brexit is discussed, I will surely have a leg up.  I learned a whole lot about Europe, and it's history, an area of the world I was not keen on, but know a bunch about now!  There were 2 classes before lunch and two after, taught by 4 professors from the Academy, 2 were men and 2, women.  There ought to be a master's degree or even a doctorate for seniors like me who keep on taking courses at this level, don't cha think??

When class was over, a private bus hired for our group met us outside the Naval Academy club, whisked us off the grounds to where my friend Kathy's driver, Mohamed, was waiting in his SUV.  We both said how delightful it was not to have to go into the garage and find our car and then play DODGE 'Em with the 5PM traffic to get home to Baltimore.  Mohamed drove me to my door, helped me out of the SUV,  I thanked him and Kathy, and then they waited until I was safely inside.

 

If you have the Johns Hopkins University ODYSSEY brochure, you will see the classes we attended. 

PS.  It's Spring Break at the Naval Academy so we missed seeing many midshipmen.  We hadn't been to Annapolis in years and loved the cleanliness of the streets and the stunning architecture.

Zippy

Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989

Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

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Just a day in the city

Ah, the ACC show is over for another year.  My best friend from the show is Miss Fitts, who went out to breakfast with me yesterday.  I picked her up at her hotel (I won't publicize which hotel since it is one I do not view in a positive light), and we dined on bagels with lox and cream cheese at the Polish market. It's a happening place where all sorts of people come by to chat with and learn from.

When a couple uniformed males walked by us, they caught my eye because I had not ever seen such uniforms before. I stopped one young man and he stayed to chat with us.  His badge read what I thought was SWAK. You recall that that was Sealed With A Kiss, a long time ago. 

So I learned that SWAT is Special Weapons and Target (I think that's right).  He lives up in Westminister, in Carroll County because he likes space around him, and works in the city. When I asked why he got into such tough scary work, he said his dad was a police officer. Miss Fitts asked if his work includes breaking down doors, (like on tv) and he said yes.  We talked about drugs in the city and then he had to go meet his fellow officers.  What a handsome fellow he is:  straight of posture, respectful, well-spoken, gorgeous blue eyes, no unkempt facial hair, and a meticulous uniform, with a gun along his right thigh.  City life for you.  Zip

PS  Do note that I did not contrast his behavior with the Millennials', this time, today, in this email.  I was tempted, and resisted

Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989

Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

zippytours@gmail.com

    410 - 522 - 7334

 

Tuesday afternoon in the city

The

Baltimore Museum of Art was closed today, but I went on a special tour through the museum-- just 6 of us, with a museum curator who led us through the collection that the BMA received from Mary Frick Garrett Jacobs.

Mrs. Jacobs' home was on West Mt. Vernon Place, which now houses the ESB, Engineering Society of Baltimore, one of the loveliest interiors in the city. 

At the BMA today, our guide showed us letters that Mrs. Jacobs wrote, concerning pieces of art she was negotiating to buy. She had a discerning eye, and a willingness to scrutinize the value of her purchases. Her 4 homes were filled with art, pieces which she moved from home to home according to the season of the year.  She was a wealthy woman on her own, and married into the Garrett family that owned the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, sometimes referred to by those in the know, as the Best and Only.

I love behind the scenes tours, and the chance to walk thru the museum without distractions and with our own private guide. I learned a lot, and have some homework to do.  On the way home, I was hungry and stopped at Sophia's in the Broadway Market for a yummy sandwich: a llightly toasted bagel with cream cheese, salmon, (that's lox) a siice of onion, tomato, and a cup of Sophia's yummy tomato soup with noodles. I was a happy chick this afternoon.   Zippy

Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989

Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

zippytours@gmail.com

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great fun today

22 May, 2016

I was 5 minutes from home today, on Pier 13 down on the industrial waterfront. It's Maritime day, when what is normally off-limits, is open to the public.  Tug boats, fire boats, coast guard, merchant marine, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, SAIL Baltimore, etc, and a ship and personnel from the Maritime school in San Francisco who happened to be in the area on a 2 month assignment.

If I knew how to add photos to an email.... I'd  share some of what I saw, but I don't...

So it's a chance for me to learn some more about these areas that are as far as you will get from the tourist
areas at the inner harbor. Hooray !!  

I went aboard the nuclear ship for a tour.  It was fascinating.  I collected some goodies, freebies from Domino Sugars, and others etc, and data from half a dozen maritime agencies.  It gives me stuff to talk about (that other guides do not have) when I lead tours or give talks. I saw the coal piers, it's an area heavily guarded by homeland security.
I had many times taken people up to their gates, but until today, not gone behind. We were taken in a small SUV, just 6 people, with personnel from the company.  I have a business card and now have a contact, and will be able to take other people inside.  I love this stuff. 
Whenever I am on a tour, the other people on the tour thank me afterwards, because I ask the best questions, which draws out more data than the guides normally talk about.  I know how to phrase questions.  I should have been a reporter.
Zippy

PS I think it would be fascinating to go on a cruise on a tug boat, or a merchant vessel. The big cruise ships are boring boring boring!

PPS.  If you saw the film, "Ladder 49," one site used in that movie is the old grain elevator.  That's where I was

Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989

Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

zippytours@gmail.com

    410 - 522 - 7334

 

I highly recommend

This Free Fine workshop was the best one I have ever attended on ANY subject. 

It was Excellent!
If you ever get a chance to take this one-day course, do not hesitate!  It included a free bkfst
and lunch, but the best part was Judy herself.  A fine fine speaker and teacher with the best audio-visuals

I've ever seen. If you are researching your family's history, and want to discover the tools you need, take this course.

Judy G. Russell, the legal Genealogist  4 lectures on the intersection of family history research and the law. 
Topics range from using court records to understanding DNA testing

Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989

Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

zippytours@gmail.com

    410 - 522 - 7334

 

At the Jewish Museum TODAY

I heard a fascinating talk by Dr. Alan Kraut (A history professor from American University in DC, 

who specializes in US Immigration). He posed the question:

What happens after immigration? 
He spoke of 19th C immigration into the US, with an emphasis on the Jews who came to America. 

He was highly informative, especially for me, with my background.

Then I walked thru the new exhibit: 

Beyond Chicken Soup

Jews & Medicine in America 

There is so much to study at the exhibit that I will have to go back and see it again.  As a member I can
bring a friend for free on Wednesday.   I would highly recommend that you all go see it.  I believe
the exhibit will be there until June 2016

I'm a Registered Nurse who trained at a Jewish Hospital in Baltimore, a city where we had a lot of immigrants.

My mother's sister trained at that hospital, before me, as did the Sinai doctor my aunt married.
When I did private duty nursing at Sinai, one of my patients had typhoid.
And I was a PHN, a Public Health Nurse in south east Baltimore, near the piers where immigrants lived in

tight urban settings.  We had tuberculosis clinics in Baltimore in the 1960's, and I made home visits to many

Tb patients.

I am hands-on familiar with what Doctor K described. Immigrants brought in bugs that were new to us. 
I took Johns Hopkins public health physicians on a Fell's Point walking tour to describe and point out the
neighborhood's role as a source of so many communicable diseases.

The museum's exhibit covers much of the early history of Jewish men becoming doctors, as opposed to baseball players,

a topic Dr. Kraut covered in his hour-plus talk.  I wasn't bored for a minute!    Zippy

Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989

Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

zippytours@gmail.com

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Lena Horne

On Mar 8, 2016, at 8:53 PM, Zippy Larson <zippytours@gmail.com> wrote:

At the Pratt, her daughter spoke, and captivated us all with her stories about her Mom. If you ever heard the

beautiful Miss Lena Horne sing, and loved her, you would have relished the family stories I heard.

Her daughter, who attended Radcliffe, (sp) shared personal memories, tonight, about the Calhouns
who stayed in the South and those who moved to the North, and the history of the family from the Civil War to WW2.

It surely is one good reason to live in the city. I left my house at 6:35, easily found a parking space a block
from the Pratt, the talk began at 7, I found a front row seat, and I was on my way home by 8:00PM.

What an over the moon evening!!   Zippy

PS. Cab Calloway's daughter was sitting right in front of me!

Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989

Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

zippytours@gmail.com

    410 - 522 - 7334