I have to start out by bragging: Our nine year old Granddaughter, Lexy, (Mike’s second oldest girl) is a grand slam softball player. She has been invited to tryout for the Roseville Thunders traveling softball league. If picked, she would be play teams from other cities. Way to go Lexy!!!!! 
Today we got up, cleaned the apartment (that took about 30 minutes 
Then we decided to go see America’s first Cathedral, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Yep. It is also a National Historic Landmark, among other things. The architecture, paintings and statues, were beautiful. On the bottom floor was a crypt that had been buried for centuries. It is solemn and even kind of spooky when you go down there. It has a beautiful little chapel with a gold statue that is unbelievable. I have included some pictures that I took. The main chapel area was so reverent and beautiful. I sat in one of the pews for a while just to feel the quiet reverence. So peaceful.
It was kind of surreal because here we are in this beautiful cathedral with the gardens, etc. and yet a few feet away we were looking at row houses and an alley that didn’t look very inviting.
After that we decided to walk down the street and see a monument that had been erected to George Washington. It is the first architectural monument planned to honor George Washington in the Mount Vernon area of Baltimore. I couldn’t get all of the statue into the pictures.
After that we walked across the street to the The Walters Art Museum. It had everything from 19th Century Art, to the Medieval world and the Ancient world. There were paintings from the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th century. The jewelry was very old and probably not something I would wear, but maybe my Grandma would, but it was full of bright, shiny stones. Crystal, jewels, jewelry boxes, dresses, and a whole section devoted to the Knights. Armor, swords, helmets, etc. That was interesting to see. For the life of me I can’t figure out how men survived in those getups. I’m shocked they didn’t sweat to death. And when they got hit in the head their ears must have rung for hours.
We were getting kind of hungry (2:00 in the afternoon), so while looking for a quick bit to eat we noticed that there were people coming in and out of what looked like an office building, with drinks and food in their hands. Then we looked closer and it was a 7-11 right in the middle of downtown Baltimore. Perfect! We strolled over there and got hot dogs, chips and drinks and headed for this beautiful little garden that had been set up as a monument to the Pope’s visit. We sat in the shade, talked and ate. So nice.
We have been noticing for that past few weeks that Elder Boehrer was not hearing his phone ring. We finally figured out that it was because you couldn’t hear it. After taking it to the nearest AT&T store (by the way, believe me, nothing is ‘near’ in this area, but, depending on where you are going, the scenery is nice). Yep, the sound on the phone was gone, therefore we upgraded his phone to a phone like mine. Both of us can now do Facetime. Nice. By the way, thank you David for giving your Dad that phone. He got a lot of use out of it.
The Walters Art Museum
A jewelry box – a little ornate for me Adam & Eve
You can see that Elder Boehrer is excited to climb those stairs.
Elder Boehrer ‘enjoying’ the museum
