Ships and Lobster

Thursday: Boy,what a busy, long day today! It appeared like a week put in one day. Started at 8 am in the morning (being awake at 5 am every day still), to get from Portland/MN to Bar Harbor/MN. More on Bar Harbor and Acadia NP later.

The day before we had arrived to Portland, the largest city in Maine (ca. 66,000 people) has an important port and, though we have been here once 10+ years ago, we were surprised by the diversity and appeal of the downtown area (pic). After briefly meeting with a tourism rep in the late afternoon, we immediately headed out for the Portland Art Museum in the Arts District (pic), one of several neighborhoods in Portland.

Also, we passed by the Longfellow House - Portland is the birthplace of famous author Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - and explored the waterfront with its fishmarket (pic), where lobster cages are stored behind the buildings, and souvenir shops, and downtown, before we checked in in our standard Best Western hotel, unfortunately a little out of town. Would have loved to experience the praised brewery scene in town, but considering the drive to the hotel, we didn't. Also, there is never enough time to explore it all.

Thursday morning we still explored some other parts Portland, founded in 1631, and checked out Eastern Promenade for a great view of Casco Bay, a bay speckled with many little islands, formerly hiding places of pirates and still today having the reputation that there are hidden treasures to still discover. There is ferry service to some of them and it's a popular get-away.

Heading out of Portland then to Bath, a drive of about an hour, famous for its shipyards, in operation since the 17th century and contributing to the fame and wealth of the city. We visited the Maine Maritime Museum (pics above), the oldest still existing shipyard (Percy Small Shipyard), founded in 1893, with a museum and original buildings/workshops, in which wooden schooners, sailing vessels, were built. From the sawing of the planks in the mill to the finish all stages of ship-construction (and other aspects, like lobster fishing and industry) are being explained in different buildings and there was some "real" boat-building going on, too. It was the place where the largest vessels (like the famous "Wyoming") were built. It took 6-9 months to get a big sailer accomplished and still nowadays big (steel) boats, mostly for the U.S. Navy, are being built in Bath, now by Bath Iron Works (BIW).