Portland, Maine and the Wadsworth House-

 Portland is an old port city.  The big brick buildings were former factories and union buildings renovated into hotels and tourist attractions.  Some of the streets were cobblestone.  The community has preserved much of the integrity of the city in spite of many fires in the 1700-1800's.

 Here is Steve at the beginning of our day with our cruise ship in the background.

 We passed a lot of fun shops on our walk to the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  We had to drop into this popcorn shop.  The bags were huge which actually served as a deterrent to me.  I only wanted a little bag. I was able to resist the temptation to purchase.  There were so many flavors but I prefer mine with salt and butter (real butter).

 When we reached the boyhood home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,  we paid for our tour and had to wait 45 minutes for it to begin.  Next door was an interesting museum and gift shop which told quite a bit about the area and was included in our admission.  We were especially interested in seeing this home since Steve's maternal grandmother was a Wadsworth who descends from this line.

 The home itself was amazing.  Henry's sister who was very close to him, lived in the home for 87 of the 90 years of her life.  Henry grew up there and visited with his sister in the home on an annual basis after he moved to the Boston area.  His sister preserved the home in pristine condition and upon her death she willed it to the Historical Society of Maine.  All of the furnishings are original including wallpaper, floor coverings, pictures, photographs, furniture, etc.  She specified that each item should remain in its original location and outlined in writing where that was for every item in the home.

 In order to preserve the home, only small tours are allowed.  There were about 12 people on ours.  No photography was allowed in the home or museum so we show only exterior photos.

 As I mentioned there were 7 or 8 major fires in the history of this town but this building survived.  The roof was severely damaged during the home's early years so when his father had it repaired, he added a third story to the home so that there would be additional bedrooms for the children. You can detect the slight color difference in the brick.

 On our way to the Wadsworth house, we had passed a donut shop that caught our attention so we planned to check it out on our return walk to the ship.  When we arrived there was a long line so we stood there waiting with the crowd.  Just before we reached to counter, the people in front of us were told that there were only two donuts left for the day.  They were so kind that they only purchased one and then bought other items.  They left the last donut for us.  All of the donuts were made from mashed potatoes.  Our donut was frosted with pink pomegranate icing.  We were so appreciative to get a donut to share.  It was our $2 treat.

 I had planned to purchase a lobster roll in Portland but it was getting late in the afternoon and the rain was coming down harder now so we decided to postpone that purchase for our next stop at Bar Harbour.

 There were restaurants all along the way featuring lobster and other seafood.  We stopped in and checked out this market selling fresh fish.  It was interesting and smelly, of course.

This is a view of the harbor from our ship at Portland.

 We enjoyed exploring this interesting city with its mixture of historical and contemporary buildings.