Quick Trip to Charm City

As a child, I was confident that Baltimore (AKA: Charm City) was the capital of my home state of Maryland.  I had no idea of any other city in my state, so that made sense.

Almost a month ago, I finally went to Baltimore for the first true visit in many many years of being a believer.  And Baltimore does not disappoint.

The city of Baltimore is historic and futuristic at the same time.  I made a point to not look into anything which might create a preconceived notion so all I knew was the way there, the experience of my many off-track drives to the Baltimore Washington International Airport and that somewhere along the line, someone had the forethought to re-develop the inner harbor.  This is the nicest thing that developers may have done since the word is that the previous condition to this zone was known as “seedy”

People in Baltimore appear to be pleased with their city and we saw families wandering through interactive public parks built with special gardens, modern tools for entertaining small children and large smiles brought to faces of all nationalities and shared with strangers. We walked up the side streets while attending a website camp, where we found elegant stores like the Under Armour franchise which of course belongs to a native.

We watched Porsches create their own parking spaces on the side of fine eating establishments near Little Italy and found more parks dedicated to Columbus and to Polish war heroes .  Pedestrians are respected as long as they know the rules, so cars steer clear.  Since we were there on a weekend, we did not encounter too much traffic.

We missed the opportunity to eat the famous crab cakes because our camp kept us fed, but then we knew we should come back to try an eating visit, next time.  For practical purposes, of course.

I chose an Airbnb on Federal Hill, where the 100 year old row houses are no taller than three stories and on our roof, we grabbed the nicest view of the commercial activity in harbor.   Not too cold yet, we could see the Domino Plant and smell the sweetness in the air.  While driving to the house, we saw two lovely wedding set ups at the photograph stage in their event.

One took place in the updated area in the Inner Harbor, the participants so attractive they seemed to be models.  The other wedding party was outside a mosaic of mirrors and a museum with horse and buggy, all a glitter.  That was a faster glance but not less glamorous and certainly appeared as grand as the first.  I noticed that weddings look much more polished these days than I recall in my more relaxed era.  Throwback to the times of my own parents, maybe?

Much of what I experience in travel is how I reflect on it.  My details reveal more of how the change of place and routine affect me, rather than recommendations to visit the Aquarium or Planet Hollywood.  I like the variety and energy where I am exposed to new discoveries.  The old more European styled buildings near Baltimore Center Stage left me impressed with a comparison to the old West Side in New York City, most similar to Riverside in the 70’s.

So, maybe Baltimore is not the capital of Maryland.  It sure has a great presentation.