Baltimore

Greetings from Baltimore! I am here with my friend Drew who is here for a doctors' continuing education class and invited me along. This is my first real time in Baltimore (I came when I was five to a Baltimore Orioles game with my Dad and uncle and cousin who lived in DC but that's all we did, so I don't think that really counts).

We arrived Wednesday by various transportation modes: we flew into Washington, DC, took the Metro to Union Station, a commuter train to Baltimore, and a taxi to our hotel. We are staying in downtown Baltimore across the street from Camden Yards baseball stadium. Once we finally got settled in, we walked down to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Baltimore has a natural harbor formed by the Patapsco river which snakes it way into the inner city. The final end of it is almost surrounded on four sides by land. We had drinks at a bar with a great view of the National Aquarium and the USS Constellation, a ship from the War of 1812. We later met up with some friends of Drew's and their newborn for dinner and then walked back to their row house in the Federal Hill neighborhood. Baltimore seems covered with row houses. I had no idea it was such a "real" city like Boston or Washington, DC--very dense with houses right on the street, walkable neighborhoods, and lots of parallel parking. The Federal Hill neighborhood was particularly charming. On a large hill overlooking the harbor, was a large American flag on the spot where there was once a huge union garrison stationed during the civil war to "keep an eye on the rebellious elements in Baltimore." At least that's what the historic marker said.

Today, I took a water taxi to Fort McHenry at the opposite end of the harbor. The fort was heavily bombarded by the British during the War of 1812. During the bombardment the flag flying over the fort was not damaged and Francis Scott Key wrote a poem about it, called "The Star-Spangled Banner, " which was eventually set to music and became our national anthem. The flag that inspired our anthem is now in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian but there is a replica of it flying over the fort. It has fifteen stars and fifteen stripes for the 15 states that were part of the union at the time. Before heading to the fort I stopped at the visitor center for a short film. When the film was over, the curtain to the right of us parted revealing a large picture window with a perfect view of the fort and the flag. We were asked to stand and the national anthem was played over the speakers. I thought it was a little hokie and wondered what would happen if I started to sing, "There'll Always be an England?" But I didn't and actually, the rest of the day I couldn't get the national anthem out of my head. There were several elementary school groups there on field trips but somehow I managed to avoid them by seeing various parts of the fort at just the right time. After seeing all I wanted, I took the water taxi to the historic Fell's Point neighborhood where I had lunch at a pub. I took a long walk after lunch, partly by accident, back to the harbor. After walking around the Mount Vernon neighborhood a bit, I returned to the hotel for a nice nap.

When Drew got out of his class we took a free shuttle bus to an Irish pub by the harbor for a beer before going on to Obrycki's restaurant back in Fell's Point for a traditional Baltimore Blue Crab dinner. We got three jumbo Blue Crabs as well as two crab cakes. I had never had a traditional crab meal before and while it was delicious, I think it was the messiest meal I have ever had. We went through a whole big stack of paper napkins and had crab and goo all over our hands. I have since washed my hands three time and they still smell like crab. But it was a lot of fun and we got some good pictures and had some good laughs. Tomorrow Drew goes back to class (something with cadavers and tracheotomies) and I am heading back to Washington, DC to spend the day with my friend Joe. Stay tuned for more.