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May. 7th, 2024 09:18 amJust came back from Baltimore and have to say: was a pretty good time!
We went on a whim based on my brother recommending their aquarium and found a good enough price during Cinco de Mayo weekend so figured we could use some time away.
Despite all that, we stayed at a hotel room by the inner harbor. Pretty much a rich people's playground but at lower entry fee than NYC. Our Marriott status netted us a corner room with a total view of the harbor and we quickly realized that this was glorious but also apprehensive as it treated us to all the radiant heat you can get when sunlight hits a room that is 1/3 windows. This apprehension would go away quickly as the entire weekend was going to be rain. We would later on realize as well that we were missing a couch and some of the damage to the hotel room told me that someone must have had one hell of a party in here before we arrived.
The hotel was crazy by the way which we found out was because they were hosting a few proms and weddings on the same Saturday and there was a marathon earlier that day too. Sure enough, we saw a few people dressed in bridesmaid and groomsmen outfits walking through the hall no doubt between photos or some ceremony or another. We spent our Saturday nights people watching all the traffic as hundreds of cars and buses clogged the road to our hotel. One guy was getting photos taken by the harbor with a photographer and who was probably his mom. Michelle told me some people take this very seriously so I thought that was funny and we just enjoyed watching that and some attempts to fire off fireworks on the hill opposite us; no idea if that was part of the marathon kickoff. Sunday night had us watching a group of bikers get their motorcycles all cherried out with neon like some kind of Akira/Tron motif and they slow rided through the district with music blasting. Outside of all the cops that seemed to patrol everywhere, it was really neat.
Despite all that, saw the Aquarium, then saw it again because going on Saturday afternoon on a rainy day was a terrible idea. I walked around in a worn-out poncho that's at least 8 years old and showed it as I had this tendency to get back soaked. We hit Underarmor for Michelle to get a rain jacket and myself a shirt, then Patagonia for a long sleeve shirt and a cap as Michelle was underdressed for the wind and chill. We couldn't find an umbrella anywhere.
Between this, we tried a bunch of places. I told Michelle money doesn't matter and I was willing to burn an entire paycheck if we encountered anything pricey, so we went to the Rusty Scupper, a fancy Lebanese place, an Irish pub... not really much eating to be honest. Finally figured out how to get certain things at this Mediterranean market we visit.
So got to say as well: I know we mostly drove around the nicer parts of the city (and then walked around it as we wanted to avoid driving), but a lot of the city we could see was really nice. Even the old crammed brickhouses were kept new and a fair portion of them also had roof decks to make up for the lack of outside space. It was also the better example of an integrated city at the surface level at least. Honestly it was really damn cool.
There's a museum devoted to industries in Baltimore and it gave me a better idea of why the harbor was the way it was. I never realized what an industrial area that whole place was/is and was shocked when I found out that the Domino sugar factory was still operational here. I mean, I'm so used to the Brooklyn site just being there that I figured it was another old artifact left there. They had an old map drawn out of the 18-19th century Baltimore and I compared it to a modern map and realized that yeah, most of the waterfront property was factories and warehouses lol. As ships got bigger and larger infrastructure was required for them, it only made sense that they would phase out the inner harbor as a result. As you probably know from the bridge, they have a fair number of docks there.
We couldn't see the bridge by the way it's been closed off and all major roads in that direction are regulated by cops, even within the city. Michelle tried, believe me.
All this aside, my entire body is sore as hell. It was a good trip for that. Prob wish we tried out more places but I wasn't exactly there for the food, but I was aware that we avoided a lot of other tourist spots in favor of walking and doing our own thing. Also saw the trash wheel in action which is always a win.
EDIT: Almost forgot that I saw some Nation of Islam guys. I thought they were more of an NYC thing but now realized that Baltimore had one of their founding houses here. Their dialogue earned them the same kind of disagreements you expect in Times Square. Damn you Yakub!
We went on a whim based on my brother recommending their aquarium and found a good enough price during Cinco de Mayo weekend so figured we could use some time away.
Despite all that, we stayed at a hotel room by the inner harbor. Pretty much a rich people's playground but at lower entry fee than NYC. Our Marriott status netted us a corner room with a total view of the harbor and we quickly realized that this was glorious but also apprehensive as it treated us to all the radiant heat you can get when sunlight hits a room that is 1/3 windows. This apprehension would go away quickly as the entire weekend was going to be rain. We would later on realize as well that we were missing a couch and some of the damage to the hotel room told me that someone must have had one hell of a party in here before we arrived.
The hotel was crazy by the way which we found out was because they were hosting a few proms and weddings on the same Saturday and there was a marathon earlier that day too. Sure enough, we saw a few people dressed in bridesmaid and groomsmen outfits walking through the hall no doubt between photos or some ceremony or another. We spent our Saturday nights people watching all the traffic as hundreds of cars and buses clogged the road to our hotel. One guy was getting photos taken by the harbor with a photographer and who was probably his mom. Michelle told me some people take this very seriously so I thought that was funny and we just enjoyed watching that and some attempts to fire off fireworks on the hill opposite us; no idea if that was part of the marathon kickoff. Sunday night had us watching a group of bikers get their motorcycles all cherried out with neon like some kind of Akira/Tron motif and they slow rided through the district with music blasting. Outside of all the cops that seemed to patrol everywhere, it was really neat.
Despite all that, saw the Aquarium, then saw it again because going on Saturday afternoon on a rainy day was a terrible idea. I walked around in a worn-out poncho that's at least 8 years old and showed it as I had this tendency to get back soaked. We hit Underarmor for Michelle to get a rain jacket and myself a shirt, then Patagonia for a long sleeve shirt and a cap as Michelle was underdressed for the wind and chill. We couldn't find an umbrella anywhere.
Between this, we tried a bunch of places. I told Michelle money doesn't matter and I was willing to burn an entire paycheck if we encountered anything pricey, so we went to the Rusty Scupper, a fancy Lebanese place, an Irish pub... not really much eating to be honest. Finally figured out how to get certain things at this Mediterranean market we visit.
So got to say as well: I know we mostly drove around the nicer parts of the city (and then walked around it as we wanted to avoid driving), but a lot of the city we could see was really nice. Even the old crammed brickhouses were kept new and a fair portion of them also had roof decks to make up for the lack of outside space. It was also the better example of an integrated city at the surface level at least. Honestly it was really damn cool.
There's a museum devoted to industries in Baltimore and it gave me a better idea of why the harbor was the way it was. I never realized what an industrial area that whole place was/is and was shocked when I found out that the Domino sugar factory was still operational here. I mean, I'm so used to the Brooklyn site just being there that I figured it was another old artifact left there. They had an old map drawn out of the 18-19th century Baltimore and I compared it to a modern map and realized that yeah, most of the waterfront property was factories and warehouses lol. As ships got bigger and larger infrastructure was required for them, it only made sense that they would phase out the inner harbor as a result. As you probably know from the bridge, they have a fair number of docks there.
We couldn't see the bridge by the way it's been closed off and all major roads in that direction are regulated by cops, even within the city. Michelle tried, believe me.
All this aside, my entire body is sore as hell. It was a good trip for that. Prob wish we tried out more places but I wasn't exactly there for the food, but I was aware that we avoided a lot of other tourist spots in favor of walking and doing our own thing. Also saw the trash wheel in action which is always a win.
EDIT: Almost forgot that I saw some Nation of Islam guys. I thought they were more of an NYC thing but now realized that Baltimore had one of their founding houses here. Their dialogue earned them the same kind of disagreements you expect in Times Square. Damn you Yakub!
