Baltimore. What comes to mind when you hear the word? The musical Hairspray and racial tension? Crime and the TV show "The Wire"? The city tends to get a bad rap. But Baltimore is an under-rated city, and a great place to visit. It has neighborhood after neighborhood full of charming brick row houses. The harborfront is a bustling tourist centerpiece that should make other cities jealous. The downtown and surrounding neighborhoods are compact and walkable, and there's a free circulator bus system and water taxis. The city is loaded with historic sites, including Fort McHenry (where the
Star Spangled Banner was inspired during the Battle of Baltimore). Not to mention, Baltimore has a burgeoning beer scene. Sure, the city has its share of blight and crime, but overall there's a lot of energy and a strong sense of a city on the rise.
Our friends Pat and Ber live in Baltimore and David had never visited, so it was about time we spent a long weekend in the
Charm City.
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| Walking in the Federal Hill neighborhood. Much of Baltimore looks like this. |
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| Block after block of historic brick rowhouses |
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| Fort McHenry National Monument |
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| The star-spangled banner |
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| Paul got put in revolutionary jail |
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| The harbor at Fort McHenry |
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| Historic church in downtown |
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| See, the greatest city in America! It says it on a bench! And why would a bench lie to a person? |
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| Local beer |
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| Downtown Baltimore |
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| The viewing deck of the Baltimore world trade center |
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| Baltimore harborfront |
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| Hanging out with Spongebob outside the National Aquarium |
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| Another beer at Max's taproom |
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| The Ukrainian church |
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| Nature trail in Patterson Park |
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| We went "Duckpin" bowling. It's a Baltimore tradition. |
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| The bowling balls and pins are smaller than regular bowling |
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| There's even a local Duckpin beer! |
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| Baltimore at night from Federal Hill Park |
On our final day, we made a quick trip up to Pennsylvania before flying back to Atlanta. We rode some coasters at Hersheypark, and visited the state capitol building and had some beer in Harrisburg. We've been to quite a few state capitol buildings, and the Pennsylvania capitol is one of the most impressive we've seen.
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| Yes, Paul rode this kiddie coaster. It's chocolate themed - the "Cocoa Cruiser"! |
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| The Wildcat |
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| He ate the whole thing! |
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| This cow sang to us about chocolate |
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| The Pennsylvania state capitol |
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| It's historic! |
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| Carved mahogany figures |
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| Paul is the new governor. First action: the "flags for orphans" bill. |
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| Inside the capitol rotunda |
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| The ornate dome interior |
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| The senate |
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| Beautiful stained glass windows |
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| The amazing dome of the supreme court |
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| Paintings in the supreme court. This was a very impressive room. |
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| The congressional chamber |
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| Looking out over Harrisburg from the capitol steps |
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| We stopped for some beer at Appalachian brewing company |
Baltimore has a lot going for it. It's also close to a lot of things (an easy drive to Hersheypark, for example). We definitely enjoyed our trip and hope to visit again soon!
