Baltimore

First off let me say I will be posting multiple posts today. I have several topics I wish to discuss and they all occurred to me within the last few days. So I hope you all are ready to read. Firstly, I'll discuss a nice, lighthearted trip I took on my day off to Baltimore, MD.

I took two buses to Baltimore and then hopped onto their light rail service (ah, reminisence of St. Louis) before stopping off in their famous Inner Harbor area. But before I saw all the various ships, shops, and seagulls I went to see some baseball. I saw Camden Yards, home of the Orioles! Woohoo! I'm a big baseball fan and seeing their park was cool. At first I was not impressed with it. It looked like a big brick wall that you walked through to get inside. Boy was I wrong. The "brick wall" was an outer area the lead into the stadium itself. This area between the "yards" and the stadium was home to the team store, various baseball theamed restaurants and nice alleyways. It was a rather nice surprise to walk from a gloomy brick wall into an open, bright, baseball field. I now, partly, understand why many people out here in DC cheer for the Orioles instead of for the Nationals, the hometown team. I saw a statue of Babe Ruth at the entrance of the park and viewed a lovely baseball museum.

From Camden Yards I headed down to Inner Harbor. Many tourists visit this spot and it is beautiful. It's home to various ships and condos and shops and lighthouses. I enjoyed feeling the wind whip off the water and blow through my hair. I took my trusty 35mm camera with me and used an entire role. It felt wonderful to use that camera again, as I'm so often using my digital. I saw sailboats, which I think are amazing, and a coast guard sail ship, which will soon be retiring, and even a boat that was used in WWII. I visited a lighthouse, although, not your typical kind. It was much lower to the ground, circular instead of cylindrical, and red. I cracked up at it. I saw a Barnes and Noble literally ten feet from the shoreline and a Hard Rock in an old factory. It was pretty cool actually.

As I meanered down the Inner Harbor area I walked into Little Italy. It was a place I'd been wanting to visit and had been constinuously checking my trusty internet map to make sure I was going in the right direction. Walking through this neighborhood gave the distinct feeling of walking through Europe. The houses were built side by side with no room inbetween. There were the narrow, crooked alleyways, staggering staircases, lofts built one on top of the other, and my favorite, rooftop gardens. Ah it was bliss. I thought of my friend who lived in Italy, and wondered how authentic it all was. I smelled the food, saw the Itlalian flags, and understood why I loved Europe. Homes were brick, stone, bright, and European. You could tell that the residents wanted their new lives here in America to be a tribute to what they left behind. I took picture after picture and enjoyed it all.

Little Italy was the farthest I went into Baltimore. There were still a few other places I wanted to visit, one being Lexington Square- a fun place to eat, so I've been told. It'll have to wait until a return trip. After being up there for about four hours and being by myself I decided it was time to head home. So two bus rides later, home I arrived. Tired, taned, and delighted.