Baltimore. Charm City?
Towards the end of May we took a Tayeb Family Road Trip, we try to take one every year to different cities and towns each time.. we want to share our love for travel with D and hope he too grows a passion for it.
If you take a look at the upper right side of the blog you will see a few of the places we have been to. Yes, just a few of the many places because I didn't start blogging about them back then. I had the blog but I wanted to keep my personal life separate and in doing that not only was no one interested in reading the blog but I also missed the opportunity to share my experience and now the details are all fuzzy. Never again.
Coming back to the road trip, first stop Baltimore or the so called charm city.. which if I must be honest I found lacking. Our day and a half spent there was and is forgettable. There was only one shinning moment and I'll have to save that for the end. We started with lunch at the supposedly awesome Chap's Beef Pit just outside of Baltimore. Food Network's Guy Fieri raved about it on his show... so disappointing..and the lines so long.. I urge you to not eat there.. ever. M's wasn't that bad.. but do you really want to stand in a long line and eat an over priced sandwich that wasn't that bad?
Toddler in tow our activities do take a change but only slightly.. we have never been a bar hopping, late night partying type of couple. You are in the company of teetotalers. So toddler in tow, our first stop the Aquarium. A first for D.
We walked to Fell's Point and roamed through Little Italy. Neither neighborhood interesting.. I have seen much better but then again M and I wondered.. could that be the problem. That we have already seen quite a few delightfully charming neighborhoods.. not many.. but enough to what, make us neighborhood snobs! We are just getting started with our travels.. we couldn't be jaded already? Could we? We dined at Gia's Cafe in Little Italy. A nice meal which would have been much nicer if we hadn't felt like second rate citizens. We weren't sure if it was intentional or not but we were squashed into this tiny table with me facing the wall.. no plates or cutlery, we had to ask for it.. food took forever to come.. it was not the best way to start of the trip.
Our hotel was the Marriott Towne Place which was exactly what we needed. Clean, comfortable and reasonably priced. And we woke up to recharged and with hope that Baltimore would get more interesting.. and it did.. four words American Visionary Art Museum. You are not allowed to take pictures inside but this was enough to get us interested.
We ended up spending hours more than we had intended.. so much to see.. even the bathrooms were amazing.. their was a whole wall dedicated to farts, a ball of bras and a fallen angel dangled from the ceiling made of mirrors. And don't even get me started on the gift store, a place we never go into but this place just sucked us in and none of it was overpriced.. it was a vintage/retro heaven.
We said goodbye with a stop at Vaccaro's where we tried to eat a Coconut Creme Napoleon big enough to feed four.
If you take a look at the upper right side of the blog you will see a few of the places we have been to. Yes, just a few of the many places because I didn't start blogging about them back then. I had the blog but I wanted to keep my personal life separate and in doing that not only was no one interested in reading the blog but I also missed the opportunity to share my experience and now the details are all fuzzy. Never again.
Coming back to the road trip, first stop Baltimore or the so called charm city.. which if I must be honest I found lacking. Our day and a half spent there was and is forgettable. There was only one shinning moment and I'll have to save that for the end. We started with lunch at the supposedly awesome Chap's Beef Pit just outside of Baltimore. Food Network's Guy Fieri raved about it on his show... so disappointing..and the lines so long.. I urge you to not eat there.. ever. M's wasn't that bad.. but do you really want to stand in a long line and eat an over priced sandwich that wasn't that bad?
Toddler in tow our activities do take a change but only slightly.. we have never been a bar hopping, late night partying type of couple. You are in the company of teetotalers. So toddler in tow, our first stop the Aquarium. A first for D.
We walked to Fell's Point and roamed through Little Italy. Neither neighborhood interesting.. I have seen much better but then again M and I wondered.. could that be the problem. That we have already seen quite a few delightfully charming neighborhoods.. not many.. but enough to what, make us neighborhood snobs! We are just getting started with our travels.. we couldn't be jaded already? Could we? We dined at Gia's Cafe in Little Italy. A nice meal which would have been much nicer if we hadn't felt like second rate citizens. We weren't sure if it was intentional or not but we were squashed into this tiny table with me facing the wall.. no plates or cutlery, we had to ask for it.. food took forever to come.. it was not the best way to start of the trip.
Our hotel was the Marriott Towne Place which was exactly what we needed. Clean, comfortable and reasonably priced. And we woke up to recharged and with hope that Baltimore would get more interesting.. and it did.. four words American Visionary Art Museum. You are not allowed to take pictures inside but this was enough to get us interested.
Comments
And yes, little Italy is a huge disappointment. First of all it's what? A block? Second, I don't know anyone who goes there (and I'm from Baltimore!). I think it use to be bigger back in the 50s when Baltimore was at its pinnacle.
We go to Fells Point quite a bit and love it. But it can get sketchy. And yes, it's known for being somewhat seedy. For many years there was an adult theater there.
But if you head over to the quiet end of it, you'll get the most beautiful panorama of the bay and city. On clear sunny days, when the sailboats are in the water, it can be downright breathtaking. Also, next time you go, make sure you hit Pitango for gelato. :) There's a great little toy store there too.
But on the other side of the harbor, near the Science Center, sits a great big hill (that neighborhood is called Federal Hill) and at the top is a fun playground.
Another neighborhood to check out is Mt. Vernon. It's north of the harbor and has some pretty gorgeous churches and buildings. It's where the old money of Baltimore lived. There's an incredible museum there that's free and very kid friendly. On weekends, they run a free art class for youngsters—super hands on. And when you get hungry, check out Iggies for pizza.
As far as museums go, the BMA is nice as well. The street car and train museums are a-may-zing for little kids. At the street car museum, you can take short rides on street cars from all the different eras. And the train museum is, well, huge. With more trains that you can imagine and kids can run around on all of them.
Here are some links:
http://www.baltimorestreetcar.org/
http://www.borail.org/
http://thewalters.org/
http://www.iggiespizza.com/
http://www.mvcd.org/
http://www.pitangogelato.com/
Oh and this a site that has a bunch of ideas for families in the Baltimore area: http://www.coolprogeny.com
But yeah, I mean we can't compete with Amsterdam, Paris, or Montreal. ;) We only have 600,000ish people living in the city. We're actually quite tiny and are still primarily a working class city. Our ports are in full use and we still have some major factories. The sugar factory you saw across the water while you were in Fells Point is still a working factory and under armour, to the left of it has a huuuuuuge factory too. It's where they make all their clothes.
If you're ever find yourself in the area again, drop me a line! I'll whip you up an itinerary jcooper@classic-play.com
http://underthebeetree.blogspot.com
m.
Your family is adorable, and those trips all look amazing. I would love to go to Canada some day! The Netherlands is one pretty place, if for some reason you're ever in that area again you should take a little trip over to Antwerp in Belgium, it gets a bad rap but it honestly is absolutely gorgeous and has so much history mixed in with a lot of artsy modern stuff:) (wish I appreciated it more when I lived there!)
http://louise-amabilis.blogspot.com/
fun trips! i always love checking out bathrooms! there sure are some fascinating ones! :)
The other time was to visit a friend but we just hung out at her place, we didn't go anywhere. At least you had a good time at the museums!
Lovely blog.
Catherine (your newest follower)
FEST (food, style & travel)