My heart’s heavy writing this, given the recent developments in American life, but stories, as they happened, beg to be told. We never know for how long we might have this freedom to talk about them. Or how long we might have on this Earth before they are buried with us. And so ... storytelling will go on. For a bit longer.
What do you do when you have one day to spend in Baltimore, MD? More like half a day, really, after having breakfast in DC and driving up.
Well, we started by going to TripAdvisor and asking that very question. And what do you know?! They have lots of lists of “10 things you must do while in Baltimore” and the likes.
We had never been to the largest city of Maryland, although we had been in smaller towns throughout the state, and had driven through the whole state en route to elsewhere. We read about the city - some sites warned that it’s the most dangerous city in America and one of the most dangerous in the world. Others advised that as long as you stick “around the harbor”, you’d be fine. The fact that we talk about the “good” and the “bad” parts of towns is a sad thing all in itself. But such is this world.
Like I said: if you’re looking for your own list of what to do, the internet is full of ideas. Here, I’ll just tell you about our day. First off, we could not do “10 things” that TripAdvisor suggested, simply because of lack of time. Although we did fewer things, we still left with an impression.
First, we were worried that parking might be a problem. Just like DC, we were thinking: parking must be scarce and not cheap. It was almost true. We did find parking within very close proximity to where we wanted to be quite easily and it was not very expensive, but it was hard to know how much ”time” to buy. Having not been there before, we were not sure how far anything was from anywhere (maps don’t account for visiting time, and taking pictures, and stopping to eat some crab), so it was hard to come up with a set amount of time for the meter. We kept buying 2 hours and running back to buy additional time. It was fine, in the end.
We stopped first at the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM). I will have to tell you: this was easily one of my favorite museums ever. It is not very large, but it is gorgeous, inside and out. It is beautifully done, with original architecture, a mix of construction and art materials, and attention to every detail. Inside, the exhibits are thoughtful and insightful - two things we so desperately need more of these days.
Among the several exhibits, these are the ones that really stuck with me are:
- Healing and the art of compassion (or the lack thereof!) - What is compassion? How does it operate in our daily lives? What happens when our lives are devoid of it? Why are Americans so violent? What happens when the world is driven by lack of respect? - the exhibit does not so much answer these questions, as it forces us to look inside ourselves and come up with the answers. A real deep-dive into who we are and how we can be better.
- The Axel Erlandson’s “Tree Circus” exhibit. You can see a live example of a shaped tree. A Swedish immigrant, Erlandson shaped trees in fascinating ways by making them look like gazebos, or some other kind of canopy.
- The painted screens of Baltimore - one of the things Baltimore is known for. A Czech immigrant, William Oktavec, first opened his shop here, where he made the first painted screens. They are window and door screens that are painted with nature landscapes. The museum recreates one of the row houses (another thing Baltimore is known for) with painted screens.
- The Esther Nisenthal Krinitz exhibit. Esther was a Jewish immigrant from Poland, and Holocaust survivor. She told the story of her life, growing up in Poland, how she lost her entire family to the Holocaust, and her move to America by creating these intricate embroideries. They are half art, half storytelling and all gut-wrenching sadness mixed in with a faint sense of hope. If you go through the whole exhibit and you do not come out moved and shaken, you don’t deserve to be called human. It is, by far, one of the most emotional displays of art that I have seen in a great while. Definitely deserving of at least one visit and a deep pause.
After the museum, we headed around the Inner Harbor, which is a short walk away. The Inner Harbor is part seaport, part tourist attraction, located on the Patapsco River.
Pretty soon we realized that it might take us a while to get to the opposite end of the harbor from the museum - the end where it looked like “everything was” - more museums, parks, and several eateries. We were torn: should we walk? (it was a gorgeous April day!) Should we take the water taxi? Will we be back in time for our meter to just have expired? We were not sure. So, we drove and parked on the other side of the water.
There, we walked around, taking in the busy harbor, the beautiful architecture - a mix of modern and old , lots of red bricks and lots of glass and steel, too - shooting the city skyline from various vantage points. We settled for dinner at The Phillips Crab Deck - an outdoor deck right over the water. The wait for a table was insane, but it was worth it because we got almost the best seat in the house - away from many other customers and right above the water.
I can tell you: I have had crab in many places in my life - some of them seaside shores, and some inland. But I have never tasted a better crab dish than the ones in Maryland. The blue crab is considered the Maryland state food and they do it justice! Although the crab cake was delicious (all crab, no filling!), my favorite course was still the Maryland vegetable crab soup - it’s a tomato based chowder, filled with crab and veggies. Deliciously seafood-y and full of flavor.
And because we were in Baltimore and because it was a warm day, we had to pair our food with a National Bohemian (or the “Natty Boh”), the local lager of the city. Just like the name discloses it: it is a light lager, perfect when coldest on a hot day.
After dinner, we took a drive around Charles Village - a residential neighborhood just outside Johns Hopkins Medical School - to take a look at the famous row houses. The neighborhood began its development in 1869 and it’s added multiple acres to the original 50 over time, and as far as I could find it continues to today.
I like taking drives through cities just to get a feel of the vibe and the lay of the land. You can tell a lot (how vibrant or not, how safe or not, how boring or not) a city might or its life be just by driving around and taking in the architecture, the availability and mix of retail or restaurants, the presence or lack of green spaces.
This whole adventure took us the better part of one day - maybe 6-7 hours. It was enough to sample just a slice of Baltimore and whet our appetite for a coming back trip. We hope to do that sooner rather than later.
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