Made the trek up from DC to "The Greatest City in America" (lol) to watch the Tribe take on the O's. Except for the heat (around 100 degrees everyday) and the derecho Friday night, it was a great weekend. Tribe played well, got three wins and I met a lot of great Clevelanders at the ballpark. Also did some more exploring of Baltimore in between the games. It's a city that's definitely worth visiting for all of you interested in truly urban places. Lots of gems hidden in a sometimes very rough city. There are a lot of things about BMore that remind me of Cleveland, mostly the spirit of the people. It seems much more 'real' than my current home, DC.

 

My third favorite ballpark in the country (after the Jake, of course, and Fenway Park). Camden is celebrating it's 20th anniversary this year, so there were lots of new improvements for this season.

 

 

 

 

View from the top of the Baltimore World Trade Center at the Inner Harbor. Even though it's full of chains and very touristy, the Inner Harbor is one of the greatest urban revitalization projects I have seen.

 

 

 

View of Federal Hill

 

The National Aquarium (a real aquarium, not like Cleveland's poor excuse for one.)

 

View of Harbor East, similar to what I imagine Flast East Bank will be like, except on steroids.

 

Johns Hopkins Hospital in the distance

 

BMore's Powerplant. Quite a bit more vibrant than ours.

 

 

America's first Cathedral. Designed by Benjamin Latrobe (worked on the design for the US Capitol) with some minor input from Thomas Jefferson. Interior has many similarities to the Capitol. Although not as beautiful or grand as the Basilica of the National Shrine in DC, it's a still a  beautiful and unique church and a must visit for any Catholic.

 

 

 

Tomb of America's first bishop, John Carroll.

 

The founder of my alma mater, The Catholic University of America. Cardinal Gibbons.

 

Baltimore is VERY proud that their Washington Monument is older than DC's.

 

 

Took a walk down Howard St. It's very interesting because this was one of the most depressed streets I saw in downtown Baltimore. Yet it has MTA's light rail line running down it. Typically you think transit/light rail=more economic development. Unfortunately Howard St. hasn't benefited from that.

 

 

 

 

 

Walked over a few blocks from Howard St to check out the Lexington Market. I had been to Baltimore many times but never made it here. Was a cool place and would definitely recommend visiting it. Overall though, as a Clevelander and frequenter of the West Side Market, I was not too impressed.

 

Took a ride on the Metro Subway. The subway was built in the 80's, but like many American transit systems, it never lived up to initial plans. My main problem with Baltimore's rail system is that there is no easy transfer from the light rail to the subway. The subway was also pretty dirty, but then again, I'm used to DC's Metro which despite it's many problems is the cleanest system I've ever been on. I did like how they now accept WMATA's smartrip card though.

 

Main building of Johns Hopkins Hospital

 

Sure, I guess it's a "better" hospital, but the campus is much less impressive than the Clinic's or even UH's.

 

My favorite area of Baltimore, Fells Point.

 

 

 

 

Back to Oriole Park

 

Josh Tomlin warming up before the game

 

Vinny P

 

Waiting for the light rail. Unlike Cleveland and even DC, MTA didn't find it necessary to have extra trains waiting for the huge crowd from the game.

 

After nearly 25 mins, a train finally came!

 

One last game.

 

Jim Thome's first game with the O's! Seeing him in orange and white doesn't look right.

 

The newly unveiled Earl Weaver statue.

 

 

 

City Hall

 

 

Baltimore's red light district. Walking down this street was quite an experience.

 

The USS Constellation at the Inner Harbor

 

 

Inner Harbor and downtown from Federal Hill park.

 

 

Charles Street in the Federal Hill neighborhood.

 

Yet again waiting for the light rail on my journey back home to Washington. (Getting from DC to Bmore on the weekend is a bitch, unless you want to take Amtrak)

 

 

Great pics!!!

 

I love Baltimore. What a great waterfront. Their ballpark aint too shabby either.

Thanks for the great shots!  Looks like a fun weekend!

 

I spent a somewhat random day in Balt a couple months ago and made that same walk you seem to have from Mt. Vernon to Lexington Market- you're not kidding about Howard Street.  Definitely not the image transit advocates want in people's minds!  I did like Lexington Market though- talk about keeping it real.

 

I actually thought that the JH medical complex was a lot nicer than the Clinics though.  They've gone out of their way to preserve some amazing older buildings and the place was not ringed with enormous surface lots. They seem to have a very different campus planning philosophy.

I was going to say, I much prefer John Hopkins campus to the Cleveland Clinic's.

 

Great photos.  I think every city should have a red-light district like Baltimore's...just a tad cleaner/classier.

bah! everyone in the med field knows the doctors at johns hopkins all got their degrees from grenada and phoenix.  :laugh:

I adore Baltimore - it has the great built environment of East Coast cities but without the 'inside the beltway' mentality of DC. Love the shots of Fells Point and from the World Trade Center - lots of great memories there.

 

I have to say - yes, their aquarium is far more impressive than Cleveland's, but - I should hope so, since it was the recipient of a sh!tload of public money back in the day to build new construction vs. Cleveland's being a largely private sector-funded adaptive re-use scenario. Not exactly an 'apples to apples' comparison.

 

The City of Baltimore funded most of the Aquarium's $21.3 million construction cost. Other major sources include: $7.5 million from City capital funds generated by the sale of Friendship (now Baltimore-Washington International) Airport to the State of Maryland; another $7.5 million from the 1976 bond issue referendum; and $2.5 million from the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Commerce Department. The private sector contributed about $1 million. The land and the buildings are owned by the City of Baltimore. The Aquarium is run by a nonprofit corporation, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Inc., which consists of a volunteer board of directors and larger advisory board, plus a full-time paid staff."