Baltimore: the Reason for the Season

When counting cities I had trouble because I was using my flight timetable to do so. This was ill-conceived, as the one city I was absolutely positively obligated to visit was the one city I did not visit the airport for. Which is funny, since there are days when I went to the airport for a city but didn’t fly. (Savannah, I’m looking at you.)

Baltimore was the centre of gravity for the entire month. I would not have planned a month of mad standby travel had I not needed to be in “Salty-Balti” for this particular weekend. It was my sister’s last recital fulfilling requirements for her DMA and everyone was turning up for it. Both sides of the family, most assorted hangers-on, friends galore, the works. We only do this once every few years, presumably because the risk to life and limb is too great if we put this particular mix together more often than that. The last time we did this was for MG’s Master’s recital. The time before that was my graduation. In the absence of christenings and funerals we apparently gather around educational milestones.

One of the fun things about MG’s stuff is that there is no shortage of things happening, so the first thing we all did as a group was troop up to Johns Hopkins and watch their lacrosse team beat Maryland for the JHU homecoming game.

Baltimore is, as a city, quietly embarrassed at itself. During my run I demonstrated to myself that it’s difficult to stay out of “the bad part of town,” especially while trying to put together a 5K route that doesn’t involve runing around the same block over and over, because most of the city is the bad part of town. The inner harbour is picturesque, the part of the city that keeps itself dressed up for guests, but the rest simply is what it is. “It’s hard enough keeping things together,” the city seems to say, “without having to spiff up for you.” I did my best to stay out of the city’s way.

I drank too much, talked to many people, offered moral support and bag-carrying duties for MG, and managed to have a good run. I marvelled at the cherry blossoms, and the fact that despite being in DC for the entirety of cherry blossom season I only managed to see cherry trees in cities other than DC. I watched my little sister conduct. I touched base with family members I hadn’t seen since the last gathering (or longer!) and I wandered around without a jacket. Baltimore as a destination is holding on by its fingernails, and by the time I got there I was a little frayed myself. We both made it through the weekend, surviving the onslaught of my blood relatives with almost no bloodshed, and everyone made it out in one piece.

I also, as an aside, had the best breakfast of the entire trip at Water for Chocolate right up the street from where I was staying. There was nothing bad about this place. The food was fantastic, the presentation was artful, the proprietor was charming, and the coffee was plentiful and drinkable. I’m not doing a foodie review of this month and have avoided talking about food, but this place is worth visiting if you’re in Baltimore.