Funny thing, I’ve been in the Baltimore area for work for a week and a half now, with Laura joining me on Friday, so I’ve refreshed my memory of the city a bit, and had fun with a tourist.
If you see one museum, make it the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM), which is on Key Highway just south of the Inner Harbor, on the east edge of Federal Hill. Plan on one to four hours, depending on how quickly you do these things. (I think it took us two or two and a half.)
As long as you’re in that neck of the woods, go to the park on Federal Hill. Maybe walk a few blocks over to Cross St and Light St, and go to the Cross Street Market to get some food.
One of the great things to do in Baltimore is just to walk the neighborhoods. Federal Hill is a great place to do that, as is Mount Vernon, which is north of downtown. You can just walk up Charles Street from the Inner Harbor and see lots of stuff worth seeing.
Up around the 1100 block of Charles St (14 or so blocks north of the Inner Harbor), you could stop in the Belvedere Hotel and check out the Owl Bar. You don’t need to eat anything there, but it’s worth checking out the architecture of the room… it’s a classic Baltimore place to get a drink. (If you really want a drink, Brewer’s Art at 1106 N Charles, just across the street, is one of the nation’s premier Belgian-style microbreweries, and the restaurant is spectacularly good, as we reconfirmed last night.)
Also in Mount Vernon, a bit south of those destinations, are the Walters Art gallery and the Washington Monument that the Masons put up, the first monument to George Washington in the country.
If you’d like additional recommendations or ideas, drop me e-mail…
Jon, thank you, that’s comprehensive and thus awesome. You’re the second person to mention AVAM, and having looked at their site, I’m excited to go. Will check out some of the other things you mention, too. Hooray for travel!
the Baltimore Aquarium is awesome. i find it in general better than Boston’s, and the top floor alone makes it worthwhile; it’s a rain forest. with free roaming birds & monkeys & lizards.
you might get along fairly famously with my big bro, who lives there. let me know if I should put you in touch
give me a call or send an email — i don’t know much about baltimore, but we could drive up for a late lunch/early dinner :)
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