Captain, First Mate, Senior Scrubber and Trainee Photographer (Mike, me, Ann and Terry) are up early – if we are going to be in Baltimore for just one day, we may as well get a full day’s worth.
Baltimore lies on the Patapsco River and I have to say that arriving this way is not a particularly pretty sight. It is very industrial. Very naval. We pass huge tankers being pushed into position alongside a cruise ship (I bet the passengers loved that), a naval hospital ship and countless other naval vessels. Cranes line the river with warehouses and factories. Guiding Mike on a path has him yelling that if the takes the path I am giving him he will be going over land – obviously Baltimore’s regeneration schemes have re-claimed some land since we got the charts!
As we get further into the centre of Baltimore we can really see the regeneration that has taken place. We have booked a slip for the night at the Inner Harbour Marine Centre, literally as the name would suggest, right in the centre of town. It is surrounded by loads of new buildings – the science museum, the aquarium, small shopping and food malls and restaurants.
By 10 am we are tied up and ready for breakfast. Having only got up as we approached Baltimore, Alice and Matt cook us a full breakfast of bacon and eggs. Delicious – I love the smell of bacon wafting around the boat! Mike goes to sign us in and Ann disappears down the dock in search of a cigarette shop, managing to cadge one off the lady on the boat next to us first to tide her over.
Ann, Terry and Alice go sightseeing while Matt stays in to watch Spurs play on the internet. Mike and I walk around the inner harbour – on closer inspection, it’s all a bit touristy and tacky immediately at the water’s edge – but apparently it’s a massive improvement and the regeneration was inspired by the Albert Dock area of Liverpool.
We phone our friends Kit and Nolan who live somewhere overlooking the harbour. They are actually moving house tomorrow so we only want to pop our heads in to say hello. They are in and Nolan comes over to meet us and take us to their house on Federal Hill. it’s absolutely beautiful – you can see that even through the maze of packing boxes – but moving from a 4-story townhouse will be a bugger. We linger longer than our promised 5 minutes but leave before their football team, the Baltimore Ravens, are shown live on the TV.
Walking to the restaurant, although only a stone’s throw from Inner Harbour, just around the corner in Federal Hill you could be in another world. Beautiful brick town houses line the leafy streets and some areas have managed to keep the old cobbles. I think Nolan told Mike that some of the houses were purchased for $1 about 20 years ago on the basis that the new owners spent at least $20,000 on them. The houses now go for over $1,000,000.
We stop for lunch at Regis on Light Street a wonderful restaurant recommended by Kit when I told her I wanted seafood. I have a superb glass of NZ Marlborough SB which arrives with free corn bread and blueberry muffins. I have a simple lump crab soup and Mike stuffs himself with Eggs Benedict on crab cakes with sautéed potatoes. What a delicious little feast!
We need to walk lunch off so I drag Mike off shopping. The Gallery Mall is pretty disappointing – not much substance at all – and the two smaller malls nearer the marina are really just tourist tat and food halls. I later find out that all the good shops are further round at East Harbour – Mike’s wallet breathed a sigh of relief!
We are all back on board by about 4.30 pm. It’s Alice and Matts’s last day so they go out for dinner to the Hard Rock Cafe with Ann and Terry – Mike and I are still too stuffed from lunchtime to waddle anywhere. Later in the evening I make noises about cheesecake as there are at least two places on the harbour that specialise but they fall on deaf ears and I can’t be bothered to go by myself – just as well I’m lazy.
Position: 39 deg 17 min N, 76 deg 36 min W
Distance so far: 2581 miles
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