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BOTTOM LINE: GETTING THERE: There are several flights a day to Baltimore. Northwest Airlines offers flights via Minneapolis at $811 plus tax; American Airlines flies via Dallas and Fort Worth at $836 plus tax; Delta Air Lines flies via Salt Lake City and charges $852 plus tax. All prices are return. |
BALTIMOREBlue-collar Baltimore has high culture, baseball heritage and so much moreCalgary Sun BALTIMORE -- If you can forgive Baltimore for running off with the Grey Cup -- however briefly -- then you'll enjoy one of the funkier city's in the U.S. Its citizens, who call their home "Bamore, Merlan," describe the 12th largest city in the U.S. as "blue collar with wealthy museums." And they're right. Visitors can enjoy the famous Cone collection of 20th century art, including works by Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso at the Baltimore Museum of Art. And the Peale Museum, built by painter Rembrandt Peale in 1814, is the oldest original museum in the U.S. Then there's the renowned Peabody Conservatory of Music, and the National Aquarium, which is considered to be one of the world's best marine exhibitions with more than 5,000 creatures in re-creations of their natural habitats. On the other hand, Baltimore is also home to the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Baseball Centre with memorabilia of the Babe's fantastic career. It boasts the nation's oldest railroad -- the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. And it's got the Mount Vernon Museum of Incandescent Lighting containing 800,000 light bulbs, including Thomas Edison's first. There's the B. Olive Cole Pharmacy Museum dedicated to Maryland's first woman pharmacist. The Baltimore Public Works Museum unlocks such mysteries as where water goes when you flush the toilet. Fells Point, with its cobbled streets, is the site of the original Baltimore and one of the oldest surviving maritime communities in the U.S. It's a national historic district containing galleries, pubs and restaurants, including 350 original residential structures, many dating to the early 1700s. And, of course, Fells Point is also the area where the popular television series Homicide: Life on the Street is filmed. It should also be noted in 1772, the first umbrella used in the U.S. was unfurled in Baltimore and, on July 2, 1931, the first outdoor night polo game was played at Homewood Field. And at the drop of a crab cake, "Bamorians" will tell you their city has the first ever memorial to George Washington ... and to Edgar Allan Poe. Speaking of crab cakes, you'll not get out of town without downing a bucket or several of them. They're delicious -- and so are the whole crabs featured at any restaurant in town worth its Old Bay spicy seasoning sauce. Baltimore can be truly proud of its harbor. From a once rundown area, it has been turned into a magnificent example of waterfront restoration which has been copied all over the world. A blend of urban renewal and historic preservation, it encompasses historical sites, shops, restaurants, museums and marinas. Should you need any further motivation to visit Baltimore, I offer you the Preakness Stakes, which is run each May at the Pimlico Race Course. (First featured: October 27, 1996) |
Originally at: http://canoe4.canoe.ca/TravelUSA/baltimore.html