I visited Baltimore and I liked it (how much, hotel)

[JNYB]

I'm on my way home from Baltimore, where I spent the weekend. Probably because I've seen every episode of The Wire and Homicide, and likely due to having read too many posts on the City-Data Baltimore forum, I was a bit wary. However, I ended up having a fantastic time and loved the city. I ran the Baltimore Half Marathon on Saturday. It was an interesting course and the crowd support was amazing. Even the cops were cheering on the runners! I spent a lot of time in Federal Hill and ate at Captain James Crab House. This morning I went on an eight mile solo run, which took me from the Inner Harbor to Fort McHenry (also did some running around Locust Point before heading back to my hotel in the Inner Harbor). I did a lot of walking on my trip and took light rail and never felt unsafe. I wasn't crazy about the area around Penn Station, but no one hassled me. Negatives I obseved: the staggering amount of blighted, boarded up row houses and racial segregation. Saw maybe two black people in Federal Hill. And while I was mostly in well to do areas, I saw many signs of poverty. Baltimore is a city of stark contrasts. Despite the negatives, I loved the architecture, the city's location on the water, and its many sites of historical significance.

I lived in New York before moving to Pittsburgh a little over a year ago. Pittsburgh is a nice city but I very much want to be back east eventually, as I prefer the east coast and want to be closer to my family, which is mostly in New York and New England. When it's time to move on, I'm going to give serious consideration to Baltimore, and when I say Baltimore, I mean Baltimore city, as my husband and I have never met a suburb we've liked. Anyway, despite the many negative things I heard about Baltimore, this weekend I found it to be a fascinating city with much to offer!

[designer_genes]

Originally Posted by JNYB

I'm on my way home from Baltimore, where I spent the weekend. Probably because I've seen every episode of The Wire and Homicide, and likely due to having read too many posts on the City-Data Baltimore forum, I was a bit wary. However, I ended up having a fantastic time and loved the city. I ran the Baltimore Half Marathon on Saturday. It was an interesting course and the crowd support was amazing. Even the cops were cheering on the runners! I spent a lot of time in Federal Hill and ate at Captain James Crab House. This morning I went on an eight mile solo run, which took me from the Inner Harbor to Fort McHenry (also did some running around Locust Point before heading back to my hotel in the Inner Harbor). I did a lot of walking on my trip and took light rail and never felt unsafe. I wasn't crazy about the area around Penn Station, but no one hassled me. Negatives I obseved: the staggering amount of blighted, boarded up row houses and racial segregation. Saw maybe two black people in Federal Hill. And while I was mostly in well to do areas, I saw many signs of poverty. Baltimore is a city of stark contrasts. Despite the negatives, I loved the architecture, the city's location on the water, and its many sites of historical significance.

I lived in New York before moving to Pittsburgh a little over a year ago. Pittsburgh is a nice city but I very much want to be back east eventually, as I prefer the east coast and want to be closer to my family, which is mostly in New York and New England. When it's time to move on, I'm going to give serious consideration to Baltimore, and when I say Baltimore, I mean Baltimore city, as my husband and I have never met a suburb we've liked. Anyway, despite the many negative things I heard about Baltimore, this weekend I found it to be a fascinating city with much to offer!

Thanks for the compliments! Glad you got a chance to run in the Baltimore Running Festival - it is truly a fantastic experience. I have participated in it every year since I moved here and I always have a great time. Maybe I'm biased because it's my local race, but it's definitely been my favorite race to run out of all the ones I've done.

The solo run you did is a run I do fairly regularly. I live in Patterson Park, so I head down to Fells and run all along the water all the way out to Federal Hill and back on my long runs. It's a very enjoyable run.

Your assessment is very spot on. There are definitely reasons to get down about Baltimore - namely the poverty and blight and the violence that follows it. But, the city also has so much to offer and I really love living here. It has such a unique culture all its own that I think you get a good taste of when participating in the Running Festival. I love getting high fives from people of all walks of life from Charles Village to Lexington Market. Everyone is so encouraging and supportive.

[pwduvall]

Originally Posted by JNYB

I'm on my way home from Baltimore, where I spent the weekend. Probably because I've seen every episode of The Wire and Homicide, and likely due to having read too many posts on the City-Data Baltimore forum, I was a bit wary. However, I ended up having a fantastic time and loved the city. I ran the Baltimore Half Marathon on Saturday. It was an interesting course and the crowd support was amazing. Even the cops were cheering on the runners! I spent a lot of time in Federal Hill and ate at Captain James Crab House. This morning I went on an eight mile solo run, which took me from the Inner Harbor to Fort McHenry (also did some running around Locust Point before heading back to my hotel in the Inner Harbor). I did a lot of walking on my trip and took light rail and never felt unsafe. I wasn't crazy about the area around Penn Station, but no one hassled me. Negatives I obseved: the staggering amount of blighted, boarded up row houses and racial segregation. Saw maybe two black people in Federal Hill. And while I was mostly in well to do areas, I saw many signs of poverty. Baltimore is a city of stark contrasts. Despite the negatives, I loved the architecture, the city's location on the water, and its many sites of historical significance.

I lived in New York before moving to Pittsburgh a little over a year ago. Pittsburgh is a nice city but I very much want to be back east eventually, as I prefer the east coast and want to be closer to my family, which is mostly in New York and New England. When it's time to move on, I'm going to give serious consideration to Baltimore, and when I say Baltimore, I mean Baltimore city, as my husband and I have never met a suburb we've liked. Anyway, despite the many negative things I heard about Baltimore, this weekend I found it to be a fascinating city with much to offer!

I like to say that most people who visit Baltimore will find that the city beats their expectations - if only because expectations are so incredibly low. Also, what many people don't realize is that many parts of the city look better than they did a decade ago. Of course, Pittsburgh has also improved in the same period.

I'm curious as to why you were put off by the area around Penn Station. Would you like to elaborate? Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself.

[JNYB]

Originally Posted by pwduvall

I like to say that most people who visit Baltimore will find that the city beats their expectations - if only because expectations are so incredibly low. Also, what many people don't realize is that many parts of the city look better than they did a decade ago. Of course, Pittsburgh has also improved in the same period.

I'm curious as to why you were put off by the area around Penn Station. Would you like to elaborate? Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself.

pwduvall, the "area around Penn Station" refers to a few blocks on my ten minute walk from a light rail station (I forget which one) to Penn Station. A few blocks were a bit rundown and desolate, but nothing major. The block itself where Penn Station is, was fine and I found the station to be an impressive piece of architecture that puts New York's Penn Station to shame.

[pwduvall]

Originally Posted by JNYB

pwduvall, the "area around Penn Station" refers to a few blocks on my ten minute walk from a light rail station (I forget which one) to Penn Station. A few blocks were a bit rundown and desolate, but nothing major. The block itself where Penn Station is, was fine and I found the station to be an impressive piece of architecture that puts New York's Penn Station to shame.

Interesting, I would be surprised if you had a problem walking from the Mount Royal Avenue stop to Penn Station. The whole area is MICA and University of Baltimore campuses (with security.) The walk from the North Avenue is often much more of a problem. About a thousand Methadone patients visit the clinics on Maryland Avenue every day. The corner of Maryland and North has a huge drug market to service the non-Methadone needs of all those patients.

[dogpark]

I was running some errands in South Baltimore and Locust Point yesterday as the sun was going down into early evening and thing how much I love living in South Baltimore, working in Baltimore, been 16 years now and even though I've had significant lifestyle changes in that time, Baltimore still embraces me with things to do, to live a good life.

Not a runner, but I love to bike down to Fort McHenry and rip along the seawall, worth doing.

[AeroGuyDC]

I think it's worth mentioning that Baltimore's detractors.....myself included...speak in a manner that is more about 40 years of Democratic intransigence, leadership ineptitude, and social deterioration and less about the actual architecture, history, and cuisine. I think all of us respect Baltimore's physical attributes. Many of us do not respect Baltimore's troubled history of electing people who think having a title is cool but don't know how to actually do the job.

[Tinawina]

Maybe it's a thing with New Yorkers, but I've met many of us since I've moved who like it here. It has its problems but it has a lot to offer. Glad you enjoyed yourself OP!

[debold4215]

Originally Posted by JNYB

I'm on my way home from Baltimore, where I spent the weekend. Probably because I've seen every episode of The Wire and Homicide, and likely due to having read too many posts on the City-Data Baltimore forum, I was a bit wary. However, I ended up having a fantastic time and loved the city. I ran the Baltimore Half Marathon on Saturday. It was an interesting course and the crowd support was amazing. Even the cops were cheering on the runners! I spent a lot of time in Federal Hill and ate at Captain James Crab House. This morning I went on an eight mile solo run, which took me from the Inner Harbor to Fort McHenry (also did some running around Locust Point before heading back to my hotel in the Inner Harbor). I did a lot of walking on my trip and took light rail and never felt unsafe. I wasn't crazy about the area around Penn Station, but no one hassled me. Negatives I obseved: the staggering amount of blighted, boarded up row houses and racial segregation. Saw maybe two black people in Federal Hill. And while I was mostly in well to do areas, I saw many signs of poverty. Baltimore is a city of stark contrasts. Despite the negatives, I loved the architecture, the city's location on the water, and its many sites of historical significance.

I lived in New York before moving to Pittsburgh a little over a year ago. Pittsburgh is a nice city but I very much want to be back east eventually, as I prefer the east coast and want to be closer to my family, which is mostly in New York and New England. When it's time to move on, I'm going to give serious consideration to Baltimore, and when I say Baltimore, I mean Baltimore city, as my husband and I have never met a suburb we've liked. Anyway, despite the many negative things I heard about Baltimore, this weekend I found it to be a fascinating city with much to offer!

Live here for awhile !