| Baltimore is my hometown and a city that has a | | | | house students, teachers and other professionals. |
| special place in my heart. Through my childhood | | | | The Baltimore Museum of Art, best known for its |
| years, Baltimore seemed backward and behind | | | | Cone Collection of post-impressionist paintings, is |
| most other places in terms of urban renewal and | | | | also located here. |
| progress in general. While other major league | | | | The funky Fells Point neighborhood, to the east of |
| cities were building new baseball stadiums, for | | | | the Inner Harbor, continues to see a renaissance |
| example, Baltimore's populace-at-large did not see | | | | as Inner Harbor redevelopment expands in its |
| the value of spending tax dollars on such a | | | | direction. Fells Point's cobblestone streets feature |
| project. | | | | craft shops, and plenty of places for drinks or |
| That all changed in the 1970's and 1980's while | | | | dinner. One of the neighborhood's hotels strikes |
| William Donald Schaefer served as mayor. | | | | my funny bone every time I hear its name, the |
| Schaefer was determined to push Baltimore | | | | Admiral Fell Inn. The water taxi is a fun and scenic |
| forward, and he did. He persevered to make the | | | | way to travel from the Inner Harbor to Fells |
| Inner Harbor development a reality, and once the | | | | Point. |
| Harborplace Pavilions opened in the mid-eighties, | | | | West Baltimore refers to the area west of the |
| Baltimore was off and running as a city of great | | | | Inner Harbor and immediately west of Orioles |
| vision and progress. When Orioles Park at Camden | | | | Park at Camden Yards. A multitude of old row |
| Yards went into service in 1992, it became a | | | | houses, sporting the white steps for which |
| prototype of the new generation of baseball | | | | Baltimore is famous, have been renovated into |
| parks around the U.S. | | | | million-dollar homes. The old Hippodrome movie |
| The Inner Harbor area offers some terrific family | | | | theater, whose heyday was in the forties and |
| attractions, including the National Aquarium in | | | | fifties, has been renovated into a stylish |
| Baltimore, Maryland Science Center and American | | | | performing arts center, igniting a major rebirth |
| Visionary Art Museum. In addition to Harborplace, | | | | along Eutaw Street. Some of West Baltimore's |
| upscale shopping is just across the skywalk at | | | | prime attractions include the Babe Ruth Birthplace |
| The Gallery, a 4-story indoor shopping mall | | | | and Museum, B&O Railroad Museum and |
| containing J. Crew, Godiva, Coach and more. | | | | Westminster Cemetery, burial place of poet Edgar |
| As Baltimore's resurgence took place, the | | | | Allan Poe. |
| cutting-edge design was complemented by the | | | | Little Italy is adjacent to the Harbor's east end, |
| city's charming neighborhoods. Some examples | | | | and is filled with tiny old row houses and fabulous |
| are Mount Vernon, Charles Village, Fells Point, | | | | Italian eateries. The neighborhood was home to |
| West Baltimore and Little Italy. | | | | legendary Baltimore mayor Thomas D'Allessandro, |
| Mount Vernon is the city's cultural heart and | | | | whose daughter is the U.S. Speaker of the House, |
| contains the Peabody Institute (one of the | | | | Nancy Pelosi. |
| country's top music schools), Walters Art Gallery, | | | | Baltimore is also the town with the best seafood |
| Washington Monument, Catholic Basilica of the | | | | dishes in the U.S., at least based on my |
| Assumption, Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Lyric | | | | possibly-biased opinion. I have eaten crab cakes in |
| Opera House. Some of the the country's grandest | | | | cities across the country, and they rarely |
| architecture lines Charles street adjacent to Mount | | | | compare to crab cakes in Baltimore. Baltimoreans |
| Vernon Place. | | | | also love to partake in buckets of steamed crabs |
| Charles Village, anchored by Johns Hopkins | | | | seasoned with Old Bay and accompanied by their |
| University, is Baltimore's intellectual center. Charles | | | | favorite beverage. The overall quality of Baltimore |
| Street, which fronts the Hopkins campus, is the | | | | restaurants falls short of New York or Chicago, |
| address of many high-rise apartment and | | | | but the city does have some outstanding eating |
| condominium buildings, as is University Parkway | | | | places. |
| just off the campus to the north. Charles Village's | | | | Baltimore makes for a great long weekend or |
| side streets are bordered by huge row houses | | | | family summer destination. |
| built around the turn of the 20th century, which | | | | |
