So getting to Baltimore was alright - it rained for the last 3 hours of the trip, but Ben and I made it in one piece. I navigated Ben into my old stomping grounds around the MICA campus, parking right outside my old apartment near the corner of Park Ave. and McMechen. I ran into my good ol pal Alissandra (an incredible illustrator/artist/creative person/wonder woman), whose blog and professional website you should all investigate thouroughly.
Giving Ben the guided tour, we walked the 2 miles down to the Inner Harbor. You could easily take the light rail, getting off at the stop for Camden Yards and then walking only a couple blocks, but our legs needed the good stretch. A total tourist trap, the Inner Harbor is complete with it's own ESPN Zone and Hard Rock Cafe, but having it's perks - There's the incredible Baltimore Aquarium, where you can catch a dolphin show and walk down the lengthy, spiral ramp surrounded entirely by a circular tank of sharks (to paint the picture, the shark tank is the donut, you and the ramp are the hole in donut). There's also the Maryland Science Center, which is on the far right end of the harbor. Very worth it.
Ben and I stopped in the throng of it all, as there was a youth group of steel drummers putting on a pretty cool performance at the time (there's almost always some sort of performance going on there), so we through in some spare change and enjoyed them for a few.
What I really wanted to show Ben though was Fell's Point. Usually a bit more laid back and chill than the Harbor, and offering a wealth of gems to eat in. Almost all the shops and restaurants are independent, which is a good switch. We took the water taxi over, and even at $9 a pop it was nice to feel the breeze on our faces and let someone else do some driving.
We could hear an old trumpet belting some tunes as we landed and walked around the square. Hungry for some nourishment, we plopped down at a table outside the Greene Turtle, lured in by their deal of the day: a cold bucket of 5 Miller Lite ponies.
Me with burger, Ben with crab cakes, it seemed like the best choice of the day; until we ran into Bertha's. Quiet and unassuming, Bertha's sits at 734 S Broadway. We walked in, and at first thought it was just your average, tiny, dark dive bar, but when we saw the wall of dissected and reassembled green bumper stickers, we realized it was most likely at least a little bit more. Originally reading "Eat Bertha's Mussels," the bumper stickers on the far wall had their letters rearranged to read various clever (and also not so clever) phrases. Immediately Ben and I knew we had to accept the challenge and trump all the other "witty" people that had their new stickers adorned to the wall. Our awesome bartender, Angela, kept our drinks full and supplied us with a heft of stickers and a pair of scissors to complete our mission.Was it dirty? Yes. But we got our own wall.
One of my great friends, Sean Scheidt, was coming out to meet us there - he too is an amazing artist, specializing in photography. Again, look at his stuff! He was also putting us up for the night in his new place in Dundalk, so after the shenanigans were fully shenanned and the amazingly delicious mussels were devoured (we suggest keeping it simple with the garlic and butter mussels - superb) we blew Bertha's a kiss, snapped a picture with Angela, and head for our bed for the night.
Sean, thanks so much for your hospitality (hope Sadie and Edith haven't killed one another)
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