Weekend Getaway to Baltimore, MD
I had a free weekend in April so I decided to go away for a few days. I didn’t intend for it to be a vacation of sorts but that’s what it turned into. I fully intended it to just be for relaxing. Except for a visit to check out Edgar Allen Poe’s grave I didn’t have anything planned in terms of sightseeing since I didn’t consider this an actual “vacation”. What I had planned to do was spend most of my time catching up on much needed sleep and spending the majority of my time in the hotel room, reading and watching tv. That was it. Yes, that could have been done at home but my neighbors are the noisiest people I have ever known. My downstairs neighbors love to blast music so loud you can feel the vibrations from the bass through your feet. My upstairs neighbors and her twins stomp and drag things all the time, and my next door neighbor can seemingly never enter or leave her apartment without letting the heavy door slam closed. They’ve all been better lately but work at that point was extremely busy and I wanted to make sure I was going to have a relaxing time on my free weekend.
First things first. Let’s start with the hotel. I stayed at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel. It was in a good location, with really nice staff, and a spacious, comfortable lobby area with a lot of cool artwork from local artists. I wanted to take pictures of the lobby but there were always at least a few people there and I didn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. The room I stayed in was nice and big, but there was a slight problem with the first room I had when I checked in and this is why I always tell people to bring Clorox wipes and their own towels. This is what I saw when I walked into the room.
I took this picture with my iPhone so I could show the women at the front desk. So not only is the rug clearly not vacuumed but there are four (four!) almonds just chilling on the rug. Like what? Why? I could overlook the rug not getting a thorough vacuuming but the almonds? Really? Come on, man. Luckily the woman at the front desk was really nice about it and immediately switched me to another room. That incident aside, the hotel was great and the location was very convenient. It was right across the street from a mini mall that had places to eat such as the Cheesecake Factory (I had never been there before and the salted caramel cheesecake I had was amazing!) and you could walk out a back door to the harbor and look at all the boats. There were also tons of other places to eat no more than two or three blocks away.
I’m a walker. I wouldn’t say I like to walk but I definitely don’t like to pay for an Uber if I can walk there, and I usually go to a lot of places when I’m on a mini vacation (even though this wasn’t supposed to be a typical vacation with sightseeing and whatnot) so walking just makes the most financial sense. The walk from the hotel to Edgar Allen Poe’s grave wasn’t bad at all (just 22 minutes from the hotel). As you can imagine, there were quite a few people taking pictures. Not huge crowds like at Times Square, but maybe about 8 or so people, but everyone was really considerate and respectful of everyone else. I thought it was interesting how someone left a mini raven on the grave. One of the groundskeepers admired my camera (I had the Fujifilm X100V with me) and pointed out a bird’s nest (I can’t remember what kind of bird) in a tree.
I had heard Patterson Park was beautiful so I had to see it for myself and I can say it most definitely was beautiful. There were lots of cherry blossom trees in full bloom and many people were having their picture taken under them. I even saw a couple with a professional photographer doing what looked like engagement style pictures. I had been walking a lot that day so I sat down on one of the benches to relax and recharge my energy for the long walk back to the hotel. It was at this point that I remembered that this was supposed to be a “relaxing” weekend away. 😄 One day that I was there I walked over 35,000 steps! That is insane. I didn’t even walk that much in Seattle (blog post coming soon) when I was on actual vacation.
I can’t remember where exactly this was (since I took this trip in April and my memories are all blended together by now) but I passed it a lot when I was out walking.
I’m trying to get back into the more art-y side of photography (or any kind of photography at all really). You know how it is when you just get so overwhelmed and burned out that even getting out of bed takes Herculean effort, and any sort of side passion or anything that brings you joy just gets pushed to the wayside? Yeah, that’s where I was, but I digress. I kind of like how this shot turned out.
I went back to the hotel to rest a bit before dinner. I’m not big on eating out at restaurants. I prefer to take the food back to the hotel with me so I can eat in comfort in my pajamas. I’m an introvert to the core. I’ve seen lots of back and forth on the internet with people saying things like “We don’t hate being around people. We like it! Just small groups of people!” I guess I’m the introvert that actually prefers being alone, feels drained when I’m around people (or even one person) for any amount of time, and feels that all my interactions are just performative sociability. But once again, I digress. I was walking back to the hotel with my food but I couldn’t resist snapping a few night shots with my trusty X100V. I seriously love this camera. I am so glad I was able to get one (and in silver!) about a year after it came out. From what I hear, it was backordered for years and even the latest version is backordered. Don’t get me wrong. I love my Fujifilm X-T5 and the ability to change lenses but I mainly use the X-T5 for video work.
On my last day in Baltimore I had to check out the Baltimore Museum of Art. I never really appreciated museums when I was younger, but then again who does? Very few people. I’m not someone who can rattle off the artist’s life history or even know who painted or sculpted what piece (unless it’s obviously a very well known painting or sculpture). I just like looking at art and the quiet and peaceful atmosphere at most museums.
This isn’t quite my style but it was very interesting in any case and it must have taken the artist a long time to complete.
I especially enjoyed the Egyptian art section of the museum. Egypt has been on my travel wishlist for a very long time. I already have my whole itinerary planned out (Cairo and Alexandria), including the hotels where I want to stay. I just have to decide when would be the best time to go.
I’m a street photographer at heart, always will be. But I prefer them to be part of the scene rather than the scene itself. I seriously couldn’t decide whether I preferred this shot in color or black and white.
I really liked this piece but forgot to get a picture of the label or whatever it’s called. As I mentioned, I’m trying to get back into the art-y side of photography and focusing on details and whatnot, so I took a picture from behind rather than in front and I took a close up of the hands clasped together behind her back.
All in all I had a very fun and relaxing weekend in Baltimore. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. I figured I’d spend most of my time in the hotel anyway, but I wound up having a very enjoyable time. I want to go back there in the future and bring my mother with me. My mom is my favorite travel buddy. To be honest, she’s my best friend and the only person I would travel with. Like I said, I enjoy my alone time but trips are more fun with my mom and I think she’d really like Baltimore.
