USA - Baltimore and Philadelphia

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David here...

We got to Washington in terrible conditions. It was raining heavily and the interstate had low visibility. Still we got to the car rental drop-off in plenty of time. We jumped onto the courtesy bus back to Dulles airport and then onto the Washington Flyer to the Silver line metro. We were soon back in the centre of Washington. We had time for a quick lunch at Ray's Hell burgers again before making our way to the station to catch our train to Baltimore.

We managed to get a seat in the quiet coach, enjoying that the rules are actually enforced, with people being told off for talking too loudly or using mobile phones. The journey was only 40 minutes. We then had a 30 minute walk to our hotel, the Days Inn at Inner Harbour. The room was spacious, clean and airy, typical of most American chain hotels. We freshened up and did some research on our evenings plans. We both fancied pizza and had found a number of dive bars nearby we wanted to go to, with one called Pub Dog that was a pizzaria and brewery.

We arrived and the waitress immediately took a shine to us and chatted to us for ages. She then also roped her manager in and he came over to talk to us as well. Each time they came over, they brought over free shots for us, so by the time we left, we were a little drunk. We had planned to try a few bars but in the end as the beer was so good in Pub Dog we didn't get to go anywhere else. The pizza was also pretty good as well.

The next day was always going to be a busy one as it was our only full day in the city. We walked to Edgar Allan Poe's grave, then onto the excellent Walters gallery nearby. Then got a free bus up to the Baltimore Art gallery, again an excellent collection of art. We then took the free bus all the way back to the harbour area and then onto the Greyhound station to pick up our bus tickets for the following day. Next we walked to the Entertainment museum, which chronicals American pop culture through the decades and made a nice change from the usual galleries and museums. Their Battlestar Galactica items were sparse though, my collection is bigger.

By this time it was early evening so we went back to the hotel, freshened up and walked along the busy and bustling harbour area and into Dinosaur barbeque for 2 big plates of meats and 2 sides. The cheap draft beer, National Bohemian, was also surprisingly good so we had a couple of pints and then a pitcher between us before sensibly calling it a night. It had been a busy day and we were tired from all the walking.

The next day we checked out early and got to the National Aquarium, the jewel of Baltimore and supposedly the best in the US. It is very impressive and we saw many fish, reptiles and amphibians, but we personally think that Monteray Aquarium is better. We were in there for 2 hours before collecting our luggage and getting to the Greyhound station for our bus to Philadelphia, stopping off for a quick sandwich at Jimmy Johns near the baseball stadium, which was in full swing as we walked by. If we'd known the Baseball season had started, we might have stayed longer and got tickets. Experiencing a Baseball game would've actually been quite fun.

The bus journey was fine, though nowhere near as comfortable as Amtrak. It was a short walk to our hotel from the bus station, a Best Western, and again the room was fine, a typical chain room. We quickly freshened up and met up with our friend Kathrin who we knew from Nottingham. We spent the evening with her, first at a frozen yogurt place (surprisingly good) and then The Belgian Cafe. The food was alright and the beer was cold and tasty. Kathrin had to leave us early as she had a early start for work the next day so she recommended a bar on the way back for us, where we stopped for a nightcap before heading back to our hotel.

The next day was all about shopping! After breakfast we caught the bus to the King of Prussia mall, the biggest in the whole of America apparently. We bought many things during the day, the highlight being some Levi jeans for $15 for me. An absolute bargain. We got back to the hotel at 17:00. It was a quick turnaround as we were meeting Kathrin again plus more friends, Steve and Sandy, who we met through Kathrin last time we were in Philadelphia.

We met at Jose Pistolas, a Mexican restaurant in the centre of town. The food was good and the beer lovely but the highlight was seeing everybody again. We had a great time chatting with everyone and we all got quite tipsy. It was a brilliant evening, rounded off by a couple of drinks at a nearby bar called Cinder. It was great fun meeting up with friends and we are seriously considering Steve and Sandy's offer of staying with them next summer... as long as we take them some gin.

After we said our goodbyes we stupidly went for more drinks at Oscars, a nearby dive bar. The beer was much cheaper here and it was a nice friendly atmosphere, so we ended up having 3 or 4 beers before staggering back to the hotel. We woke the next morning feeling a little bit delicate, but managed to get up for breakfast before checking out and heading to the station for our train to our final stop of this mammoth trip.

We really enjoyed Baltimore. Great galleries, some lovely food and a nice friendly vibe about the place, nothing like The Wire at all. Philadelphia was all about seeing friends and shopping and we left feeling really happy after a couple of wonderful nights out with friends and a very successful shopping trip under our belts.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Two historic cities
Good blog. Thanks for sharing.