Maryland - Baltimore
“Every traveler has a home of his own, and he learns to appreciate it the more from his wandering.” - Charles Dickens
After spending nearly three months traveling to different U.S. states in the Midwest, South and along the East Coast, I decided it was time to add my home state to the tour and spend a day in Baltimore, Maryland.
Fells Point was the first stop on our list, and having had lived in the area for a year and a half from June 2020 - December 2021, I had a good idea of what I wanted to explore.
We parked in the Caroline Street Garage, our favorite spot for $5 all-day weekend parking right in Fells, and walked over to the Fells Point Farmer’s Market: open every Saturday from 9AM - 12:30PM, hosting vendors with fresh fruits and vegetables; made-to-order arepas, sandwiches and coffees; locally-made and packaged alcohol, salsas, and desserts; artwork and more. The original farmer’s market began in the 1700s and you can still see the stall numbers carved into Broadway Square’s curbs.
We grabbed a soft pretzel and fresh lemonade at The Pretzel Twist, a permanent food stand in Broadway Square where the market is held, and proceeded to walk around the square, in and out of boutiques on Broadway and Thames Streets, and up to Broadway Market: an indoor food hall, where groups of people were sitting outside at the public patio tables on the sunny Spring day.
For lunch we went to Duck Duck Goose, a modern French restaurant directly across from Broadway Square, and sat inside by the window where we people-watched passersby outside. We split our best-loved DDG Burger topped with gruyère cheese, blueberry jam and foie gras, with a side of french fries, and breakfast potatoes from the brunch menu.
Mount Vernon was next on our list, so we got in our car and drove through the Inner Harbor, ten minutes over to the opposite side of the city. We hoped to go to the pop-up flower market at Mount Vernon Place, home to Baltimore’s Washington Monument, but sad to say it was overly crowded because of the event and we weren’t able to find any street parking. So we drove on to our next stop: the Baltimore Museum of Art.
The museum’s architectural structure was stunning, and inside it held a mix of modern, contemporary and renaissance art with an outdoor sculpture garden on the grounds.
From our place standing in the sculpture garden, we could hear what sounded like an outdoor concert - and it was. We got in our car and drove up the street to find music coming from Johns Hopkins University’s Spring Fair. The campus’s lawn was covered with students and locals, games and activities, an arts market place and food and drink vendors. We later found out that the headlining artist for the concert that evening was rapper Meek Mill.
After driving around the beautiful campus and the surrounding residential neighborhood, our day as tourists in Baltimore came to a close and we headed back home. Until the next adventure.