2 Days in Baltimore

I was ecstatic when my company asked me to spend two days in Baltimore, Maryland last week to work a booth at a conference. My position within my company doesn’t usually include much travel, so it was exciting to get out of the office for an overnight trip, and especially to a city that I love!

I’m no stranger to Baltimore. Growing up as a kid in the neighboring state of Delaware, my family often made day trips into Baltimore to go to the National Aquarium. Later on, my college search brought me to the Baltimore area, and if I hadn’t ultimately decided to stay in the Philly area to be a Temple Owl, I would have been a Towson Tiger. B-more has always had a special place in my heart.

That said, I had never traveled to Baltimore for business before, and I was only there for less than 36 hours, most of which would be spent in the Baltimore Convention Center. Here’s how I made the most of my short time in the great city of Baltimore.

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Baltimore has the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, but if you’re on the east coast it’s also super easy to get there via Amtrak. I got into the city quickly from Philly on the Amtrak Northeast Regional into Baltimore’s Penn Station, which is a short Uber ride from the Inner Harbor area.

I kind of lucked out on my hotel. It was selected for me through work, but I happened to get put in the Hilton Baltimore which is connected via skywalk with the convention center and is just steps from the Inner Harbor. My room overlooked a green rooftop with Camden Yards (the Orioles stadium) off to the left and spectacular landscapes off in the distance.

For getting around Baltimore, I broke down and joined the scooter craze that is taking over the nation. The Lime scooters were available all over town and easy to use through their app (there are a few other companies that operate scooters in Baltimore, but to me the Lime ones worked best). And they were so much fun to zip around on! We ended up not being able to get around town via Uber in the evening because of a pop-up presidential visit, so they made a great alternative.

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For dinner, my coworker and I went to Blackwall Hitch, a restaurant with a few locations in the region serving up delicious seafood dishes in a nautical-chic atmosphere. I opted for the crab cake sandwich, because you can’t go to Baltimore and not have crab. It came on a Challah bun with cherry pepper remoulade. So good. The flaming crab dip was also amazing.

After dinner, we scooted on down to Fell’s Point. This is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Baltimore and is full of quaint cobblestone streets and historic buildings. Thames Street is lined with bars and shops and is quite lively in the evenings – check out The Horse You Came In On Saloon any night of the week for some live music. If you’re drinking beer, be sure to have at least one Natty Boh – even though it’s no longer brewed in Maryland, it will always be a hometown hero for Baltimore and you’ll find it in just about every bar.

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As enticing as the live music sounded coming out of the Thames Street bars, my coworker and I were in need of a more relaxed atmosphere after a long hectic day at our conference, so we decided to check out the Sagamore Pendry hotel, which just opened in 2017 on a refurbished recreation pier. The hotel features a swanky lobby bar and restaurant and an outdoor pool with panoramic harbor views, but my coworker and I opted to grab a bottle from the Möet & Chandon Champagne Vending Machine located in the Pendry’s open-air courtyard. Yes, you heard me. Champagne. Vending. Machine. You even get a little drinking spout to enjoy your champagne directly from your personal bottle.

On the morning of my second day in Baltimore, I got up early (despite the late-night champagne adventures) and got walking. My first mission was to visit the grave of Edgar Allan Poe since I am a huge fan of the macabre writer. You can visit Poe’s house in Baltimore too, which isn’t too far from his grave, but I didn’t have time to accomplish both in this trip. In addition to seeing his grave at Westminster Burying Ground, the cemetery itself was pretty awesome to explore. In the early days of Baltimore this was a notable burying ground before the rural cemetery movement brought cemeteries like Green Mount Cemetery to the city. So Westminster has many of early Baltimore’s “who’s who” buried there. What’s eerily cool about the cemetery is that the existing Westminster Presbyterian Church was built in 1852 on top of the graves, meaning there are catacombs under the church that you can tour! National Treasure vibes anyone?

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After visiting Westminster, I headed toward the harbor. The Inner Harbor is home to some great attractions like the National Aquarium and historic ships including the beautiful masted frigate U.S.S. Constellation.

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I decided to take it all in from the south side of the harbor, where I grabbed coffee from a small local shop called 3 Bean Coffee and headed to the top of Federal Hill Park. Because of its panoramic views of the city, the hill served as a military outpost to protect the city through the War of 1812 and the Civil War. Today it is the perfect place to enjoy your morning coffee and take in the views.

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The rest of my day was spent in the convention center before catching a train out of town, but my quick business trip to Baltimore shed a new light on the city and reminded me that I need to get back because there is still plenty for me to explore there!