Oh Lord Baltimore

I have never lived in Baltimore and honestly have never really known or needed to know much about it. My uncle had some houses he had flipped in Fell’s Point and I went to visit once and it was quite and all, but I remember just thinking how claustrophobic it all felt. I do know, however, that in the recent past the city [or parts of it] have been going through some gentrification with some of the charm of the redone/repackaged/face-lifted areas spilling over to the more untouched parts. To be honest, I always associated a certain dishevelment with the city. Everything just seems like someone had either forgotten or just decided they weren’t going to clean it, sweep it or just make it look nice. I used to be in Philly all the time and I remember always thinking I could never live there because it was filthy – “Filthidelphia” as I jokingly called it. My few encounters with Baltimore the notable memories I had were of the unswept streets, street cars, incense stands on the corners, the long shorts that come almost down to the ankles worn with white tees that stop just above the knee, the beards – all similar to Philly. I’m at a conference all week and my co-worker/ circumstantial pahtna-in-craahm and I decided to retrace oursteps to an Au Bon Pain we walked past yesterday in some alley not too far from the hotel we were at. For some reason*, he decided to look up walking directions to the closest one. To cut a long story short we ended up on what might have been the set of The Wire and I’m sure the cameras crews and celebrities were on lunch break. After that much accidental walking, we spotted Lexington Market with the food magnetically pulling our ravenous appetites towards it. What a great moooove! It feels like a market with the fresh fruits and vegetables, deep fried food stands all over the place, ALL kinds of seafood, people, cakes etc etc. Some funny sights … Enjoy!