The Great Ballpark Tour - Day 7

July 1st, 2008 at 04:42pm Thomas V. Bona

Greetings from Charm City.

(I know I promised an entry about our weekend in D.C., but I’ll get to that later.)

I love Baltimore. It’s not flashy or glamorous, but it’s got one of the best baseball stadiums in the country, some great brick buildings, yummy seafood, a great newspaper and a general working-class feel that reminds me of my roots in the Bronx (the working-class feel, that is, not the seafood).

We came in via MARC’s commuter rail, which shares tracks with Amtrak from DC to Baltimore. Like most east coast commuter rail trains, it was tighter than Metra in Chicagoland … of course, we took up three seats to fit us and our luggage, so we were part of the problem. You can buy tickets on the Amtrak machines, and I think there’s some kind of reciprocity between the two train lines, sort of like what Amtrak does in California.

Baltimore’s Penn Station is more in line with the great stations in the east coast - it’s not as grand or commercially active as Washington Union Station, but it’s got some nice architecture and a few shops. We’ll spend more time there tomorrow when we have an 9 am Amtrak towards Cincy.

So we continued our trend of rain delays, with a 30 minute wait at Camden Yards, but then the game went all the way through (despite drizzle much of the last few innings). The game went into extra frames, so we got two innings of free ball (and went downstairs  to some box seats for that segment). We had so much fun that today, we went on a tour of the ballpark and got box seats for tonight’s game. Rain is not forecast, but we’re sure it will come.

The tour was great, and I learned a few things. For example, lauded architecture firm HOK apparently first proposed a multiuse stadium with a possible dome. Thankfully, the O’s ownership pushed for a special old-time ballpark that ushered in an era of great ballparks. Also, they made a great call restoring the old B&O Railroad warehouse … it apparently took as long to hand wash each brick as it did to restore the inside of the building.

Baltimore is interesting transportationwise: it has a subway, bus lines, Amtrak, commuter rail, inner city light rail and “water taxis” around the inner harbor. We took the light rail, which was … interesting. You have to buy farecards on the street in machines like Chicago’s El, etc. But the machine took my money and didn’t process my transaction, then basically shut down, so I moved to another machine and effectively paid twice for one trip.

To add insult to injury, no one even scanned or swiped my fare card on the light rail. Apparently you get on the train and maaaaybe someone asks for your card. There are signs up that require proof of ticket. But it’s at least sometimes the honor system.

I do like light rail, and it’s quicker and cooler than bus, but I’m not sure how practical it is for cities. Especially when they don’t check for tickets.

One last word - the crab cakes are as adveritsed, especially at Faidley’s in Lexington Market, one of those great places that has a huge reputation and draws people from all over, but isn’t a tourist trap. And it’s near to Harbor City Bake Shoppe, with delectable honey dipped glazed donuts.

OK, that’s enough for now. More on the capital later; and when I wrap up this trip I’ll run down highlights from the ballparks and our hotel stays. Even though this is a transportation blog.

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