Joe and I celebrated our 10th anniversary this past July. For years, we would talk about how we'd make it really special by going some where different. We started out with dreams of traveling to Italy and hitting all these places together. We'd joke around that I would be pregnant or have a little one to have to take with us. Well, I am pregnant! Then as our 10th anniversary approached our plans seemed to start changing into a romantic getaway close by. We were thinking of some fancy resort nestled in the woods some where. Then after researching these resorts, I was realizing my wants really didn't match the prices I was seeing. I wanted to walk around wherever we were going to visit. The cheap side of me said if I was going to stay in a resort, I wasn't going to leave the grounds. I was also five months pregnant and couldn't really look forward to a brisk hike in the mountains or horseback riding or spa treatments (Joe's not into that), outdoor recreational activities like zip lining, biking, etc....
So, Joe & I got onto hotwire.com and found a great hotel in Baltimore for a good price for a romantic getaway. We've gone to Baltimore before. I've gone to the Harbor as a child, but I never "did" Baltimore.
So we left the care of our children with Joe's parents and we took off for a nice weekend! We arrived at our hotel, the Hilton next to Camden Yards. As soon as we walk into our room, we see this.
Joe said not to touch it or else we'd have to pay for it! I stared at it for a little bit and realized that this wasn't normal service for the Hilton and immediately looked for a card. I found the card and found it was an anniversary gift from my sister and parents, wine and cheese. How sweet! I started to laugh because of Joe's first thought!
This was the view from our room.
We eventually settled in and marveled at being away for a weekend by just lounging around casually before heading out for dinner. We had a marvelous dinner that included everything from starters to desserts. It was then I discovered Baltimore's nickname, Charm City. I had been playing with my new iPhone and was reading my Facebook news feed (yes, during our dinner) and my cousin-in-law posted a picture of his family in Charm City. I was curious and asked him where that was exactly. I soon found out that I was in that same city. Well, you learn things everyday!
The next day, we slept in and got breakfast at a Subway across the street. I didn't know they served breakfast! It was quite good! Then we decided to use the gym at the hotel for some exercise. I did some walking on the treadmill to this view.
Neat huh? You can watch the Orioles play a game while working out! Well, not on that day...they were playing some where else and it was raining.
We had a walking tour in the rain ahead of us! The weather said it was a 30% chance of rain for the day - it rained most of the day, heavy at times too! I really didn't mind because I was with Joe and didn't have any kids to worry about. We didn't even have an umbrella! Every tourist spot was a mile or less away from each other and it would bring us back to our hotel.
First stop, Edgar Allan Poe's grave site.
I've mentioned it before, Joe teaches Poe in his American Lit. class so it was really neat to visit. Our next stop was Poe's house which wasn't too far away. We had to walk through a seedy part of town to get there. I was saying my guardian angel prayer as I was walking. Even though it was a bad part of town, it did have some "charm" to it nonetheless.
We got there as it opened for tourist. The house was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. It had a lot of neat stuff in there especially for the Poe enthusiast. I took a lot of pictures for Joe to use to tie into his classes somehow.
Our next stop was Mother Seton House. This is where, American born saint, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton lived for a brief time and started her first boarding school for girls. Also, at this historical site is the first Roman Catholic Seminary in the United States, started up by the Sulpician Fathers in France.
This is what is left of the seminary, just the chapel - very nice. Our walk to Mother Seton House was the heaviest rain fall of the day and we were soaked upon arrival! We were the only ones there that day and received a personal tour which was really nice. Our two dosens were really sweet and let us dry off with paper towels and gave us an umbrella on our departure!
It was really neat walking to each place because we got to see the different parts of Baltimore which were all so different and had it's own feel. We decided to try to get lunch on the way to our next destination and found ourselves at a cute little sushi restaurant.
It was nice to sit and dry off and to rest our feet. The food was good, but pricey for the food portions.
Our next stop was the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
It was America's first cathedral to a very young Catholic diocese in America. A lot of history here in Baltimore! We decided to do a self-guided tour and then hit the vigil Mass. There was an upper church and then downstairs was like a crypt church which was really neat (can't find a better word from my limited vocabulary!). The downstairs was dark and you could see the foundation of the church which was all red brick. The architect, Henry Latrobe who designed our Capitol in DC also designed the Cathedral.
The crypt church had a lot of statues lit up. Here is the Philippine's Santo Nino!
After Mass, we walked back to our hotel and dried up and got ready for the evening. By this time, my feet hurt and my leather-soaked shoes, which I found at one point to be very comfortable, were now giving my feet blisters. I didn't bring any other shoes with me.
We walked to the Harbor to have dinner. We ate at McCormick & Schmidts since our first choice, Phillips Seafood was a two hour wait. It was another yummy meal! We also caught the end of a one-man street act of a young juggler of sorts (he went to circus school in Paris!). His main source of entertainment was his humor alongside his juggling talent, I thought!
We decided to visit Little Italy for dessert. I didn't know Baltimore had a Little Italy! We got some Tiramisu (my absolute favorite dessert!!) and then we walked to an Ale House and grabbed a beer (for Joe) with some buffalo wings. We did some restaurant hopping that night! Then we headed back to our hotel and fell asleep with very full bellies.
The next day, we took a tour of the Under Armour home headquarters. St. John's athletics are suited up with UA because it's founder is an alum. Joe's supplier was gracious enough to meet us there to give us a tour. It was quite impressive and not to mention the location was another pretty part of Baltimore I've never been. The UA headquarters used to be owned by Proctor & Gamble (the 2012 Olympic Sponsor) and was right next to the harbor! The Domino Sugar Factory is right next to the UA building and we saw a ship unloading raw sugar! It was probably my favorite part of the morning!
I didn't bring my camera to any of these places...
After the UA tour we headed to another part of Baltimore (I forget what they call this section of town), and we saw the new Batman movie. Then we headed home! It was a jammed packed weekend of fun.
It wasn't Italy or a fancy resort, it was exactly what I wanted - to just enjoy my husband of 10 years in Charm City.
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