Baltimore, I Do Believe You're Growin' On Me, Hon!

When I first moved to Maryland, my intention was to eventually live in downtown DC. I settled for a job on the West side of Baltimore and living in Annapolis because that's what my friend Kristena did, and well...I didn't want to move to a new state, town and job completely friendless. And Annapolis is pretty darn charming. I had a plan to get in the area, make a few contacts, and get myself into DC within the year. While I fell in love with Annapolis, my friends, and my life here....I saw Baltimore as the pits. A dump. (For my native Baltimorean friends...I apologize). You see, all I generally saw of Baltimore on my daily commute was the Beltway (hell on earth), the West side (sketchy suburbia at its finest) and the Inner Harbor (which while nice, is quite touristy). Of course I would venture into Fells Point and Little Italy occasionally, but my perception of the city was pretty much an industrial sketchy city with a little bit of polish to attract tourists. Charm City? Yeah, right. When I thought of charm, I thought of my lady Charleston....ahhhh Charleston....

Anyway, once I put down roots in Annapolis, my idea of living in downtown DC morphed into living in Annapolis and occasionally venturing into DC to get my urban city fix. I'd wander around and drool over the rehabbed townhouses, drink my Starbucks coffee, do a little shopping, and be pleased with my city experience. Who wants to drive to Baltimore when you can drive 25 min, hop on the metro, and wander around the Nation's Capital? I dismissed Baltimore as the industrial, Northern dump that I thought it was...

Fast-forward to this summer, when I sang in the chorus of an operetta with a company in Northish Baltimore. I still didn't see much more of the city than Roland Park at first...but slowly, I started noticing the people around me. They were intelligent, talented, funny...and they chose to live in Baltimore and liked it? Really? I was surprised. One evening, my friend SP and I were asked to go out with some of the singers after rehearsal to the Owl Bar in the old Belvedere Hotel. And I liked it, despite it's Baltimore location. Then, I peeked around the Mt. Vernon neighborhood and realized that, gasp!, it had some charm!

In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that the operetta this summer led to me spending a lot more time in Baltimore because of a certain someone. And while that has perhaps rose-tinted the city a bit for me, I also think I've gotten to see aspects of it that I hadn't before. I'm enjoying spending more time there these days...for multiple reasons. :) I've read a bit more into the history of the city and Maryland itself, which has been quite interesting.

And really, my silver pattern is Repousse...by Kirk/Stieff...and it was made in Baltimore. Oh Baltimore, that in and of itself should have told me we would eventually get along one day...