Small change got rained on with his own .38

Good morning Baltimore!

Remarkably after the initial out burst of idiocy, our fellow passengers had settle down and allowed us to at least pick up some sleep on the way from Boston. The Megabus had dropped us at White Marsh mall, miles out-of-town. There followed an hours bus journey into Baltimore. Passing through many a street filled with the boarded up row houses, so familiar from the Wire. It still being hideously early, we could only drop our bags at the hotel and not check in for a wash.

It didn't take long to see we'd made the right choice only allowing one day in Baltimore. The harbour area was very shiny and tourist friendly, but the majority of the city center was devoid of anything much at all. We visited Lexington Market, predominantly a food market. It became apparent pretty quickly we were drawing attention as the only white people in the building. We'd been in this position in plenty of places in Brooklyn and Philly and no one seemed to care at all. But this was definitely different. Having been pre-warned to watch our step in Baltimore, we beat a hasty retreat before we caused any bother.

When we finally got into or gloriously run down hotel, we took a quick shower and prepared to head out to one of Baltimore's more laid back areas. We had planned on getting a bus, but we saw not one in the whole time we walked along its route. Once again, the USA had rolled out its big angry yellow sky ball to fry my poor Scottish arse every step of the way. By the time we were halfway, I was drenched in sweat and going blind from getting it in my damn eyes again.

Our first objective was Charm City Cakes. The custom cakes shop featured in the reality show Ace of Cakes. M.Riot really loves her cake. Of course, on the July holiday weekend, all we could do was take a picture beneath the closed shop's sign. But Riot was chuffed anyway. Fortunately for me, there was a bar called the Dizz opposite with fantastic air conditioning and an excellent choice of craft beer.

Refreshed we continued into the Hampden neighbourhood. It was all lovely little row houses, each with its own subtle adornment to distinguish it from its neighbour. Every house had an American flag, but you got the impression it was more in a kitch sense than in one of nationalist frevor.Everywhere you looked, people on fixed gear bikes. Every man had a beard, every woman wore glasses. It was like some weird hipster settlement. We had dinner in the Golden West Cafe. Once again, I plumped for Fish tacos. Once again I was very happy with my choice. After dinner we had a drink in Hons Cafe. Apparently it featured in an episode of Kitchen Nightmares. We just had a bear though and the barman was lovely.

We managed to catch the elusive bus back into the city center. I had one definite Wire destination I wanted to check out. The Side Bar in Baltimore doubles as the inside of Kavanagh's, the Irish Bar where the cops hold their wakes. My friends band had actually played the Side Bar, so I was reassured we could visit without getting into any bother. We ducked in and out for a quick couple of National Bohemian's (Baltimore's local favourite beer) and took some snaps to commemorate. Then we returned to our hotel to prepare for a reverse trek back out to White Marsh in the morning.

[Pic: Street art, Baltimore]
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