Travel Weekly associate editor Kimberly Scholz visited
Baltimore with her sister, Allison, for a weekend of sports and
waterfront activities. Her report follows:
BALTIMORE -- Forty years in the making, the rejuvenation of the
Inner Harbor here, at a cost of $200 million, provided a busy and
fun-filled weekend for two of this city's 4.6 million annual
visitors.
We caught a ball game at Oriole Park; boarded a tall ship for an
afternoon at sea; did a lot of sightseeing and some shopping, and
sampled a variety of culinary treats -- all in under 48 hours.
The Renaissance Harborplace Hotel is located steps from the
harbor's waterfront and made the ideal home base for our visit to
the city, which started with the Top of the World sightseeing
tour.
We took an elevator to the observation floor at the World Trade
Center, the tallest pentagonal building in the world at 420
feet.
Elevators soar to the 27th floor in a matter of seconds, where
floor-to-ceiling windows provide a bird's-eye view and guides offer
little-known tidbits about the city as well as glimpses into its
history.
The museum also features several interactive displays. A
midmorning sail and lunch on Clipper City, a replica 1854 schooner,
revealed more of the sights and sounds of Baltimore.
On board, passengers were asked to volunteer to hoist the sails,
and after the crew provided a short lesson on how to raise and
lower the sails and tie the correct types of knots, the volunteers
were on their own.
The vessel has an upper deck with limited seating; a main deck
that seats about 50 people; a lower level that can be reserved for
small private parties, and a snack bar that serves hot dogs, soft
drinks and alcoholic beverages.
The Clipper City, complete with the musical sounds of the
Caribbean piped throughout the schooner, sails roundtrip through
Baltimore's Inner Harbors and beyond on a two-hour tour.
Sports fans and nonsports fans alike should make it a point to
visit Oriole Park at Camden Yards to catch one of the Baltimore
Orioles' 81 home games.
The walk from the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel takes about 12
minutes and passes numerous stands selling peanuts, soft drinks and
Orioles memorabilia. The Maryland Rail Commuter train and light
rail trains also make stops at the ballpark.
The focal point of the ballpark is the B&O Warehouse, a
former railroad storage house stretching 1,116 feet along West
Camden Street.
A souvenir shop and a bar/lounge are located on the ground floor
of the warehouse, and the members-only Camden Club is on the eighth
floor. The Warehouse also is home to Gallery E, a sports art
gallery featuring works by local and national artists.
The ballpark accommodates 48,876 people, including standing
room-only. Make sure to wear sunscreen, though -- only some of the
seats are covered by a sun roof.
Baseball isn't the only professional sport played at the Camden
Yards sporting complex.
Set to begin their fifth season in the city, the National
Football League's Baltimore Ravens play two preseason and eight
regular-season home games at the 69,000-seat PSINet Stadium.
The 3-year-old facility (the Ravens played their first two
seasons in Baltimore's Memorial Stadium) is every sports fan's
dream -- it has an extra-wide concourse; eight public elevators and
two escalators; 66 rest rooms; a variety of concession stands;
surround-sound speakers, and what is purported to be one of the
largest scoreboards of any sports venue in the world.
The stadium is serviced by the Mass Transit Administration's
Park-and-Ride and by a light rail stop that drops off riders at the
stadium, just outside Gate B.
Our trip to the Inner Harbor would not have been complete
without a visit to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.
The aquarium features daily dolphin shows, a shark tank and
several exhibit areas, including the "Surviving Through Adaptation"
level and "Wings on Water," an exhibit devoted to stingrays.
New this season is "Amazon River Forest," the first new
permanent exhibit at the aquarium in nine years, which made its
debut March 3.
Visitors journey down a 57-foot stretch of the Amazon River and
witness several species of vegetation and wildlife that are native
to the region.
In the planning stages for an early 2001 opening is an exhibit
spotlighting seahorses.
For more information, call the Baltimore Area Visitors Center at
(800) 282-6632 or (410) 837-4636 or visit its Web site at www.baltimore.org.
Themed eateries lead list of dining options
BALTIMORE -- For dining, this city serves up a rich menu of
choices.
Themed restaurants abound. For example, in the Power Plant, a
renovated building that once housed a power-generating station for
the city of Baltimore, tenants include ESPN Zone and Hard Rock Cafe
Baltimore as well as a Barnes and Noble Bookstore.
ESPN Zone, a 35,000-square-foot interactive dining complex, is
separated into three areas: the Studio Grill restaurant; the
Screening Room, and the Sports Arena.
The restaurant is designed as a television studio with seating
available at individual tables or the news desks; place mats are
printed daily with updated scores and other sports news.
The Screening Room is set up with restaurant booths, 13 giant
television screens and 10 lounge chairs with built-in trays for
food service.
For a more hands-on experience, the 10,000-square-foot Sports
Arena contains interactive activities and games for all ages.
For the music-minded visitor, ESPN Zone's neighbor is Hard Rock
Cafe Baltimore, a hall of fame, so to speak, for musicians from the
beginning of the rock 'n' roll era to the present.
As with all other Hard Rock Cafe venues, this one features a
vast collection of rock memorabilia as well as the site-specific
Soul Library, dedicated to soul and blues artists.
If visitors to Baltimore have been to any other Hard Rock Cafe,
then the restaurant does not need to be on the must-see list, yet
it still remains a popular place for the young-adult crowd,
especially on weekends.
Also in the Inner Harbor is Planet Hollywood, located in the
Harborplace Pratt Street Pavilion.
The restaurant features memorabilia from movies from around the
world as well as movies and television shows shot on location in
Baltimore, including "The Accidental Tourist," "Avalon," "Cry Baby"
and "Homicide: Life on the Streets."
Bohagers Bar and Grill is a good choice for visitors who want a
more traditional Baltimore eatery.
Tables at the Fell's Point outdoor crab house are set with paper
tablecloths, a roll of paper towels, a mallet, a knife and a
bucket.
For those who don't fancy crustaceans, the restaurant offers a
decent selection of non-crab choices as well, from chicken and
burgers to seafood and ribs dishes.
Crab meals are served with corn-on-the-cob, salad and soup. The
crabs, measured in dozens, are dumped right on the table.
The restaurant turns into a dance club after 10 p.m. on
weekends.