Thursday, May 11, 2006
Baltimore Waterfront Festival 04-29-06
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The Baltimore Waterfront Festival was an interesting experience. It was a pleasant clear warm day. I look the light rail from the Glen Burnie Station to the Camden Yards station. This was my first time on the light rail since they finished the double tracking project where they double tracked the entire line. I walked East along W. Conway Street until I reached Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. I was surprised at how many people were here. According to the website 350,000 people showed up to the 4 day event. The centerpiece of the Waterfront Festival is the Baltimore stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race. There was quite a bit to see and do here. There were several old style sailing ships in addition to the Volvo Ocean racers.
I made a near beeline for the Top of the World observation deck at the top of the Baltimore World Trade Center. I had previously been here on February 5th after visiting the Baltimore Aquarium. I had found appallingly filthy windows. I was certain with warmer weather, more visitors and the Festival, the windows should be spotless. Wrong. They were once again appallingly filthy. I do not think the people who run this place care about visitor experience and I recommend that you avoid this place if clean windows will be an issue. It wrecked the experience for me even though I was still able to get a few good shots. You’ll see the filth in the pictures I took from there, however. For the $5, I expect the windows to be clean, after all, that is all they have to offer.
I continued Eastward along the Northern edge of the Inner Harbor passing the aquarium and the Power Plant. I arrived at the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse. I climbed the stairs up to the lighthouse and saw that they were doing some restoration to it. There is apparently usually a fee to get into the lighthouse, but it was free on this day and there was a friendly and enthusiastic attendant on hand to explain the lighthouse to folks. Some of the rooms were closed, but you could walk the outside ring and climb the stairs inside to just below the lighthouse lense. I got a great view of the Baltimore Public Works museum but I did not visit. I plan to in the future.
After I climbed off the lighthouse I decided I was hungry. There’s a restaurant called McCormick & Schmick’s. I decided to give this place a try since it had been a while since I’d had something nice to eat. It took about 8 minutes for the waitress to take my order. We were not getting off to a good start. I had their fried shrimp with shoestring fries and what they called an “Arnold Palmer” (lemonade and iced tea). The shrimp were tasty but they’d been fried too long. Instead of a nice golden brown they were more of a deep brown and the breading dug into my gums. The shoestring fries were great and I love the seasoning they put in them. The Arnold Palmer was pretty bad. It had bitter iced tea in it that restaurants often serve. I never seem to learn my lesson about restaurant iced tea. The waitress came by with the check, I put my money in it and she took it and vanished again. After 7 minutes I started to look for her. I asked the hostesses at the front if they knew where she went. 5 minutes after that she showed up a dollar short. I will not be returning to this place.
After the Top of the World and McCormick & Schmick’s efforts to ruin my day, I wound back West, the South along the Inner Harbor. Here there were exhibits, shows, boats and vendors. A great set up. There is a great visitor center here as well. Volvo had their setup along the Southern edge of the Inner Harbor. Some great things were on display here related to the Volvo Ocean Race including a semi truck, a Volvo made out of legos and other interesting things.
A bit beyond this is a memorial to the Pride of Baltimore. I will let their website get into the details, but this is a beautiful place. From here I walked up to the top of Federal Hill Park. The top appears to be geared mainly as a park for the locals and there is a very nice fenced in playground up there. What is truly nice about this place, however, is the view North across the Inner Harbor to Baltimore’s skyline. A view to the East gives you the more industrial side of Baltimore. There are benches up here and this is a great place to sit a while. There’s also a large open grassy area at the top of the hill. The Baltimore Museum of Industry is at the base of the hill on the East but I did not go there on this day. I plan to visit sometime in the future.
I saw other things while here, but I will let the photos in the album tell the rest of the story. For the most part I enjoyed this day despite the fact that I typically do not like to be around crowds.
The Baltimore Waterfront Festival was an interesting experience. It was a pleasant clear warm day. I look the light rail from the Glen Burnie Station to the Camden Yards station. This was my first time on the light rail since they finished the double tracking project where they double tracked the entire line. I walked East along W. Conway Street until I reached Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. I was surprised at how many people were here. According to the website 350,000 people showed up to the 4 day event. The centerpiece of the Waterfront Festival is the Baltimore stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race. There was quite a bit to see and do here. There were several old style sailing ships in addition to the Volvo Ocean racers.
I made a near beeline for the Top of the World observation deck at the top of the Baltimore World Trade Center. I had previously been here on February 5th after visiting the Baltimore Aquarium. I had found appallingly filthy windows. I was certain with warmer weather, more visitors and the Festival, the windows should be spotless. Wrong. They were once again appallingly filthy. I do not think the people who run this place care about visitor experience and I recommend that you avoid this place if clean windows will be an issue. It wrecked the experience for me even though I was still able to get a few good shots. You’ll see the filth in the pictures I took from there, however. For the $5, I expect the windows to be clean, after all, that is all they have to offer.
I continued Eastward along the Northern edge of the Inner Harbor passing the aquarium and the Power Plant. I arrived at the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse. I climbed the stairs up to the lighthouse and saw that they were doing some restoration to it. There is apparently usually a fee to get into the lighthouse, but it was free on this day and there was a friendly and enthusiastic attendant on hand to explain the lighthouse to folks. Some of the rooms were closed, but you could walk the outside ring and climb the stairs inside to just below the lighthouse lense. I got a great view of the Baltimore Public Works museum but I did not visit. I plan to in the future.After I climbed off the lighthouse I decided I was hungry. There’s a restaurant called McCormick & Schmick’s. I decided to give this place a try since it had been a while since I’d had something nice to eat. It took about 8 minutes for the waitress to take my order. We were not getting off to a good start. I had their fried shrimp with shoestring fries and what they called an “Arnold Palmer” (lemonade and iced tea). The shrimp were tasty but they’d been fried too long. Instead of a nice golden brown they were more of a deep brown and the breading dug into my gums. The shoestring fries were great and I love the seasoning they put in them. The Arnold Palmer was pretty bad. It had bitter iced tea in it that restaurants often serve. I never seem to learn my lesson about restaurant iced tea. The waitress came by with the check, I put my money in it and she took it and vanished again. After 7 minutes I started to look for her. I asked the hostesses at the front if they knew where she went. 5 minutes after that she showed up a dollar short. I will not be returning to this place.
After the Top of the World and McCormick & Schmick’s efforts to ruin my day, I wound back West, the South along the Inner Harbor. Here there were exhibits, shows, boats and vendors. A great set up. There is a great visitor center here as well. Volvo had their setup along the Southern edge of the Inner Harbor. Some great things were on display here related to the Volvo Ocean Race including a semi truck, a Volvo made out of legos and other interesting things.
A bit beyond this is a memorial to the Pride of Baltimore. I will let their website get into the details, but this is a beautiful place. From here I walked up to the top of Federal Hill Park. The top appears to be geared mainly as a park for the locals and there is a very nice fenced in playground up there. What is truly nice about this place, however, is the view North across the Inner Harbor to Baltimore’s skyline. A view to the East gives you the more industrial side of Baltimore. There are benches up here and this is a great place to sit a while. There’s also a large open grassy area at the top of the hill. The Baltimore Museum of Industry is at the base of the hill on the East but I did not go there on this day. I plan to visit sometime in the future.I saw other things while here, but I will let the photos in the album tell the rest of the story. For the most part I enjoyed this day despite the fact that I typically do not like to be around crowds.
