I Like Baltimore!

I Like Baltimore!
Wednesday, March 14th

At the inner harbor.

Outside the Hippodrome

Sheila came down for a visit last weekend. SO good to see her! She arrived on Friday night and was just settling in when I got back from the show. Saturday, we slept in and ordered room service breakfast. Between shows, we headed down to the inner harbor to Phillip’s for some crab cakes. They were delicious; but were outdone by the crab dip appetizer. We were both scraping the bottom of the dish for more! After the evening show, Sheila came down to the lobby bar and met a few of my colleagues. We had a drink with Francesca, Ryan (Carp), Tony (Sound), Pam, and Suzanne (both Hair). It was nice to start introducing SM to the gang. Sunday between shows, Ryan and Francesca joined us for lunch at the taco joint near the theatre and we met up with Hannah. Hannah (who was a THR major at MSU w/ us) drove up from Washington to hang out for a couple of hours. She’s hoping to get back up here to see the show this week – but couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see us both at once. I gave both of them the nickel tour backstage at Spamalot, before I had to get back to work. So glad that Hannah could come up and say “hi”, it’s only too bad I didn’t have more time to spend with her.

At Phillip's

Outside the Stage Door w/ Hannah

Sheila headed back to NYC while I was doing the Sunday evening show. I followed her after the show. I had planned on taking the bus; the $35 round trip bus fare seemed a lot less than the $175 train fare – but I was soon to find out how Greyhound can offer their services so cheaply. I got a taxi to the bus station and waited for my bus to be called. I was holding a ticket for the 10:05 PM bus (arriving 1:50 AM). When the bus was called at 10:15, I lined up with 25, or so, other folks at the gate. The driver stopped the woman in front of me (with another 15 behind me) and announced: “The bus is full. You’ll have to take the next one.” The next bus didn’t leave until after 11 PM and connected through Philadelphia, arriving in NYC after 4 AM! After I determined that my ticket was non-refundable, I called another cab; this one to take me to the train station. The taxi driver hurried me across town and I ran in to Baltimore Penn Station and bought a ticket for the 10:50 train a couple of minutes before it arrived. The train was lovely: spacious, relaxing and smooth. I arrived at New York Penn Station around 2 AM. I got a third cab outside and we set off for Washington Heights. After sorting out that he should exit at 178th Street, rather than Dyckman, I thought we were all set. It became clear, as we were exiting the Henry Hudson, that he didn’t know where he was going. “Stay to left, please. Stay to the left or we’ll be on the George Washington Bridge! Left!” Now we were headed to Washington Heights via New Jersey. Once in New Jersey, he couldn’t figure out how to get back to the bridge. I’m giving directions from the back seat, he’s not doing as I tell him, but we’re finally back on the bridge to NY (albeit on the lower, more difficult level). We’re finally on 178th Street, but he can’t/won’t get over to make the left turn onto Broadway and we’re turning across three lanes of traffic. I’ve never been so happy to see 44 Pinehurst as I was Monday at 3 AM…

I had a nice visit in New York. Got some items crossed off the “honey-do” list and caught up with many friends. Also got to spend some quality time with Andy D. Dog while I caught up on the Tivo-ed programs. Had breakfast with Shey – BTW, the way that Sheila Marie squeezed all of our stuff into our room to make room for Shey was ingenious! Went to Jesse’s for lunch with David. Went to dinner with Erin, Cody, Jose, Deuce, Bambi and Sheila Marie. Again, nice to catch up with everyone and to remind myself where I live. Tuesday afternoon, it was back to Baltimore ON THE TRAIN.

Today, I walked west in Baltimore to the B&O Railroad Museum. It was a lovely spring afternoon (70 degrees) and perfect for walking. The museum was great. I had two great tour guides: one gave a tour of the roundhouse and the other showed me all the diesel engines in their collection. Just the number of engines (all sorts of steam, diesel and electric) as well as rolling stock in their collection was amazing. They have a replica of the “Tom Thumb” engine that was the first American built steam locomotive. (The B&O was the first “common carrier” railroad in the US. To showcase their service, the “Tom Thumb” raced (and lost) to a horse drawn rail coach in 1830.) I reverted back to a little boy – especially when they were talking about the Jersey Central RR, it made me wish my engineer’s cap still fit. I was also able to feel a little cool when they were talking about “humping” cars and talking about the job of the engineer and conductor. “Oh yes, my father-in-law showed me how they do that in the yard!” A great afternoon. Walking back to the hotel, I had to hurry a little, as the sky turned darker and threatened to rain. I hope it clears up by morning as we’re headed to Annapolis tomorrow.

The prettiest engine in the B&O collection.

A "Yellowbelly Hudson 4-6-4" Steam Engine. Designed to pull fast passenger service, diesel made it obsolete before it got its chance. It pulled freight until retirement (albeit with a lot of style!)

The roundhouse.

1 person can turn an engine around by pushing on the outside edge of the table (the wooden area just visible on the left).

Last week I also got back to the Lexington Market for lunch. I have to like any place that can serve me the following actual lunch menu:
½ dozen oysters on the half-shell
Malaysian shrimp noodles
Thai iced-tea
Sliced mango
Three different stalls, relatively near one another in the marker. Delicious! I have to go back to the market this week and try another variation on the crab cake. They also have a sausage stand that just smells so good!

JV