A Tale Of Two Cities

The bus from Philadelphia dropped me way out in the outskirts of Baltimore and it took me almost two hours to get into the city due to poor public communications. Once I got into the city I walked to the restaurant where Eric (yes same one as in New York) works, grabbed a few beers and then made our way to his house. Baltimore happens to be Eric's hometown and he was therefore very excited to show off everything it had to offer. The first day his friend drove us to Annapolis, a small town roughly an hour away which was once the capital of the country and to this day is capital of Maryland state. It was a very quaint little place, with cobblestoned streets and small stone-cottages by the harbour, but it did have a slightly artificial feel to it. The rest of the time in Baltimore had a completely different feel, those of you who have seen the TV show "The Wire" will know what I'm talking about, those of you who haven't do yourselves a favour and watch it! We walked all around the city, to the dodgiest areas, where people queuing up for methadone clinics or sitting on the stoops of their houses would just look very confused to see two white guys walking down their street. Baltimore isn't just boarded up houses, drugaddicts and desolate housing projects though, as crossing one street can take you from American Ghetto to American Dream neighbourhood. Eric really had a jampacked schedule planned once more as we hung out with his friends in sketchy stripclubs, punkbars, trendy pubs down by the waterfront, went Duckpin Bowling, and much more. My favourite excursion of all though was the visit to "The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum." As the name suggests it is a waxmuseum depicting the history of the African American population, highlighting many greats such as Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Barack Obama and of course the founders of FUBU-Jeans... After four days of walking "Charm City", I thanked my brilliant tourguide without whom I would have seen considerably less and been completely lost, and caught the MARC-train to Washington D.C.

Arriving in the nations capital I was surrounded by police sirens as there had been some kind of crazed attacker shot on Capitol Hill, I found my hostel and then went out to meet Preston (another friend I made in Uganda.) Of course I managed to time my visit with the chaos Government's Shutdown, something that hasn't happened in almost twenty years, this meant that all Museums and National Parks were closed, but I could still see most monuments even if some where from a bit of a distance. I spent two days walking by what is probably the most famous home in the world and all around the different statues commemorating different Presidents and Wars. Even if it is a very pretty and clean city, I have to be honest and say that I'm not a big fan. With all it's history and iconic landmarks it still just lacks personality and soul, probably due to the fact that everybody seems to have moved here from different parts of the country. I am now sat on a bus which should take me back to New York City. Arriving in the nations capital I was surrounded by police sirens as there had been some kind of crazed attacker shot on Capitol Hill, I found my hostel and then went out to meet Preston (another friend I met in Uganda.) Of course I managed to time my visit with the Government's Shutdown, something that hasn't happened in almost twenty years, this meant that all Museums and National Parks were closed, but I could still see most monuments even if some where from a bit of a distance. I spent two days walking by what is probably the most famous home in the world and all around the different statues commemorating different Presidents and Wars. Even if it is a very pretty and clean city, I have to be honest and say that I'm not a big fan. With all it's history and iconic landmarks it still just lacks personality and soul, probably due to the fact that everybody seems to have moved here from different parts of the country. I am now sat on a bus which should take me back to New York City.