Baltimore

[jem88]

Since watching The Wire and starting to read Homicide: A Year on The Killing Streets, I am obsessed by this city. I must visit at least once in my lifetime. Any Baltimoreans here care to share their insights?

 

[daschoo]

is the wire good then? my sister bought me season 1 for my birthday but haven't got round to watching it yet, heard a lot of good things though.

 

[jem88]

is the wire good then? my sister bought me season 1 for my birthday but haven't got round to watching it yet, heard a lot of good things though.

Let's put it this way: it's the best television series ever (and I say that as a huge fan of The Sopranos.)

 

[Danny White]

Since watching The Wire and starting to read Homicide: A Year on The Killing Streets, I am obsessed by this city. I must visit at least once in my lifetime. Any Baltimoreans here care to share their insights?

To quote Norm MacDonald: "Baltimore is a dirty, ugly city!"

Seriously, though... most of Baltimore is pretty unpleasant. As far as I've ever seen, the only nice part is the Inner Harbor... which, to it's credit, is very nice. It's got a great aquarium, some nice restaurants and shops, lots of outdoor entertainment, and is near Camden Yard, which is a great stadium. But suffice it to say, the Inner Harbor wasn't featured much on The Wire.

I loved The Wire as well, but I honestly can't imagine wanting to take a tour of the neighborhoods featured in it... at least not without Avon Barksdale as my tour guide. It is a very dangerous city if you hang around the bad neighborhoods (of which there are plenty).

For the record, I don't live in Baltimore or even in Maryland... but I do live in Northern Virginia and have visited more than a few times.

The Inner Harbor is very nice and very tourist friendly, but you won't get much of a feel for The Wire by visiting it.

 

[jem88]

To quote Norm MacDonald: "Baltimore is a dirty, ugly city!"

Seriously, though... most of Baltimore is pretty unpleasant. As far as I've ever seen, the only nice part is the Inner Harbor... which, to it's credit, is very nice. It's got a great aquarium, some nice restaurants and shops, lots of outdoor entertainment, and is near Camden Yard, which is a great stadium. But suffice it to say, the Inner Harbor wasn't featured much on The Wire.

I loved The Wire as well, but I honestly can't imagine wanting to take a tour of the neighborhoods featured in it... at least not without Avon Barksdale as my tour guide. It is a very dangerous city if you hang around the bad neighborhoods (of which there are plenty).

For the record, I don't live in Baltimore or even in Maryland... but I do live in Northern Virginia and have visited more than a few times.

The Inner Harbor is very nice and very tourist friendly, but you won't get much of a feel for The Wire by visiting it.

We visited friends in Virginia last year. Can't remember the name, maybe Monassis? Anyways, it was very cool to visit Washington for the first time. I have to hand it to Americans, whatever else people say about you, you are a friendly, welcoming bunch. Much more so than here in Toronto, where people's dispositions seem perfectly in synch with the weather.

 

[Yeagermeister]

To quote Norm MacDonald: "Baltimore is a dirty, ugly city!"

Seriously, though... most of Baltimore is pretty unpleasant. As far as I've ever seen, the only nice part is the Inner Harbor... which, to it's credit, is very nice. It's got a great aquarium, some nice restaurants and shops, lots of outdoor entertainment, and is near Camden Yard, which is a great stadium. But suffice it to say, the Inner Harbor wasn't featured much on The Wire.

I loved The Wire as well, but I honestly can't imagine wanting to take a tour of the neighborhoods featured in it... at least not without Avon Barksdale as my tour guide. It is a very dangerous city if you hang around the bad neighborhoods (of which there are plenty).

For the record, I don't live in Baltimore or even in Maryland... but I do live in Northern Virginia and have visited more than a few times.

The Inner Harbor is very nice and very tourist friendly, but you won't get much of a feel for The Wire by visiting it.

I've always wanted to visit Camden Yards but since I don't care about baseball anymore I highly doubt that will happen.

However one day I still want to visit DC and see all the monuments and historic sites.

 

[CowboyWay]

For whatever reason, I always believed baltimore would be beautiful. For years I believed this. Not sure why. Maybe because of the beauty of Camden Yards, or some movies that were supposedly filmed there.

Then I visited.

I can honestly say (and I apologize if any of you live there), that Baltimore is the 2nd ugliest city in the country. And I have pretty much been EVERYWHERE in the continental US.

I was floored at just how a dirty, filthy, run down city Baltimore was. Its as if you were in a foriegn country.

I'd never go back unless I was forced.

 

[Jon88]

For whatever reason, I always believed baltimore would be beautiful. For years I believed this. Not sure why. Maybe because of the beauty of Camden Yards, or some movies that were supposedly filmed there.

Then I visited.

I can honestly say (and I apologize if any of you live there), that Baltimore is the 2nd ugliest city in the country. And I have pretty much been EVERYWHERE in the continental US.

I was floored at just how a dirty, filthy, run down city Baltimore was. Its as if you were in a foriegn country.

I'd never go back unless I was forced.

What is the #1 ugliest city?

 

[Danny White]

What is the #1 ugliest city?

I would guess Detroit.

 

[kmp77]

I would guess Detroit.

Detroit is the worst city I've been in.

 

[Danny White]

We visited friends in Virginia last year. Can't remember the name, maybe Monassis? Anyways, it was very cool to visit Washington for the first time. I have to hand it to Americans, whatever else people say about you, you are a friendly, welcoming bunch. Much more so than here in Toronto, where people's dispositions seem perfectly in synch with the weather.

Manassas is not a great representation of what Virginia has to offer. Not one of my favorite places in Virginia.

If you ever get a chance, Williamsburg is a really neat place to visit, Charlottesville (and Jefferson's home, Monticello, there), and the whole Shenandoah Valley is beautiful (I think that's the area Silverbear lives in, and I think Tomson as well).

D.C., while it certainly has a number of bad neighborhoods in its own right, is a great place to visit. The whole Mall area (from the Capitol on one end to the Lincoln Memorial on the other) is very safe and you could spend a days and days taking in the various sites from the memorials to the Smithsonian museums.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

For whatever reason, I always believed baltimore would be beautiful. For years I believed this. Not sure why. Maybe because of the beauty of Camden Yards, or some movies that were supposedly filmed there.

Then I visited.

I can honestly say (and I apologize if any of you live there), that Baltimore is the 2nd ugliest city in the country. And I have pretty much been EVERYWHERE in the continental US.

I was floored at just how a dirty, filthy, run down city Baltimore was. Its as if you were in a foriegn country.

I'd never go back unless I was forced.

I live in MD, been to Baltimore, and I've never....








agreed 100,000 times 100% more with what you've said

been to quite a bit of Oriole games, one Raven's game, a couple Navy/Maryland games, you go to parking, and make a bee-line to the stadium, no arriving early to look around, because there isn't that much to see other than the inner harbor, and that isn't all that great, entering Baltimore off I-97 and it's disgusting to look around

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Manassas is not a great representation of what Virginia has to offer. Not one of my favorite places in Virginia.

If you ever get a chance, Williamsburg is a really neat place to visit, Charlottesville (and Jefferson's home, Monticello, there), and the whole Shenandoah Valley is beautiful (I think that's the area Silverbear lives in, and I think Tomson as well).

D.C., while it certainly has a number of bad neighborhoods in its own right, is a great place to visit. The whole Mall area (from the Capitol on one end to the Lincoln Memorial on the other) is very safe and you could spend a days and days taking in the various sites from the memorials to the Smithsonian museums.

doesn't it take like 3 days to see the whole museum?

 

[mldardy]

Let's put it this way: it's the best television series ever (and I say that as a huge fan of The Sopranos.)

This is my same feelings. I love the Sopranos, The Shield, Breaking Bad, Six Feet Under but The Wire is my alltime favorite. I can't believe I am saying that because 6 months ago I would have never said that. I bought the box set and watched it in a month and it completely knocked me out. Great series.

 

[Danny White]

doesn't it take like 3 days to see the whole museum?

The Smithsonian is actually several museums... Air and Space, Natural History, American History, etc. (http://www.si.edu/Museums/)

And yes, you could probably spend several hours in all of them.

 

[AbeBeta]

I've driven through B-more several times -- when I lived out East I would fly out of BWI a lot. Coming back I'd often take a leisurely drive through B-more. Just disgusting, run down, and blighted. The area by Camden Yards is all built up but in a really lame generic way.

 

[CowboyWay]

What is the #1 ugliest city?

Oh, sorry. The ugliest city in the country is El Paso.

Absolutely Horrid.

 

[bbgun]

I go to six or seven O's games a year, but don't stray far from Camden Yards. We used to park in a lot near the Babe Ruth Museum ... until someone got killed there.

 

[Elysium1983]

I live in Towson, right outside Baltimore. I can count the number of times I go down into the city a year on one hand, simply because the place disgusts me. Towson on the other hand, is a nice littel suburb.

 

[tomson75]

We visited friends in Virginia last year. Can't remember the name, maybe Monassis? Anyways, it was very cool to visit Washington for the first time. I have to hand it to Americans, whatever else people say about you, you are a friendly, welcoming bunch. Much more so than here in Toronto, where people's dispositions seem perfectly in synch with the weather.

Ugh...Manassas is a dump. When I was growing up we used to call it Manass......hole.

Baltimore isn't much better. Camden Yards is an awesome venue to catch a baseball game, as long as there is a decent team playing opposite the Orioles, but outside that and the aquarium, I'd never set foot in city limits.

It's unfortunate that you've only visited that part of Virginia. The are some wonderful places in our state.

...then again, I just spent all day driving around NoVa traffic yesterday....and I wasn't real pleased. Meh...we have our bright spots.