Day 14 - Baltimore

Breakfast was included at our hotel, but there are lots of families with kids staying here so it wasn't peaceful. At the Italian Disco restaurant in Little Italy we ordered three "appetizers" for lunch - the vegetable and salad dishes were very nice, but the meatballs were served undercooked. When we complained we were told that is how the chef cooks them! They took that item off our bill.

Near the inner harbour area there are a couple of old power stations. One is now a museum and the other is a Barnes and Noble bookshop with the Hard Rock Cafe next door. These used to burn coal to produce steam to generate electricity. The towers are still in the bookshop. It was disconcerting to see an armed security guard in the bookshop.

In the Charles Village neighbourhood there are rows of brightly decorated houses known as painted ladies. This trend started in 1998 following a competion aimed at making the area more attractive, cleaner and safer.

Baltimore is a poor city with one quarter of the population living under the poverty level. About two thirds of the population is Black or African American. There is a very high crime rate, not just on the streets but among the highest levels of government. A former police commissioner was imprisoned for tax fraud, and the former mayor resigned this year after allegations of corruption were made concerning her benefiting from city contracts.