I took a trip to Baltimore, MD from Tuesday, June 2 to Thursday June 4 to attend a conference for work.  I had never been to Baltimore before though I had been to Washington DC and Annapolis, MD many years ago when I was a junior in high school.  In Washington DC my History/English Honors block class and I participated in the Close Up program.  I remember one of my classmates wanted to go to Baltimore—I believe he wanted to see John Hopkins University—but we didn’t go there.  Perhaps he went there separately, I’m not sure.  Maybe I’ll ask him sometime.  The closest we got was Annapolis where we visited the U.S. Naval Academy.

This latest trip was originally supposed to go to Fargo, ND but two months prior was switched to Baltimore.  To get there I had to take the red eye flight out of Ontario Airport.  My flight left at 12:55 am in the morning of Tuesday, June 7.  I arrived at the airport at around 11 pm on Monday, June 1 where I was to fly out of Terminal 2 on Continental Airlines.  As usual, they didn’t accept liquids in containers larger than 3 oz so I figured I could buy some bottle water after going through security.  However, at that hour nothing was opened, not even the Harbor News airport shops.  I eventually found a vending matching that’s down the hall to the left after going through security and past gates 207, 208, and 209.  At 12:05 they had already started boarding first class.  When I boarded a family asked if I could switch to a window seat so they could be together.  I said I preferred my aisle seat and they were able to get others to change seats.  My manager, who was taking the same flight, had the seat in front of me.  It was a full flight despite being a red eye.  Soon the TV monitors folded down from the ceiling of the plane to show the safety briefing.  During this nearly three-hour flight from Ontario to Houston they showed the movie Paul Blart: Mall Cop.  Most of the other passengers slept and the lights were kept off.  I couldn’t sleep and I watched some of the movie.

We arrived at Houston before our 5:49 am (local time) ETA.  I remember the last time I was at George H.W. Bush Airport (IAH) in Houston and we had to walk a very long distance to get to our connecting gate.  This time our connecting gate was the same as our arrival gate and we were taking the same plane.  I had some breakfast at a bagel place though this carnitas place I saw later looked like it had better food.  Our flight from Houston to Baltimore started boarding before 7 am.  There were many eighth grade children on the flight going to visit Washington DC.  There’s a program for eighth graders to visit DC for three days.  I think I remember hearing something about it when I was in eighth grade though it wasn’t until the eleventh grade that I made it to DC.  I swapped seats so one of the kids could sit near his group’s leaders.  The flight attendants had to swap kids out of the exit rows because they were under 15 years old.  This may have delayed the flight a bit.  Other than the boarding, the kids were fairly calm and quiet.  The in-flight movie was New in Town with Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr.  I ignored it and again did not sleep on the plane.

Our flight arrived on time at around 11:30 am local time and we caught a cab to our hotel.  The cab drove on the freeway and we spotted the stadium where the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL play and Camden Yards ballpark where the Orioles of MLB play.  The latter had an unusual brick exterior.  With very little traffic on the freeway and surface streets the cab ride took less than half an hour.  We arrived at our hotel and we could feel the humidity as soon as we got out of the cab.  We entered the modern but elegant hotel lobby.  We weren’t sure if we would have time to get our rooms but we decided to try, anyway.  The desk clerk thought my manager was Filipino and started speaking Tagalog to him.  He’s actually from Mexico.

Our rooms were on the 8th floor and very far away from the elevator down several long halls.  My room, number 8064, had a view of a parking garage and alley.  The hotel itself is across the street from the inner harbor with its many piers, shops, restaurants, and tours.  We had a quick lunch in the food court (mine from the forgettable Moon Wok) in the Gallery Mall attached to the hotel and accessible from the 5th floor.  This floor was the location of the conference and the hotel’s restaurant, the Water Table.  After lunch we were right on time for our first meeting at 1 pm.  To start the meeting, the manager from the North Dakota company that was in charge of the meeting deadpanned, “I’d like to welcome you to Fargo.”

The meeting got out at 5 pm and I decided to explore the Inner Harbor.  I crossed Pratt Street and passed the building with the Spanish tapas restaurant, La Tosca; the eatery Five Guys Burgers and fries, a chain preferred by Michelle Obama in DC; and the Cheesecake Factory.  I passed the Baltimore World Trade Center that’s the tallest building in the U.S. with a pentagonal base.  It’s right on the water and it costs $5 to go up to the top floor to see vast panoramic views of Baltimore.  It was less than half an hour before it closed at 6 pm so I didn’t go up.  Many buildings such as the aquarium are on long piers that extend into the harbor.  Large bridges connect the piers making it easy to get around.  The sun was out and it was warm but also very humid.  Still, there were many people out jogging and sightseeing.  I walked toward Power Plant, an old industrial building that now houses an ESPN Zone restaurant, Barnes & Noble bookstore, Hard Rock Café, and other shops and restaurants.  I walked up the pier that’s one bridge before Power Plant that includes Baltimore Aquarium.  I ran into one of my colleagues from the conference and we took some photos of the U.S.S. Torsk submarine, the inner harbor, and Federal Hill park across the bay.  The Torsk is parked along the dock and has a mouth with teeth painted on its bow.  I believe they offer tours but it appeared to be closed at the time.  It’s parked near the Chesapeake, a vintage steam-powered Coast Guard cutter with a bright red and white hull.  We parted and I promised to e-mail him the photos we took.

One the pier between the Torsk and the Chesapeake was a dock for the water taxis.  I decided to take one to explore the harbor a bit more.  They cost $9 and that allowed getting on and off the taxis until 11 pm that evening.  While waiting I watched people cruise around the harbor in recreational paddle boats including ones that looked like purple dragons or the Loch Ness Monster.  There were a couple of sailboats anchored in the harbor.  While waiting I saw a couple, older than I, take a small zodiac boat out to one of the sailboats.  I guess people can just anchor their sailboats right there in the harbor.

A water taxi finally stopped by the dock and I boarded.  They collected the $9, gave me a book of coupons for nearby restaurants, and stamped my hand with the blue image of a water taxi.  The water taxi was flat and mostly covered.  There were benches all around and several other passengers boarded and disembarked at the various stops.  We rode past the World Trade Center and the U.S.S. Constellation, built in 1854 and the last ship powered by sails that was built by the U.S. Navy.  We stopped at the Harborplace stop opposite the Constellation and then headed out into the Bay.  We had great views of the harbor, the skyline, Federal Hill Park and the Rusty Scupper restaurant on the other side of the Bay.  We passed the aquarium, a covered outdoor concert venue, and what looked like waterfront condos and apartment complexes on the other side.  We then stopped at a pier farther down at the Harbor East stop near the Marriott where we all got off.  Down the street I saw a fountain with a large gold statue.

Another water taxi came to take us to Fell’s Point.  This ride didn’t have the scenic skyline but was still fun.  We saw some kayakers and one of them, a muscular dude paddling shirtless, tried to keep up with us.  He succeeded for a few minutes.  It was a bit cold and windy.  I expected the water taxi to give us a tour but they didn’t say much more than necessary.  One of them chatted with the other riders.  We neared Fell’s Point where there was a paddlewheeled boat docked.  Next to where we would dock were a couple of other water taxis with the names “Indefatigable” and “Insatiable”.  After we docked I noticed there were some small dead fish floating in the water nearby.

I could have taken another taxi further down to the Canton neighborhood but I heard it was raining down that way so I just took the same taxi back to the Harbor East stop near the Marriott.  This time there were a lot of sailboats out cruising around.  I guess the wind was good for that.  In the distance on the far shore I saw a tall back water tower that reminded me a little of the tall red and white one in “friendly” El Monte.  Wow, feeling homesick on my first day away.  I caught another water taxi bound for the inner harbor.  This time it stopped near Pier 5 where I didn’t remember the taxi stopping before on the way out.  I decided to get off, walk around and maybe find a place to have dinner.  It was after 7 pm Baltimore time.  Another passenger who disembarked with me noticed that some people at a nearby outdoor restaurant were waving at me.  I looked and saw of a couple of my coworkers and other people from the conference waving to me.  I kind of wanted to avoid anything work-related but felt it was most proper to walk over and join them.  They were seated in the outdoor section of McCormick and Schmick’s, a fancy seafood chain restaurant.  There’s one in Downtown L.A so it was my first choice (when I travel I prefer to eat at uniquely local restaurants) but I figured their crab had to be local.  The others had already had dinner so I ordered my dinner while they ordered dessert.  They were sharing their desserts by the time they brought my crab cake and mussels with curry sauce appetizers.  The crab cake was pretty good and I could see and taste the chunks of crab meat.  It had a lot of flavoring from the mayonnaise and spices.  I had thought the crab flavor could stand on its own and later I would learn it could at Ciao Bella (see later review).  One of the conferencegoers at the table said the best place to get mussels in Baltimore is this place in Fell’s Point called Bertha’s.  What really makes their mussels good is the sauces they use.  Another conferencegoer mentioned that the original Rusty Scupper restaurant had burned down and the one there now is a rebuilt one.  From where we sat we could see the outdoor conference venue on the next pier that had no concert going on that evening.  On the end of the pier we were on was this small elevated circular building that looked like a wide water tower.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel crossing bridges between piers.  There were still many people out even though it was getting dark.  In the lobby I ran into more people from the conference that I had met at previous conferences.  I chatted with them a bit and then returned to my room.  Since I hadn’t slept the night before I fell asleep right away despite the time change.

The next day, Wednesday, June 3, I woke up at 5:20 am and couldn’t get back to sleep.  That was strange because it was 2:20 am Pacific time.  Since I had a lot of time before the conference started at 7:30 I decided to check out the fitness room at the hotel.  It’s on the 4th floor and requires a room keycard to get in.  It’s actually a very large room with several treadmills, recumbent stationary bikes, and a few upright stationary bikes.  Each of these has its own personal flatscreen TV.  Headphones are provided along with towels, cups and filtered water.  There are several weight machines and a rack of free weights.  I was able to do most of the workout exercises I normally do midweek at a larger gym.  The fitness room has a great view of the Power Plant and the buildings to the north.

I considered having breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel, the Water Table.  They had a crab omelet that looked pretty good.  But after showering there wasn’t time for a leisurely breakfast.  I just got some cereal at the ground floor café in the hotel.  At the conference they had some bagels, juice, and bottle water.  As I stated, the conference was organized by a company from North Dakota (hence Fargo was the original location).  To begin the conference they mentioned some differences between Baltimore and Fargo.  They then described how the line of the Red River, North Dakota’s eastern border, was traced on our nametags and the pads of paper they gave us.  They also gave us small bags of chocolate-covered potato chips or “Chippers” from North Dakota.  Potatoes are a major crop over there.

The conference lasted all morning and afternoon.  For lunch I went to Saladworks in the Gallery Mall food court. I had a wrap and the server mentioned that it had cheese even though that wasn’t stated on the posted menu so I was able to have them hold it.  I sat with a coworker and some colleagues from the North Dakota company.  After the conference got out in the late afternoon they had a cash bar in the ground floor café along with snacks of bread, crackers, cheese, veggies and dip.  Again, I mostly hung out with colleagues from the North Dakota company.  When this got out I had dinner with my coworkers and other colleagues at Ciao Bella restaurant.  I’ll describe this in a separate review.  The dinner got out late and that night I did not sleep well probably because of the time change.

As a consequence, I slept in a bit more than the previous morning and got up at 6:20 am on Thursday, June 4.  After showering, I packed everything up and checked out of the hotel.  I had them store my larger bag, got some breakfast in the Gallery Mall, and then went to the conference.  I had to present at one point and I think that went OK, though the lack of sleep did not help.  Things were busier this time.  I had to work through my morning break and most of my lunch.  I just bought a premade ham and turkey club sandwich from the ground floor café and had it during the lunch meeting.  Still, the conference got out at 2:15 pm, 45 minutes early.  My manager and I didn’t hang around.  We caught a cab to Baltimore airport (BWI) first thing.  Again, there was very little traffic, but at the airport the security queue was long and very slow.  We saw another conferencgoer there who we thought had left at noon.

Since we had arrived so early we spent a lot of time waiting in the airport.  Our first flight to Houston was on an older 737-300.  The video monitors were mounted over the aisles rather than folded out over the seats.  Again there were eighth graders this time returning from their trip to DC.  It sounded like most of them were from Oklahoma.  They showed the movie The Pink Panther II that I mostly ignored.  They served a very small cold turkey sandwich without cheese.  I supplemented it with the peanut butter-filled pretzels I had gotten from Trader Joe’s before the trip.

We arrived on time at George H.W. Bush airport and our arrival gate was in C Terminal.  We checked the monitor and noticed that our departing gating was in E Terminal that was far away.  Luckily we found our way up an escalator to a tram that took us right to the D and E terminals.  The monitor said our flight was leaving half an hour late.  We had dinner at the food court where I had a rather weak non-dairy smoothie and we split my manager’s food from Panda Express.  When we got back to our gate the plane was already boarding.  It was now leaving on time.  We boarded the usual 737-800/900 with its fold-down screens.  The movie was Hotel for Dogs that I ignored.  We arrived on time at Ontario airport and after deplaning I called my wife who was waiting in the airport Cell Lot.  She picked me up a few minutes later.  I was only gone for three days but it seemed like a whole week.
 
During the week of May 17-23 we had seen signs for the Christmas Carol Train Tour while walking through L.A. Union Station to work and school.  It was a very early promotion for the Disney CGI-enhanced movie A Christmas Carol based on the Charles Dickens story and starring Jim Carry as Scrooge and the three ghosts.  The train contained animation, exhibits, an original edition of the book A Christmas Carol, and other things related to the film.  HP provided the technology and Amtrak provided the train.  It was kind of like a mobile Disney ride and would stop in 40 cities in the US over the next seven months leading up to the film’s release on November 6.  Only unlike most Disney rides, this one was free.  The first stop was L.A. Union Station on May 22-25.

We thought we might check it out since we didn’t have any plans for Memorial Day weekend.  On Friday, May 22 I did “recon” and checked out what was happening with the train tour on the way home from work.  I walked up the ramp for the platform for tracks 11B and 12B where the sign said to go.  I then walked to the far end of the platform and turned left to track 13B where the train was parked.  It was decorated with a long movie poster for A Christmas Carol.  On the far side of the train was a long queue of people, mostly families with children.  The queue wrapped around railes back and forth “Disneyland style”.  There were some booths set up, one of which was raffling off an HP laptop computer.  A Disney employee passed out a brochure with Christmas Carol word puzzles and another employee at the end of the queue held up a sign that said the wait was 1.5 hours.  I also saw some people dressed as carolers walking along the queue.  I soon left to catch the 5:20 PM San Bernadino train to get home.

We decided to go to the train tour on Sunday and take the Metrolink train from Covina to Union Station.  We had originally planned to take the 2:27 PM train there, arrive at 3:10 PM, and take the 5:25 train home.  That would give us enough time for a 1.5 hour wait in the queue and the 45-minute train tour.  However, my recon had shown that the wait would likely be longer than 1.5 hours so we decided to take the 12:57 PM train that arrived at 1:40 PM.  This would allow enough time for a 3-hour wait and the 45-minute tour.

On Sunday we went to mass at 9:30 AM rather than the usual 5:30 PM.  I put on suncream to prepare for the 1.5+ hour wait outside.  This is probably the first time I’ve worn suncream for a Christmas-related event.  After brunch we caught the 12:57 PM Metrolink train.  It wasn’t very crowded compared to the weekday trains, though we did notice some families on board.  It arrived at Union Station early, at 1:30 PM.  After exiting the platform we noticed that the queue for the train tour extended all the way down to the track 3B/4B platform.  Again, it was mostly families with children.  Disney employees in white T-shirts directed the queue, made sure the platform ramps weren’t blocked, and passed out more purple brochures.  We queued up at 1:35 PM.  By 2:14 PM we had entered the tunnel up to the platform for tracks 11B and 12B.  An employee said the wait would be at least 2 more hours.  Another employee came down the queue asking if anyone wanted a temporary tattoo.  Another passed out a different brochure that required naming all the cities on the tour and tracing the route.  I noticed that the train would later go through both Santa Fe (6/2) and Albuquerque (6/5-6/7) along with Portland, OR (7/1), Seattle, WA (7/3-7/5), and Baltimore, MD (9/30) where I would go between June 2-4.  The tour ends in New York, NY on Oct. 30-Nov. 1.

By 2:27 PM we were high enough on the ramp to see the train and by 2:35 PM we were on the platform.  Around 2:45 PM a well-dressed juggler on stilts came by and performed for us.  We finally reached the end of the platform at 3 PM and I was making some use of the suncream I wore.  There were more jugglers.  One on stilts held another guy up who juggled with a third juggler, also on stilts.  Near the end of platform 13 two men and two women in Victorian costumes sang carols and talked to people in the queue.  There was a chimney from which artificial snow blew out.  By then it was about 3:10 PM and we still hadn’t joined the Disneyland-style wraparound queue that was an additional 1.5 hour wait.  At that rate we wouldn’t reach the front of the queue until 4:40 PM at the earliest and finish the tour at 5:25 PM, the time that the train we planned to take home would leave.  We decided that we wouldn’t make it in time for that train and we didn’t want to wait around for the next train that left at 7:45 PM.  So we left the queue and caught the 3:25 PM train home.  We got to see some jugglers and carolers but we couldn’t hold out for the long haul that was even longer than we planned.

After we got home I read on latimes.com that around 30,000 people waited in line to see the train tour over the weekend and they usually had to wait 3-5 hours.  I guess when anything is offered for free in this economy, people jump on it.  We’ll just have to wait until actual Christmas comes later this year.