Today I walked to the library to pick up three books that I had reserved on-line. During my walk I started to take pictures of the beautiful fall leaves and then I shot a few pictures of houses. I love the architect in this part of town. We live on the north side of Baltimore and most of the houses are over 100 years and each is unique which I love. To those of you in Europe 100 year old houses aren’t that old. However here in the states most houses are not that old. Here are a few pictures I took that I hope the other architecture fans will enjoy.
This is the old Roland Park shopping mall that is reported to be the first mall in the US, it dates back to the late 1800's. When I was a child there was a Baskin Robbins at the end and I would walk here with my grandmother for ice cream. I was heartbroken when the ice cream store moved out because it had so many lovely memories for me.
This is the library branch that was recently remodeled.
Conveniently right across the street is a Starbucks where I stopped for tea before walking home.
This is a neighborhood icon, the Eddies grocery store. Forty plus years ago my grandmother used to call and order her groceries and they would deliver them and carry the bags into the kitchen. This place was definitely ahead of its time. They also have the very nice prepared food. Many of my neighbors order their entire Thanksgiving dinner from Eddies. At lunch they do a booming sandwich and soup business.
Here is the church where I was baptized many decades ago.
I wanted to include some random house pictures from the walk to the library. I think it is a lovely old eclectic neighborhood. I hope you enjoy the walk.
I hope you enjoyed the brief tour of the north side of Baltimore. The reason I wanted to write this post is that I think people have a big misperception of Baltimore. Television shows like "Homicide" and "The Wire" portray a city that I don’t know and I have lived here a long time. My Baltimore is very serene and calm, nothing like the city I see on TV. I hope this gives you an idea of my day today.
Happy thoughts:
Today was a great day for me. Here are my happy thoughts:
• I had a nice walk to the library and got my step count over 8 miles by 2pm. Woo hoo!
• It was a lovely day to enjoy a nice mug of tea outside at Starbucks after the library. This gave me a few minutes to start browsing one of the books.
• I ran into a few neighbors on my walk who were out exercising. One lady was using Nordic poles and raved about them. Do any of you use them or have an opinion about them? If so please let me know I would love to hear what you think.
• I am getting very excited about the Hopkins Women’s Health conference on Saturday. If it is half as good as I expect I will be thrilled.
• Dan Sr. and Dan Jr. were able to get together for lunch today downtown. Since I know how much my Dan enjoys spending time with his son it makes me happy when they find time to get together.
It was a very good day. I found myself randomly smiling for no reason just because it was a beautiful day.
Signing out:
Dan mentioned going out for dinner tonight which means I need to make myself presentable. Talk to you all again soon. I hope your day was as nice as mine. :-)
Posts
It looks like you decided to do the post, lol. It looks great!
ReplyDeleteCourtney
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI thought it would be nice for people to see something other than the bad press the city typically seems to get. We love where we live. It is a nice old established neighborhood.
talk to you later,
Ali
Beautiful walk, Ali! I have some Nordic walking poles I really like, but I am ashamed to admit that I haven't used them in a while because one of them got out of adjustment (not the right length) and it hurts my hand to make the adjustment! How's that for a bad excuse? I just need to get hubby to fix them. They're really nice for when the walking is a little treacherous on ice, and though they do kick up the workout a bit, I don't know if it's THAT much.
ReplyDeleteI have the OS/2 ATS product from here:
http://www.walkingpoles.com/content/view/25/44/
After some research I thought they had the most reliable product for the best price (about two years ago).
Have a fun dinner out tonite, Ali! Thank you for sharing those beautiful photos:-) xo
ReplyDeleteI love seeing pictures of your city. I love the architecture - of course, I live in an ancient house myself downtown so that makes sense ;-) Now if only I had a grocery store worth walking to I'd be in business (or broke). Have a great evening my friend!
ReplyDeleteYour neighborhood is so charming! I had a 3 day visit to Baltimore in 2008, and I thought it was a really nice place. I was pretty busy working while I was there, so I didn't get to see much but I did see enough to decide it would be a cool place to go back to someday! Happy almost Friday :)
ReplyDeleteIt does look like a lovely neighborhood — nothing like the Baltimore we know from the Wire. I know what you mean about enjoying being able to walk to places. It's really important to me that wherever I live I can walk to the library and shopping. I also have a lake I can walk around. Now I just need a little sunshine!
ReplyDeleteI understand quite a bit about cities with bad press, or otherwise unfavorable reputations. I grew up in Memphis and many people think it's horribly dangerous. And then Cincinnati (where I live now) is terribly boring.
ReplyDeleteI have never been to Baltimore, aside from in and out of the airport going to DC. I would be happy to visit again at some point. You certainly have a beautiful neighborhood. I love being able to walk to do errands, and it' something I hope to find in my next neighborhood. I can walk to the grocery in 8 minutes, but I can't buy more than I can carry back!
Hope you are having a wonderful, "presentable", evening.
i love smiling for no reason! so much of my life i would be caught with a bad look on my face, happiness is addicting!!
ReplyDeletei have been to baltimore (just drove though) and i thought it was nice. ive never watched those shows before, but i know what you mean about a place not being like how tv portrays it. nj was NOTHING like what everyone thinks it is. at least not where i was. now there are like four tv shows located in nj! all my old friends from there think its ridiculous.
Cindy,
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the walk too. I forgot to mention that I took all these pictures on one street. I need to go back into the neighborhood and take some shots. Meg Ryan's parents house in "Sleepless in Seattle" is also in my neighborhood.
Thanks for the info on the poles. Do you tend to use them when it isn't snowing or icy? My neighbor thinks they are a good arm workout anytime but I was a bit suspicious of that idea. I guess I need to do a little research. We have a lot of hilly terain in my neighborhood so they would be nice in the snow I suppose. That and I am naturally klutzy. ;-)
thanks again for the input,
Ali
Aimee,
ReplyDeleteDinner was great as usual. We ended up stopping to see Ian but he was off tonight and they were packed. We actually had to wait for a table tonight. Crazy! It was a great evening which we both enjoyed.
I am glad you liked the pictures of the walk to the library. I love old houses and the fact that they are all different. It makes the neighborhood so much more interesting to me.
enjoy the rest of your evening,
Ali
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI thought you would like the pictures. I suspect your neighborhood is very similar. Actually there are three grocery stores I can walk to. Bummer that you don't have that option. It is one of the nicest things about our location to me.
We had a great evening, I hope you did too.
Ali
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI am happy to hear you got to see a little bit of Baltimore. If you ever get back please let me know. I will have to show you around and take you to meet the infamous Ian. ;-)
Happy almost Friday to you too!
Ali
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteIt is odd to me when I see Baltimore on TV or movies and I don't recognize it. I suppose it is like any other city when you are a local you where to go or avoid. We really love our neighborhood. My family has lived here since the 1930's. That fact still amazes me.
I think having your neighborhood be walkable is very important too. If I could I would give up my car. I drive the thing as little as possible. I would much rather run my errands on foot. Walking around a lake sounds lovely. Bummer on the lack of sunshine. I am girl who needs her sunshine so I understand.
Ali
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteGreat point about happiness being addictive and it is also contagious. It is interesting to me that if you smile at other people (even strangers) they almost always smile back. Dan's motto is "smile so people wonder what you are up to". LOL
You are right that NJ has a bad reputation too and that is also undeserved. I love Springlake, NJ. Do you know the area? Also we have friends in Fort Lee which is also nice. I am not sure why people don't like NJ now that you mention it. *scratches head*
talk to you later,
Ali
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteYou are right I do hear bad things about Memphis and I didn't think about it until you menioned that. I have been to Cincinnati so I know it is great city. I also think you do a great job of showing the positives of the city. It is a shame how many places have a undeserved bad reputation.
When our part of the city was developed in the late 1800's it was considered the suburbs even though we are only 4 or 5 miles from downtown. We love it here and find it very convenient. I think being able to walk to run your errands is very important. It would be nice if our city tax rates were lower but that is the price we pay for convenience I suppose.
I was "quasi-presentable" this evening in my mind. I did a quick makeup touch up and changed my clothes, LOL. We decided to stop to see Ian. Dan was having pizza withdrawal. *shakes head*
hope you are having a good evening,
Ali
cool post... it's always fun to get a glimpse into another part of the world. And that red bush is totally amazing!!
ReplyDeleteYes, Ali, when I was using them regularly, I used them most days and felt that a walk without them was "wimpy," so I guess they did rev up the workout. :-)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the tour! I really love old buildings, they have so much more style than the 50's house I live in;) I especially love the big wrap around porches!
ReplyDeleteAmey,
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked this post. I wasn't too sure about including it initially since it isn't food, but everyone seems to like it so I am glad I did. I am not certain what those bushes are called. But if you are interested I will try to find the name.
Ali
Cindy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for getting back to me on the Nordic poles. I will do some research on them today. :-)
Ali
Janet,
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the tour. I love old houses too, my husband is not as thrilled. Old houses mean more work if you know what I mean. ;-) It drives him crazy that nothing is plump or level also.
Porches are very popular in this climate like they are in the South. I suppose we (Baltimoreans) tend to consider ourselves southerners. In the summer we get a lot of oppressive humidity here which makes those porches very useful.
Ali
Hi Ali,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the beautiful tour, happy thoughts, and all the good vegan dishes!
Peace & cheers,
Grace
Thanks for the tour. I'm an Australian ex-pat, about to celebrate my two-year anniversary of Philly living, and still haven't made it down to Baltimore. Shame on me! My impression of Baltimore is largely based on what I've seen on The Wire (greatest television show ever made, in my opinion) and Sleepless in Seattle (love anything Nora Ephron writes). Philadelphians tell me Baltimore has a fantastic aquarium and that Inner Harbor is lovely but that there's not much of interest to visitors beyond that. Clearly, they're wrong. Keep the Baltimore photo tour coming and we'll meet you for a juice and vegan pizza when the weather warms up.
ReplyDeleteGrace,
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the tour. I thought it might be fun for everyone to see a part of Baltimore that isn't news worthy but is just a beautiful old neighborhood.
I hope you are enjoying your weekend,
Ali
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI would guess that Baltimore and Philly are a lot alike since the cities are a similar age and so close in proximity. I haven't been to Philly in years myself. I keep thinking I will come up and attend one of Christina Pirello's cooking demos. Have you been? If you are interested maybe we can meet for one.
We adore Nora Ephron! "When Harry Met Sally" is our favortie movie of all time hands down. Both Dan and I can quote most of the movie, LOL. I have a funny story about that I will try to remember to tell in my next post.
I hope you are staying warm this weekend, it is a bit cool here. We had a frosty trip to the farmers' market this morning.
Ali