Ernie made a remarkably quick recovery from his chemo yesterday. Other than an hour's nap, he was on the go all day. We found a walking tour of "Baltimore's Chic Side" in a 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler. I can only imagine the horror that real Baltimoreans--who are proud of their working class roots--would feel on reading this article. But, it fulfilled Ernie's requirement of 30 minutes of exercise per day so off we went.
The first two establishments listed were, regrettably, out of business. After that, things picked up. At Piedigrotta Bakery we had a long discussion with the proprietress about earthquakes and how she survived the 1976 earthquake in Italy (6.4 on the Richter scale with over 1000 fatalities). She was very unnerved about yesterday's quake, which has been officially declared a 5.8 in Baltimore. The pastries and gelato in her shop looked sublime. On Friday and Saturday they have "family style dinners" where you BYOB; we will definitely return to sample one.
The other gem on the walk was Mustang Alley--the most beautiful bowling alley we have ever seen. They have 12 lanes, with 3 devoted to "duckpin" bowling. Legend has it that duckpin bowling was invented in Baltimore by pitchers on the Baltimore Oriole's team who used it to warm up. Both the pins and the bowling balls are smaller than in 10 pin, so you get three trys, instead of two, to knock down the pins. Who among you will be the first to try duckpin bowling with us?
We also picked up some provisions in anticipation of Hurricane Irene--bottled water, flashlights, candles--things we didn't think to pack when we left NC. We inquired with the concierge to see if the building owners had any advice for the hurricane but got blank stares. I guess management is not listening to the Weather Channel.
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