Into DC

MARC is what they call the train that goes from Baltimore to Washington. I'm sitting on the 9:52 heading into DC to go look at the National Gallery of Art and take peeks at other touristy things. I hope to actually come back fairly early and see at least one museum in Baltimore, the Visionary Art Museum, which is supposed to be amazing and different when it comes to museums. That is according to Anthea from PAM, who also hooked me up with a place to stay with Ariel in town. It was a longish and crowded drive to Baltimore. I hit Washington during rush hour and looped around it to get to Baltimore and it was pretty busy but never at a standstill. I'm slightly concerned about my car's transmission as it seems to have gotten a little jerkier over the course of the trip. I might have to drop by a Jiffy Lube tomorrow to have the oil changed and have that looked at.

Ariel works at the Walters Art Museum, and there's also the Baltimore Museum of Art too. I don't think I'll make it to all three but I'm going to try to get to the Walters as well as the Visionary. Baltimore is a run down town and I like it. It reminds me of parts of Detroit with the abandoned, burnt out houses and the alleys with broken glass and graffiti. There are cameras everywhere, supposedly in the high-crime areas (read black neighbourhoods). I am surprised considering how against surveillance cameras Americans in general are. It is odd to me that Americans, not known for being very private people, are against cameras while in the UK, especially in London, cameras are everywhere and the Brits are known to be rather more reserved. Perhaps this has all changed and I'm thinking of past stereotypes. The cameras here in Baltimore are a bit creepy. They are high up on poles like streetlights and they have blinking blue lights on top of them, making sure everyone knows they are there. The locals don't like them because they think it pushes crime into other areas and has made the crime map of Baltimore a hodgepodge, making it hard to signify a "good" and "bad" neighbourhood. Plus the cameras are like a scarlet letter for the neighbourhoods they are in.

The train has just stopped at BWI International so now it is filling up with passengers heading into DC. This is pretty affordable travel, I must say, just $7 each way. Sure beats driving and parking. The main stations, Penn and Camden connect with Baltimore's system via the elevated light rail, but the metro subway doesn't connect with the big stations, which is slightly odd to me. I remember in London, the rail from Heathrow went to Picadilly station where you could connect with a number of subway lines. I'm being demanding.

The rain has been a constant companion since I've left Atlanta. I think this is the same storm that is hitting Baltimore right now. I stopped and saw Amy in Wake Forest and drove on US-1 on this side of the country after the much prettier drive out in California on the same highway. Amy and I went on three sort of dates back in college. It was a spur of the moment thing for me and I don't think there was much attraction on either side, but we became pretty good friends. She's one of the nicest and purest people I've ever met. She's now going to a Baptist seminary in Wake Forest after returning from a two-year mission trip in Japan. The conversation was slightly awkward but that's Amy, and I left after we had lunch to make my way to Baltimore.


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