"The Star Spangled Banner," and recognizing ... heroic human endeavor (S.Res.388)

If Francis Scott Key can be considered an American treasure for writing a poem about a single moment in history, then TJ and I deserve at least some recognition for our heroic effort to see Baltimore in a single day. Our endeavor was eased by the fact that the MARC Penn Line now offers weekend service. It takes less than $10 and about an hour to get from Union Station to Penn Station. 

Still, unwilling to wake up too early on a weekend, we didn't get to Baltimore until around 10 a.m., just in time for second breakfast. So we headed straight to Hollins Market; although it had only one row of stalls, we managed to find mid-morning snacks: a scrapple, egg, and cheese sandwich for TJ and a cup of crab soup for me (left). Although less expansive than the famous Lexington Market, its location in the old Lithuanian quarter and its holiday wreaths on the windows gave the historic hall a lot of charm (right).

 

Indeed, Baltimore is nicknamed the Charm City, which it was showing off on all its streets. We saw pre-Thanksgiving holiday decorations hanging above downtown as we rode around on the Circulator (top). An oft-touted attraction is Washington Monument, which is stuck in the middle of Charles Street within Mount Vernon, a historic district between Penn Station and the Inner Harbor (bottom left). But I found charming architecture adorning other city buildings, many of which were unfortunately shuttered and/or vandalized (bottom right).

 

But of course, the most historic and impressive constructions in Baltimore can be found at the Fort McHenry National Monument (left). An all-night attack by the British navy on the fort during the War of 1812 inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem that would become the national anthem (right). Key was on a diplomatic mission to one of the warships in order to negotiate the release of some prisoners-of-war when the onslaught began; the next morning, he was as surprised as anyone else aboard to see the U.S. flag still flying above the fort. 

 

Earlier this year, in September, the fort held bicentennial events to mark the publication of "The Star-Spangled Banner." An onslaught of tourists inspired us to delay our trip until later in the year. Despite some hoards of Boy Scouts, on the day we visited, it was easy to experience moments of reflection on the bastion walls (top left) or within the barrack buildings, including the ammunition magazine (top right). But the crowds creeped out when the park rangers pulled out the huge garrison flag, a replica of one made by Mary Young Pickersgill (bottom), who also made the storm flag that is the official star-spangled banner, permanently on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

In previous trips to Baltimore, we scoped out the bars in Fell's Point and Federal Hill, and the emerging Brewers Hill was a tad inaccessible without a car, so with limited time, we set our sights on drinking downtown. We ended up across from the Convention Center at Pratt Street Ale House, home of Oliver's Brewing Co. Most of the conventioneers seemed oblivious to the restaurant's craft-beer selection. We made up for their oversight by trying four beers -- Dark Horse English dark mild ale, Modern Life is Rubbish Victorian porter, There's a Fine Line between Stupid and Clever black lager, and Winter's Wolves dark ale on nitro -- while we munched on a PSA pretzel, covered in mustard, cheese, and crab dip.

We had planned to call it a day and get home to walk Sage, but the Circulator, which had reliably carried us around the city all day, was running behind right when we needed to get back to Penn Station. We ended up missing our train, and the next one wouldn't come for an another hour and a half. This poor timing turned into a stroke of luck because we were able to hit happy hour at Brewer's Art, which provides an aesthetically-pleasing atmosphere in which to sip its palate-pleasing beers (left). It was difficult not to try everything on the beverage and food menus, but we restrained ourselves to a couple of appetizers -- crispy brussel sprouts and Liptauer cheese dip -- and a trio of ales: Stalking Horse Belgian dark ale, Resurrection abbey brown ale, and St. Festivus brown winter ale (right). 

Indeed, the day was a little rushed, and our dog was a little pissed (not literally), but still, we ended up with no regrets -- except for the fact that we didn't find Brewer's Art's basement bodega until right before we had to leave. It wasn't open yet when we first arrived, so we took a table upstairs. When it was finally opened, we debated moving downstairs, but decided not to give up the safety of our seats. But when we hit the head before we headed to our train, we discovered what we had been missing. And I decided we would need to return to Brewer's Art during our next whirlwind tour of Baltimore.