We were always coming to Baltimore because of the rugby. The All Blacks were playing the Springboks at M&T Bank Stadium, so most of my advance thinking about the city had been about the event: where to stay, how easily we could walk to the stadium, and what getting away afterward might look like.
By the time we left two days later, we’d seen a decent amount more of Baltimore than just the sporting-event side of the city.
Jonathan Borofsky’s Male/Female outside Baltimore Penn Station.
Arriving With the Rugby Crowd
We took Amtrak from Washington Union Station to Baltimore, getting to Union Station about half an hour before departure. We weren’t the only people with similar plans: a decent proportion of the train seemed to be heading to Baltimore for the rugby, with plenty of green and black jerseys amongst the passengers.
From Baltimore Penn Station we took an Uber to the Holiday Inn Express Baltimore at the Stadiums. It was still only late morning and our room wasn’t ready.
We left our bags and headed right across the road to Horseshoe Baltimore. Approaching from the street side, we couldn’t initially see an entrance and eventually worked our way around to the other side of the building.
Horseshoe Baltimore, between our hotel and M&T Bank Stadium.
There were a couple of bits of housekeeping to deal with once inside. I had a Caesars Rewards balance due to expire later that month, so playing a little was enough to roll that forward. We also stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings for some food. That triggered the monthly dining credit on one of my American Express Gold cards, one of those small US-card benefits that is much easier to use when you’re actually in the US.
By around 1pm, the hotel had a room for us, so we headed back, checked in and got ready.
The Reason We Were There
The Holiday Inn Express was heavily populated by black All Blacks shirts and green Springboks jerseys. Staff there had told us that event nights were their biggest nights, and there was little doubt what had filled the hotel that weekend.
Then came the rugby.
Our pre-match plans took us past M&T Bank Stadium before we doubled back to enter.
The stadium was filled with black All Blacks shirts and green Springboks jerseys, skewed more towards the green. We slotted anonymously into the crowd like everyone else. The match was a fantastic event, played in front of 68,173 people, the largest crowd ever for a rugby international in the U.S.
Then came the rugby.
Afterward, on the way back to the hotel, we once again passed Horseshoe, and decided to pop in. We played some slots, did reasonably well, and had dinner at the Asian restaurant. The night ended with a short walk back to the Holiday Inn Express.
A Different Baltimore the Next Morning
The following day we moved across town to the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront. Checking in provided an unexpected continuation of the rugby weekend. We saw several members of the All Blacks traveling party in the lobby, and there were team coaches waiting outside. The silver fern was visible on one of them.
One of the All Blacks coaches outside the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront the following morning.
We didn’t hang around. Once we’d dropped our things in the room, we carried on walking toward Fells Point.
Walking through Fells Point.
There was an oyster event taking place around the main public area when we arrived. We were saving our appetites for something else later that day, so we wandered around the waterfront and the surrounding streets instead.
Looking out from the Waterfront Hotel in Fells Point.
We had already decided that the Baltimore Water Taxi was going to be part of our visit. The schedule gave us about half an hour to wait. The Admirals Cup was located right across from the departure point, so we sat down for a drink and used the time to sort out the tickets.
A drink at the Admirals Cup, across the road while we waited for the next water taxi.
Across Baltimore by Water
We were only planning on using the water taxi in one direction, across to Fort McHenry, but the journey itself was as much an attraction to us as the destination.
The Baltimore Water Taxi became our transport and sightseeing for the afternoon.
The captain provided some Baltimore history as we went, and the route itself gave us a very different view of the city. This wasn’t just a run past a polished tourist waterfront. We passed working parts of the harbor, ships, cranes and industrial buildings as well as the older waterfront neighborhoods.
The route crossed Baltimore’s working harbor, not just its tourist waterfront.
There was also a small bit of improvisation onboard. Some passengers arrived with bicycles. Apparently the boat would normally accommodate two, but there were four of them and the crew found a way to make it work.
Four bikes where apparently there would normally be room for two.
This was exactly what we had wanted from the water taxi: transportation that doubled as some of our sightseeing.
Baltimore from the water.
Fort McHenry, Then Crabs
We got off at Fort McHenry and spent some time walking around the grounds.
Fort McHenry from the grounds.
Fort McHenry is best known for the 1814 battle that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the words that became The Star-Spangled Banner. Inside the visitor center, the flag story is a large part of the presentation.
The flag story is central to the Fort McHenry visitor center.
We hadn’t made an elaborate Baltimore sightseeing schedule. Fort McHenry had given the water-taxi journey a destination, and once we’d looked around, we were ready for lunch. An Uber took us from there to L.P. Steamers. We were in Maryland, so crabs had to be tried. And these were fantastic.
Baltimore crabs at L.P. Steamers.
We ordered a half dozen large crabs as the main event, but added a separate seafood platter for a bit more variety. That came with a pitcher of beer. I can’t remember the last time I’d ordered beer by the pitcher, but the combination was brilliant. When in Baltimore…
The amount of food was also about right. By the time we’d worked through everything, we’d had plenty.
The seafood platter alongside our half dozen crabs.
There wasn’t too much thinking around this. We’d wanted Baltimore crabs, went somewhere that specialized in them, and had a very good lunch.
Back to the Waterfront
From L.P. Steamers we took an Uber back to the Marriott. By then it had been a fairly full day: Fells Point on foot, the harbor by water taxi, Fort McHenry and a substantial seafood lunch. When the Concierge Lounge opened that evening, going upstairs for the view, some snacks and later dessert was enough. We didn’t feel any particular need to head back out and force another meal.
Sunset over Baltimore from the Marriott Concierge Lounge.
The following morning we had breakfast in the lounge, checked out and headed back to Baltimore Penn Station. Another Amtrak train was waiting, and our two days in Baltimore were done.