We've Got Spirit(s), Yes We Do

By train, Baltimore is less than an hour away from the District. Considering I've lived in DC for nearly three years, you've thought I'd've made it up to Charm City at least once. But until this weekend, you would've been wrong. On Friday, I hopped an Amtrak & made my very first trip to B'more to hang with my grandma, who was in town for a paiting seminar. (You remember my grandma, right?) We stayed at a darling but largely unairconditioned B&B called Aunt Rebecca's in a room that was up three flights of stairs, rendering us permanently sweaty in the 90-degree heat.

My grandma's known for her tendency to schedule every vacation to the hilt, & after Week One at the new job, I was not feelin' a maxxed-out weekend. But because she graciously & uncharacteristically let me go back to the B&B to nap yesterday afternoon, I was awake & ready for our Fells Point GhostWalk, a tour of the supposedly haunted pubs in the Fells Point neighborhood, which has more bars per square mile than anyplace else in the country. It's also particularly historic - & is the place of Edgar Allen Poe's death! - so if drunkulosity isn't reason enough for you to visit Fells Point, you can talk yourself into feeling like it's of historical significance, as well.

The tour was cool, but overshadowed by the fact that I was too hot to breathe & was sweating both profusely & noticeably. Also overshadowed by the fact that I was too busy swooning over our tour guide to pay much attention to the ghost stories. Also overshadowed by the fact that I was embarrassed about my sweatiness in combination with my irrational crush on a dude who wears Victorian-era silk shirts for a living. Yes, let my heart be still a moment & this mystery explore.*

A Twitter pal encouraged me to make a move, any would-be move-making was hampered by a few key points: A) I was on a tour with 10 other people, B) I was with accompanied by my grandmother, & C) I probably looked like I'd been sitting in the Splash Zone of the Shamu Show.** So no moves were made, though I did learn about ghosts who listen to polka music & ghosts who eat peppermints & ghosts that will repel you from the front stoop of they don't like you. So at least I gained some useful knowledge out of the whole thing.

Baltimore, I like you, & not just because you provided me with a cute, top-hatted man to look at for a full hour. I shall return.***


*That's from a Poe poem, guys. See what I did there?
**Please tell me someone out there gets my Sea World reference.
***If only to track down the cute, top-hatted man.