I stayed at the Pier 5 Hotel, which is conveniently located on Pier 5 next to Piers 4 & 3 that are home to the National Aquarium, my Monday's primary destination.
The hotel was fine. Location to value five stars. Best place I've ever stayed? On a scale of 1 to 10...6.9.
Pluses: It was quiet. It was clean. It was easy to get in and out of--a straight shot to I-83 (10 minutes from the Maryland Zoo and the Volunteer Celebration of the previous evening). The staff was courteous and pleasant.
Deltas: The bed was TOO soft (one of the those foam covered mattresses that absorbs you in. Great for holding a corpse, not no nice for someone who like to roll around in bed at night). No Bubble bath! No room service. Ice machine on another floor (you only have three floors, would it kill you to have three ice machines?)
Without room service, I walked the block over to Miss Shirley's. It's Southern Cuisine with an African American spin. The menu looked amazing. I had the Cy Young Omlette with stoned ground grits and a Pimiento Cheese biscuit. Because I can't seem to shake a sinus thing, I also ordered a strawberry lemonade along with coffee, hoping the citrus would help to clear my throat--it did.
The restaurant is divided into three sections: A cozy wood-panels first dinning room with tables and booths, an enclosed exterior patio with wrought iron patio chair (and cushions) and tables, and an actually exterior area divided off from the rest of the sidewalk. At 9:00 AM on a Monday morning, when I entered there were maybe 10 other people in the first dining room in three groups. I was ushered out to the enclosed patio, where I was the ONLY person there.
Now, I grant you, in my khaki pants, striped T-shirt and navy blue patterned sweater, I was not dressed like some of the patrons in the dining room--business men in suites. But this isn't the goddamned Ritz, either. It felt a little like being seated in the dog house.
Soon my server arrived, a delightful young man named Jonathan. An African American, he was up-beat, professional and welcoming. He lightened my mood instantly.
Toward the end of my breakfast, the hostess seated a young Black man in a suit at another table in this quiet atrium. Okay, I thought, I'm in good company.
On my walk back to the hotel to check out I took time to admire the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Taney WHEC-37. It is the last viable ship of the United States military to have been at Pearl Harbor and survive. For those who like ships and such, docked along the piers of Baltimore's Inner harbor for your inquiry and embarkment are this ship, and three more: U.S.S. Torsk (a WWII Submarine), the U. S. Coast Guard Lightship Chesapeake, and the U. S. S. Constellation, the last sail-only warship built by the US Navy (1854).
My Hotel from the National Aquarium on Pier 4. My room was second from left on the top floor.
The entrance round-about, National Aquarium in the background
An anonymous bird sculpture in the middle of the round-about: a raven?
From the third floor loggia on the hotel. My room was in the far opposite left side corner.
Seven-Foot Knoll Lighthouse (1855) on the end of Pier 5 today.
Federal Hill across the inner harbor.
National Aquarium on Pier 4
U.S.C.G.C. Taney
